Metamorphosis 2 Essay, Research Paper

Adam Sanderman

Writing About Point Of View

The point of view that is used in Franz Kafka’s short story “The Metamorphosis” is that of a Third Person narrator. The narrator of the story is not a character who appears in the story, but is a witness to all of the events. The type of narration in “The Metamorphosis” changes once in the story. At the beginning of the story, the narrator is a subjective, limited omniscient narrator. The narrator is able to display to the reader all of the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist Gregor Samsa. The narrator is not able to depict to the reader the feelings of the other members of the Samsa family to the reader. The reader of “The Metamorphosis” images of the Samsa family are those which are held in the mind of Gregor Samsa. The narrator is only able to share with the reader of the story the knowledge that Gregor possesses. This viewpoint, while it does not allow the reader full access to all of the details of the characters, plot and setting, does not develop any type of irony. The viewpoint of the story changes at the end of the story as Gregor Samsa dies. The narration had to change because once Gregor died, the narrator was unable to reveal his thoughts and feelings. Thus, the narrator becomes total omniscient. The narrator is now able to reveal the thoughts of the entire Samsa family. For example, after the death of Gregor, the narrator reveals to the reader that the Samsa parents are looking forward to the day when they can find a husband for their daughter. This is something that could not have been revealed by the previous limited omniscient narrator.

The style of narration that was chosen by Franz Kafka creates an atmosphere where the reader feels sympathy towards Gregor Samsa. By having the narrator reveal all of the thoughts and feelings of Gregor the reader can sympathize with him. Also by allowing the reader to see all of the injustices that Gregor has to face, and the fashion in which his family treats him, sympathy for him is encouraged. Finally, the change in viewpoint at the end of the story allows the reader to see how the Samsa family is relieved with the death of Gregor. The lack of compassion shown by his family makes the reader feel sorry for Gregor. The unusual change of point of view creates in the reader different perspectives into the events of the story.

In creating the viewpoints used in “The Metamorphosis” Kafka did not create any distortions. The views conveyed to the reader through both types of narration were similar in the facts that they displayed to the reader. The facts of the story remained the same as the viewpoint changed.

The two alternating viewpoints in this story made it very simple for the author to create an atmosphere of sympathy for the protagonist. If another viewpoint were to be used in the story a situation might have been created where the reader would not have felt the sympathy for Gregor that was intended to be felt by Kafka. For example, if the narration would have been entirely omniscient, then the reader might have gained insight into the reason that the Samsa’s felt ashamed of Gregor. If this would have occurred, the reader would have most likely lost the feelings of sympathy for Gregor.