Utilitarianism in "the Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka

What if, one day, this person is crossing the street on his way to work and a speeding car hit him. Due to the impact, he loses consciousness. The next day he wakes up in the hospital and is paralyzed. What would this man's first thought be? Of course, he would question why that he is paralyzed and if this illness is curable. Unlike the character in my parable, the main character in Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," worries about the most unlikely things. Although Gregor Samsa had awoken to discover that he is an insect, he is afraid that he will be late for work and as a result he will lose his job. As a result of this behavior, Gregor Samsa is a perfect example of utilitarianism in the early 20th century. Comparatively, Gregor's family is also exemplified through utilitarianism.

In part one of the short story, Gregor Samsa had awoken from "uneasy dreams" and was "transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect" (40 Short Stories, 146). Although he found himself transformed into a bug, not once did he think to himself "What has happened to me? And why?" He immediately realized that he was late for work and kept thinking of the early train he had missed. "But what was he to do now? The next train went at seven o'clock; to catch that he would need to hurry like mad and his samples weren't even packed up, and he himself wasn't feeling particularly fresh and active" (147-48). As a traveling salesman, a very impersonal job--not only in the office, but also in the field--Gregor lost his humanistic qualities and became a "utility" to the company rather than a human being (Goldfarb). Due to Gregor being late for work, the chief clerk came to his house, where he and his family live, to find out the reason for his tardiness to work. Rather than his chief clerk wondering if he was ok, the clerk automatically assumed Gregor had an inadequate excuse for his behavior. Gregor thought to himself: "What a fate, to be condemned to work for a firm where the smallest omission at once gave rise to the gravest suspicion! Were all employees in a body nothing but scoundrels, was there not among them one single loyal devoted man who, had he waste only an hour or so of the firm's time in the morning, was so tormented by conscience as to be driven out of his mind and actually incapable of leaving his bed?" (151) Utilitarianism can most definitely be applied to this situation. Gregor, coming from a compassionate and loving family, has transformed into the ideal "utility" for his company, producing the greatest result for the company.

As the story continues, Gregor begins to transform his utilitarian characteristics into human characteristics. He starts to get used to his bug body, climbing on the walls and hiding under the couch much of the time. "...For mere recreation he had formed the habit of crawling crisscross over the walls and ceiling" (168). At this point, Gregor is beginning to be ostracized by his family. Because of the distance between family members and Gregor, he hides under couches signifying his hidden feelings (Hibberd). Gregor continues to have humanistic feelings even though he is a bug. Not only did Gregor transform into a bug physically, but emotionally as well. His compassion and love for his family was hidden and never fully realized until his transformation phenomenon into an insect happened (Goldfarb). In the transformation process he undergoes emotional changes, as well as physical changes. Due to his bug body, he becomes less and less useful, losing the utilitarianism. Later in the story, Gregor begins to develop more humanistic characteristics replacing his utilitarian characteristics. Ironically, Gregor seems to be more human during his bug state rather than his actual human state.

Eventually, by the end of the story, Gregor transforms into a useless being, the epitome of utilitarianism. Not only did his transformation into a bug change him physically, emotionally Gregor changed also. From having hidden feelings towards the family, to recognizing the true feelings he had, Gregor changes dramatically (Hibberd. To the family, he becomes a nuisance and is considered a burden. He craves compassion from them but they "lacked the lively character of former times" (175). Gregor reflects and realizes that he must disappear due to the burden of his bug state to his family (Goldfarb). "He thought of his family with tenderness and love. The decision that he must disappear was one that he held to even more strongly than his sister, if that were possible" (186). Out of love, Gregor makes the decision to leave/die for the sake

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