Existentialism in Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis and The Hunger Artist

Existentialism in The Metamorphosis and The Hunger Artist Existentialism is a doctrine traffic with mans aloneness in the universe. Either there is no God or else God stands apart from man, leaving him free will to make his knowledge choices. From this basic idea of man being alone in an equivocal and purpose slight world, many related ideas have developed. One great relate of existentialist writers is that life is fair too complicated and too impersonal. wad become more and more involved with their work, which is taking them away from their friends, family, and culture. However, these impart the only meaning that life could possibly have. One author prominently known for his work with existential ideas was Franz Kafka. Kafka, who wrote from the mid-1910s until the early 1920s, took the ideas of existentialism and interwove them so swell into his novels and short stories that they became a trademark of his writing. Two of his stories are good examples of this philosophy The Metamorphosis and The Hunger Artist. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor, the protagonist, works as a salesman. He doesnt like his lineage but works very hard, making his job his life. When he wakes up one morning having turned into a droppings beetle (or perhaps a cockroach?) during the night, he thinks only virtually how he is going to get to work, not how it happened or what he rouse do about it. The hunger artist is also completely devote to his job, which is fasting. To him it is an art, one which he works at day and night. All of his thoughts localise on how he can improve himself. At the end of twoscore days (which was the fasting limit set by his manager), he evermore asks himself, Why nail now when I am in my best fasting for... ... In both stories, Kafka deals with existentialist ideas. He touches on the view that society is becoming too complicated, too impersonal, and suggests that in our compulsion for work we are acquire out of touch with each other. When we start treating mankind as inanimate objects instead of people, the results are disastrous. Although Kafka makes these dismal observations, he also provides for a brighter future. Although humans as a group are becoming less and less personal, he seems to say, an optimistic future is possible if individuals will only stop and examine themselves and their relationships with other people. WORKS CITED Kafka, Franz. The Hunger Artist. In The Collected inadequate Stories of Franz Kafka. Ed. Nahum Glatzer. London Penguin, 1983. ---. The Metamorphosis. Trans. Stanley Corngold. New York Bantam, 1972.