Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" has meant many different things, to many different people. In fact, it is honestly quite hard to understand or interpret what he intended by writing this piece. Within this one story Kafka touches on themes such as family duty, personal identity, and guilt. However, looking at the author closely, it is quite clear that the life of isolation Kafka lived, is the same life he gives his main character. Isolation as a theme is discussed from the beginning of the story until the main character dies alone in his room. While the characters guilt, workaholism, and rejection by his family are all present, they seem to feed off of this central core of isolation. Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" cannot only be argued as a piece of literature reflecting one man's isolation, but, it can also be considered semi-autobiographical, as both the main character and Kafka himself are comparable in many ways.
             Born in 1883, Franz Kafka grew up in an atmosphere of familial tensions and social rejection as a member of Prague's Jewish minority. As the son of an overbearing shopkeeper, Franz felt constantly inadequate and alienated from his family, a theme that shows up in "The Metamorphosis". Although Kafka constantly sought his fahter's approval, he was verbally and mentally abused by him, a fact reflected in Kafka's literature and diaries. Kafka wrote journals and stories his entire life, although never making it a career. He worked several jobs his entire life, with writing being a private, personal passion. In 1913, Kafka was introduced to the writings of Soren Kierkegaard, who was radical and skeptical much like Kafka. Both men analyzed human integrity and were interested in morality and a man's search for himself. Kierkegaard has been deemed an existentialist, much like Kafka. Although Kafka never indicated that he was expressing a deep philosophical theory, when you consider the time, place, and nature of Kafka himse...