The Metamorphosis

The very first sentence in the story tells the reader that Gregor has been transformed into a fly overnight : "As Gregor Samson awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect" (794). Here Kafka leaves no room for debate by simply stating what has happened. By doing this he helps the reader believe that this has really happened, although one knows that people can not really be transformed into insects. The reader is willing to believe that Gregor has really changed into a fly because it makes the rest of the story easier to read.

If the other characters besides Gregor did not believe that he was a fly then the reader would have a very difficult ti

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The poor fellow was now completely confounded. Their reactions to him help the reader to visualize what is going on in their small apartment.

If Gregor’s family and the other characters in the story did not believe that he had experienced a metamorphosis then it would be extremely difficult for the reader to believe that he had. Before the readers actually reads either of these stories he or she might not believe that they will be able to be convinced of something so bizarre. The lodgers are so astounded by what has been happening around them that they give notice of their plans to move out and they also refuse to pay Mr.

In Kafka’s "The Metamorphosis" he does an excellent job of gaining the reader’s "willing suspension of disbelief" compared to some of the other supernatural events that have taken place in other stories. This may be due to the fact that for a while Rip himself does not believe what has happened to him. They believe their eyes from the first time they see Gregor. But both Kafka and Irving accomplish t!

he job of convincing the reader that those events did take place while he or she is still reading the story. But as the story progresses, the reader becomes more convinced than ever before that Gregor Samsa has had a metamorphosis into a fly or that Rip Van Winkle has actually fallen asleep in the woods for twenty years. But at no time in the story do they doubt what has happened. "Rip looked, and he beheld a precise counterpart of himself, as he went up the mountain; apparently as lazy, and certainly as ragged. This passage (802) describes how his parents react when they first see Gregor as a fly: "His mother - in spite of the chief clerk’s being there her hair was still undone and sticking up in all directions - first clasped her hands and looked at his father, then took two steps toward Gregor and fell on the floor among her outspread skirts, her face hidden on her breast. He doubted his own identity, and whether he was himself or another man" (698).

In "The Metamorphosis" Franz Kafka does and excellent job of gaining the readers "willing suspension of disbelief.

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Approximate Word count = 1106
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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