In his novel, The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka uses a number of symbols to portray meaning. Particularly, the author uses food as symbolism surrounding the life of Gregor, who was the sole breadwinner of his family before undergoing a life-changing transformation into vermin. Food appears in every chapter of this novel; it is the first thing Gregor wants upon waking up. The author documents that the first thing Gregor wanted to do was to “get up quietly without any disturbance, get dressed, and above all have his breakfast, and only then put his mind to what next” (Kafka I). Kafka does not only use food as a means of sustenance but to portray other meanings, including expressing love and care, to express unity and harmony, a symbol of the desire for attention, and telling of the changing psychological state of the protagonist.
In the first chapter, the author uses food to symbolize Gregor’s need for attention. At the outset of the narrative, Gregor admits that his diet was poor before the change. He blames his poor eating habits on his unpredictable schedule at work. However, once Gregor becomes vermin, he discovers that his taste in food has also shifted. This truth dawns on him once he tries to eat Grete’s comfort food and finds out that he can no longer enjoy it (Kafka II). Nevertheless, their compassion for him persists despite his altered form, as seen by Grete’s thoughtfulness. Grete delivers Gregor a wide selection of delicacies, including rotten vegetables and stale bread. To Gregor’s surprise, he finds that spoiled food is much more to his liking than fresh food. Food can thus be seen as a symbol of the attention that Gregor requires as Grete has to think through and understand the requirements of her new form, such as being suited to enjoy rotten food and not a fresh one.
In the novel’s second part, the author majorly uses food as a symbol of love and care. By caring for Gregor’s hunger, Grete demonstrates her affection for him. She delivers a bowl of sweetened milk and a few slices of white bread for breakfast on the first day. Despite his pitiful state, Gregor is made to laugh joyfully at the sweetened milk she serves him because it is his favorite drink. After discovering that milk is no longer to Gregor’s liking, she brings in a whole new assortment of food items the following day, including half-rotten vegetables, bones from the evening meal covered with a white sauce that had almost solidified, some raisins and almonds, some dry bread, cheese, some salted bread, some butter, a bowl of water (Kafka II). Since Grete and her family could not interact with Gregor in his vermin form, they used food as the only means of showing that he was still loved and cared for. It makes her sad when he does not eat his meals. She feels she can only show her brother her love by giving him food.
In the novel, food is also used as a symbol to depict the changing attitude of Gregor’s family towards him. This is made clear in the second half of the second chapter when the family tries to put the past behind them and move on. Since Gregor can now not provide for his family due to his change into vermin, the story indicates Gregor’s declining care for the Samsa family. As the novel proceeds, the Samsa family’s descent into poverty is depicted via their actions. As they strive to survive, they begin to care less and less about Gregor. Again, the manner Grete feeds Gregor highlights the shift in their feelings toward him. Grete, who had previously cared about Gregor’s preferred foods and how much he had eaten, becomes apathetic and preoccupied with her tasks (Kafka, II). In its place, the family decides to engage a charwoman to tend to Gregor’s bodily needs. Still, nobody seems concerned about his mental health, so he stops eating. Gregor suffers more from a lack of emotional nourishment than a lack of food. Gregor laments about the lack of care:
“Without thinking any more about how one might be able to give Gregor special pleasure, the sister now kicked some food or other very quickly into his room in the morning and at noon, before she ran off to her shop, and in the evening, quite indifferent about whether the food had perhaps only been tasted or, what happened most frequently, remained entirely undisturbed, she whisked it out with one sweep of her broom” (Kafka II).
Additionally, food is used in the novel as a symbol of unity and harmony within a family. Every typical family has a regular daily ritual of sitting down to a meal together, which is when everybody interacts amicably (Jones, 2018). The family members can take time out of their hectic schedules to sit down and spend quality time with one another by eating together, a tradition highly valued for fostering communication, caring, and affection among family members. Kafka uses the Samsa family’s shifting meal ritual to depict the family’s unraveling peace and order. The story suggests that despite his hectic schedule, Gregor never misses a meal without sitting with his loved ones. But following Gregor’s strange transformation, everything changes. Kafka skillfully depicts the turbulence that destroys the Samsa family and their previously held ideals of one another. Unlike in the past, Gregor notices that his family no longer engages in conversation while eating (Kafka II). Thus, the author utilizes food and the Samsa family’s mealtime rituals as symbols to emphasize this feature of togetherness and harmony to the reader.
Moreover, the author utilizes food to signify the protagonist’s shifting psychological condition as the story progresses. Gregor is overcome with happiness the first time his sister leaves him food at his door, and he is grateful to his sister for the thoughtful gesture (Kafka I). Later on, it is observable that he is becoming more rebellious due to the mistreatment he is receiving from his family. This is reflected in the fact that his appetite begins to decrease. His appetite returns when he observes the lodgers enjoying a hearty meal at their dining table. This appetite is a metaphor for his need for attention and envy toward the lodgers because they have seized his place in the family now that they have replaced him.
Gregor succumbs to malnutrition at the very moment when his family’s care for him has diminished to the barest essential level. As has been the case throughout the narrative, Gregor’s bodily hunger is strongly connected to his unsatisfied yearning to get emotional nourishment from the people he loves. When Gregor’s maid finally discovers that he has died one morning, she breaks the news to his family, who, unfortunately, take her message as a cause for joy. They could relax and enjoy themselves for the first time since Gregor’s transformation. When describing Gregor’s body, Gregor’s sister states, “Just see how thin he was. He hasn’t eaten now for so long. Just the way his food went in, that’s how it came out” (Kafka III). Gregor’s family did not know that he was slowly dying due to a completely different kind of starvation, even though it is evident that Gregor had been suffering from physical malnutrition. If his family had paid more attention to him, they might have been able to prevent him from starving emotionally.
Generally, The Metamorphosis indicates that food is one of the most crucial elements in life that is responsible for establishing and developing human connections. The novella serves as an illustration of Gregor’s changes and his way of life. He can no longer consume human food and begins to experience a breakdown in his emotional connection with his family. His family cannot understand him, even though Gregor quickly adjusts to and enjoys his new existence as a scrap-eating insect. Ideally, food plays a significant role in people’s day-to-day lives, as well as in their emotional lives, psychological lives, and cultural lives. The author elaborates in his novel on the relationship humans have with food by utilizing it as a symbol for various elements of the characters’ lives. The author uses food to tell the story, establish the atmosphere, and give light on the characters’ psychological states.
Works Cited
Jones, Blake L. “Making time for family meals: Parental influences, home eating environments, barriers and protective factors.” Physiology & behavior 193, 2018, pp 248-251. Web.
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, e-book, translated by Joyce Crick, Oxford, 2009. EBSCOhost.