‘The metamorphosis’ Reflective Statement

How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work
developed through the interactive oral ?

Before the oral discussion in the class around the novella “The Metamorphosis by
Franz Kafka, my understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work was
limited. Therefore, the interactive oral significantly provided me with the significance of
Prague’s history role, the structure of society, the conflicts between classes and
appearance of capitalism and existentialism in the novella.

From our oral discussion, I became aware that the novella’s context was partly
influenced by Prague’s situation at that time. In the nineteenth century, while World War
I were about to break out, Prague was the capital of Bohemia. In this period, Jewish family
grew rapidly and the majority of them spoke Czech. Czech-speaking people were
considered as the working class and contrast to them, German was the language of the
empire’s rulers. Therefore, two main classes bourgeoisie and proletariat were portrayed
during the discussion. We all agreed that although two classes did not seem to relate to
others, there was still an unbreakable connection between them. Proletariat - the working
class, depends on the managers - the bourgeoisie for their jobs and earnings. The
discussion also brought about the idea that the people with the same class cared for
others and had more humanity than the upper class. Furthermore, we came to the
conclusion that wealthy people dominated poor people.

Capitalism and existentialism are common political system and

philosophical theory that mostly appeared in literary works at that time. Capitalism inclines
private owners for profit rather than socialism while people are equal and have the same
opportunities. Existentialism emphasizes the existence of individual person. Franz Kafka
lived among the Jewish since he was born. He could speak both German and Czech but
his preferred language is German. He felt the alienation from the other as he was the only
one who spoke German living in Jewish society. Consequently, we consented to the idea
that he used capitalism and existential in “The Metamorphosis” so as to represent himself
to readers. This also brought us to the idea that his life remarkably affected his work.

The interactive oral was a valuable experience to comprehend the role of history,
structure and conflicts between bourgeoisie and proletariat. It also gave us a chance to
take into consideration his life’s influence on his work.