English World Literature Essay: The Outsider and The Metamorphosis
Comparisons between the relationships that the protagonists had with their parents and how these defined their characters.
In the novels, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and The Outsider by Albert Camus, there are many important relationships that help define the protagonists. The protagonist in The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa, and the protagonist from The Outsider, Meursault, both had significant relationships with people that helped develop and define their character, the most important of these being their relationships with their parents. I will compare the two protagonists in their relationships with their parents and explain how these relations define aspects of their character.
Firstly, in the novel, the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor Samsa is a travelling salesman who hates his job but is forced to keep it in order to support his family and pay off his father's debts. Gregor has only one sister, so their family is quite small. Immediately at the beginning of the book, Gregor is transformed into a giant insect. He never comes to terms with his metamorphosis and struggles with intense feelings of guilt as if his inability to support his family were his own fault. Though he is now free from having to go to work, Gregor is now a liability to his family who keep him locked up in his room. Isolated and neglected, Gregor is a metaphor for the human being oppressed by capitalism and alienated from work, family, and himself.
In the novel, The Outsider by Albert Camus, Meursault is a young man who lives alone and is emotionally indifferent to most things in his life. He cares only for physical pleasures, things that he experiences and senses and is completely honest, always telling people the truth. He lives in Algeria in a time just after there had been two world wars and like many people in that time his existence was empty which we see through his relationships.
Comparisons between the relationships that the protagonists had with their parents and how these defined their characters.
In the novels, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and The Outsider by Albert Camus, there are many important relationships that help define the protagonists. The protagonist in The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa, and the protagonist from The Outsider, Meursault, both had significant relationships with people that helped develop and define their character, the most important of these being their relationships with their parents. I will compare the two protagonists in their relationships with their parents and explain how these relations define aspects of their character.
Firstly, in the novel, the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor Samsa is a travelling salesman who hates his job but is forced to keep it in order to support his family and pay off his father's debts. Gregor has only one sister, so their family is quite small. Immediately at the beginning of the book, Gregor is transformed into a giant insect. He never comes to terms with his metamorphosis and struggles with intense feelings of guilt as if his inability to support his family were his own fault. Though he is now free from having to go to work, Gregor is now a liability to his family who keep him locked up in his room. Isolated and neglected, Gregor is a metaphor for the human being oppressed by capitalism and alienated from work, family, and himself.
In the novel, The Outsider by Albert Camus, Meursault is a young man who lives alone and is emotionally indifferent to most things in his life. He cares only for physical pleasures, things that he experiences and senses and is completely honest, always telling people the truth. He lives in Algeria in a time just after there had been two world wars and like many people in that time his existence was empty which we see through his relationships.