From the start of Metamorphosis the reader sees the transformation that Gregor goes through as a result of his physical transformation. One of the reasons for his isolation from society comes from his job as a salesman. He says “‘what a grueling job I’ve picked! Day in, day out – on the road’” this shows that he has no time for socializing and making new friends. (Kafka 4) his job keeps him from spending time with his family which results in distancing him from his family. The only reason he has the job is to pay his family’s debt to his boss. “Well, I haven’t given up hope completely; once I’ve gotten the money together to pay off my parents’ debt to [my boss]… then I’m going to make the big break” which is to tell his boss what he thinks of him. (Kafka 4). This shows that he is enslaved to his boss until he has enough money to get free. The aggressive and hostile actions of father have driven Gregor to take refuge in his room. When Gregor has just transformed into a bug, he father “[calls] again in a deeper, warning voice” to get up because he is getting late for work which shows that he distanced himself from his father to avoid arguments. (Kafka 5) Also when he first comes out of the room his father “with a hostile expression clenched his fist as to drive Gregor back into his room” where he hides under the sofa. (Kafka 12). This also shows that may be Gregor wants to remove the gap between his father and himself, but his father is unwilling, so he keeps him locked into his room. When Gregor goes after the manger, his father :had only the fixed idea that Gregor must return to his room as quickly as possible” this shows that his father wants to keep him isolated from the rest of the way and leave no means of escape for Gregor (Kafka 15). Gregor’s room had three doors that open to the outside world, before his transformation he had kept the doors locked from the inside, but “now that he had opened one of the doors and the other had evidently been opened during the day, no one came in, and now the keys were even inserted on the outside” (Kafka 16). This shows that Gregor choose to be isolated from the world, but now that he wants to leave his nest, nobody would let him.
When the Catcher in the Rye starts the reader learns that Holden has a different personality that most of the main character of other novels such as David Copperfield. The main reason that Holden has alienated himself from other is that he does not want to either grow up or let anybody else grow up. Also he is suffering from depression due to his Brother Allie’s death and this plays an important part in his isolation. In order to prevent forming any relationship with other students at his school, Holden would always “stand way the hell up on top of Thomsen hill” during football games where people usually socialize (Salinger 5). Also he goes not want children grow up to become adults who he calls phonies, so he dislikes all adults. He uses isolation as a way to protect himself from all the phonies. He uses isolation to show that he is different from everybody else, but in reality he is just living in a make believe world. Also meeting and interacting with other people confuses and overwhelms him so he does not want to deal with it. However, the only person whom Holden wants to relate to is Sally Hayes, but she most of the time alienates him. She ignores him when he tells her that he loves her in the cab, which shows that women have no interest in him. The only reason that she was with him was his loneliness, but the lack of experience with other human beings had left Holden hopeless and confused. Similarly, he wants to be with Jane Gallagher, but can not bring himself to ask her out, so he once again isolates himself from her and her friends.
Both Gregor and Holden isolate themselves from society and their family because they do not want to face reality. Gregor isolates himself from his family due to the fact that he has to pay his family’s debt while Holden isolates himself because he does not want to grow up and face the real world. Holden has only his sister to converse with while Gregor does not have anybody to spend time with. Both characters lack women in their lives, so Holden tries to hire a prostitute while Gregor has a picture of a woman with fur on his wall. Alienation is used by Holden as a way of holding on to his childhood, but Gregor uses it to support his family and get his family out of debt. By the time both of them realize that isolation from society is not working, it was too late because society had viewed them as strangers. They could not change themselves even if they tried because society would push them back into isolation.
Kafka used Gregor as a way to portray himself and his relationship with his father and isolation to get away from the society. In order to get his family out of debt Gregor has isolated himself from any social time and has locked himself in his room. He has turned himself a prisoner and a stranger in his own house. Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye tells the story of a teenager who is tied to his childhood and uses alienation to prevent himself from growing up. In this journey he loses contact with his family and never bonds with other students from his school. Alienation is the central theme of both novels which was the norm during the early 20th century where people used alienation to get away from the war, the great depression and life’s challenges.
