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  • Essay / How Kafka's Metamorphosis Meets the Criteria of Magical Realism

    Have you ever seen your physical life change, but your reality remained the same? ̈ The Metamorphosis ̈ by Franz Kafka is inspired by and transforms ̈The Transformation of Arachne into a Spider ̈ and thus meets the criteria of magical realism. Minerva (Greek goddess) approaches Arachne, her rival in the art of weaving. Minerva is so enraged by Arachne's talent that she begins to beat her. Unable to bear such treatment, Arachne hangs herself and Minerva transforms her into a spider. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Metamorphosis tells the story of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who wakes up one day to find that he has transformed into a giant insect. His family is disgusted by him. Gregor eventually died after deciding he was a burden to his family. Gregor's transformation into a vomiting-inducing parasite is often seen as an expression of Kafka's feelings of isolation and inferiority. His transformation is accepted as reality. In Ovid's "The Transformation of Arachne into a Spider", Arachne is transformed into a spider by Pallas as punishment for disputing the fact that her weaving skills were far superior to those of the goddess. Arachne boasts, “Let her fight with me.” There is nothing that, once conquered, I would refuse to endure. After completing the weaving challenge, Pallas says, “Keep living, you villain, but hang on all the same; and let the same decree of punishment be pronounced against your race. The goddess then floods Arachne with a magical herb and she transforms into a spider. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa wakes up, “transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin” (a cockroach). Although no explicit cause is given for Gregor's metamorphosis, his feelings about his job and his boss are clear. “If I didn't have to think about my parents, I would have given my notice a long time ago, I would have gone to the boss and told him what I thought, I would have told him whatever I wanted, I would leave it I know exactly how I feel. He would fall off his desk! Like Arachne, Gregor attempts to challenge a superior and is transformed physically and mentally as a result. Although the main characters (Gregor and Arachne) in both works are transformed as punishment for defying their boss or ruler, Ovid's depiction ends after Arachne becomes the spider. “Arachne's hair, affected by the noxious drug, has fallen out, along with her nose and ears” and “her slender fingers cling to her sides like legs.” All we know about her future is that “she works on her web as before,” continuing to weave in her transformed state. There is only a description of the act of shapeshifting with no explanation of the life she leads as a spider or whether her change has a significant impact on her character. Kafka, on the other hand, illustrates in great detail the reality of Gregor's life as a vermin. The reader learns of Gregor's struggles and discovery of his new body as he "pushes towards the door, feeling awkwardly with his antennae - the value of which he was now beginning to learn to see what was going on there." .” Kafka not only describes Gregor's concrete reaction to his metamorphosis, but he also describes the impact of this change on Gregor's family. The diligent care of Gregor's sister Grete turns into apathy and eventually hatred of this altered life affects him. “We can't all work as hard as we have to and come home to be tortured like this, we can't stand that. I.