Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis and Julio Cortazar’s short story Axolotl are not only based off of the writers themselves; they also exhibit a plethora of similar themes and concepts, including absurdism, alienation, Marxism, and magic realism. Oftentimes in fictional literature, traces of emotions exhibited by characters and events that occur within the fictional work are heavily influenced by the writer’s own dilemmas. This parallel between the writer and the fictional work is demonstrated in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, where the transformation of the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, ultimately represents the guilt the writer is experiencing as a result of his nonfictional conflicts. Throughout many of Kafka’s literary works, the influence his dictatorial father left on him is exhibited, including the novella The Metamorphosis. The intense training forced upon Kafka by his father left him consumed with guilt and terror, which is reflected in his writing (Barfi, Azizmohammadi, and …show more content…
Therefore, he begins to feel that he is a real insect, which triggers the psychological transformation in Gregor Samsa. (Kohzadi, Azizmohammadi, and Nouri 1603). As time passes and Gregor is forced to adjust to his new life as an insect, he becomes alienated from the human experience as well. Gregor’s physical transformation into a strange creature coupled with the poor treatment towards him exuded by his family members lead him to believe that he was no longer human. Every concrete ounce of humanity was drained from him with only his abstract mind to prove that he was still human. Regardless, the human mind exists only within itself, with no proof that it truly exists. If a faulty concept such as the mind is the only fraction of humanity Gregor has left, what evidence can be used to prove that he is indeed not truly an