# Kafka

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kafka/119218>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 16, 2002, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kafka/119218 "2002-07-16T10:55:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@bum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bum)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2002, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kafka/119218/1 "2002-07-16T10:55:17Z")

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So, what exactly was Kafka getting at in ‘The Metamorphosis’?

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**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2002, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kafka/119218/2 "2002-07-16T11:38:03Z")

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The human condition.  
Alienation.  
Impotence.

I think you should just read it as a beautifully written horror story, and let your mind reflect on what it reflects. That will be what it is about.

[This link](http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~efiala/kafka/meta.html) (and many others on the web) gives a more formal critique if you just want your homework doing.

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**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kafka/119218/3 "2002-07-16T15:08:09Z")

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Hve you guys noticed that if you read your usernames from bottob to top you get…

The Great Unwashed bum!

😃

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**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kafka/119218/4 "2002-07-16T15:59:39Z")

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**TGU** , good link! I never really understood the more implicit meanings in it, and so have only enjoyed it as a “beautifully written horror story”. Likewise I’m now assuming there are deeper philosophical implications in The Castle , The Trial , and The Penal Colony all of which I’ve read and loved for the simple entertainment value (and I must admit in my ignorance that I found The Metamorphosis, which I read last, to be inferior to the other works).

I tried to use your link to get to philisophical analyses of the others, but when I clicked “back” at the bottom of the page it took me to a page with no links.

Anyway, I did a quick google search and mostly got essays for sale on the subject (apparently school essays on Kafka are a valuable commodity). Of course I seriously doubt I’d have any trouble finding 100’s of analyses of the other works, particularly The Castle, if I put in the effort (and had the patience to endure my crappy dial up internet connection) but if you happen to know of a similar link for The Castle offhand, it’d be swell if you could share. 🙂

-Moe Zoid, The Great Unwashed Bum