Riley Lundy

Murray State College

English 1213

Professor Hammet

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

04-28-2025

Word Count: 1,100

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      Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915) is an exploration of isolation, loneliness, and the heavy weight of the expectations of society. This story follows Gregor Samsa, the main character, who is a traveling salesman, but wakes up one morning to find he has transformed into a giant insect. This absurd and unimaginable situation represents how neglect and objectification can lead to emotional as well as mental breakdowns. Kafka’s story undeniably grasps the struggles of individuals who feel trapped by their circumstances and rejected by the people surrounding them. He would not be surprised by the rising suicide rates, but instead be devastated by what the world has come to. He would understand suicide and relate to those struggling with it because he also struggled with suicidal thoughts.

      Franz Kafka was a German writer who was born in Czechia during the 19th century (Franz Kafka, 2021). Kafka usually wrote from a very dark, depressed place, which was a reflection of his inner emotions. He seemed to be disconnected from the outside world. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), refers to Kafka as “a man living in a state of alienation from the outside world and having self-destructive tendencies” (NIH, 2016). He personally struggled with suicide, so this is something that is very close to his heart. He knows the pain and hardship of suicide. Kafka was faced with the same challenges as people struggling with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts today. He often contemplated suicide, but in the end, he never followed through with it. “In a letter, Kafka told his best friend Max Brod that he had spent the whole night between the 7th and 8th of October, 1912, thinking about his suicide” (Bartoli, 2023). Throughout Kafka’s life, he demonstrated his thoughts of loneliness and suicidal ideation through his writings. 

      One of Kafka’s most popular writings is The Metamorphosis. Readers are really able to understand what is going on in his head throughout this story. Kafka uses dark imagery and a tone of quiet resignation to demonstrate how Gregor, the main character, is falling apart on the inside. This mirrors the emotional numbness, inside feelings, and helplessness that many times accompany suicidal thoughts. There are a lot of people who do not show signs of struggling until it is already too late. They keep all of it bundled up inside of them and hide it from the outside world. According to the research of Cleveland Clinic, “Suicide doesn’t always have clear warning signs. It can happen suddenly, without any indication that something was wrong” (Suicide, 2024). Gregor’s suffering depicts Kafka’s own lifelong feelings of alienation, depression, and constantly being a burden to the people around him, especially in relation to his family. 

      The most difficult relationship that Kafka had to navigate through, was the one with his father, Hermann Kafka (NIH, 2005). Their relationship is often characterized as complex and complicated. His father was strict and had very high expectations, which caused Kafka to put lots of pressure on himself to succeed, and that ultimately led to anxiety and depression.  He seemed to be put in a box that he could not expand out of because of his father. “Another aspect having a strong influence on the development of young Kafka’s character is the relationship with his family, with a domineering father which would certainly not have contributed favourably to the correct development of a delicate personality” (NIH, 2005). Many people struggling with suicide have these feelings of not being seen and feeling invisible. According to PsychCentral, experts have found that the experience of rejection and feeling invisible can cause real pain (Raypole, 2021). Kafka can relate to these deep emotions because he personally had to deal with the feelings of being invisible throughout his entire life. 

      On top of the difficult relationship he had with his father he also had some personal problems, issues that are often associated with suicidal thoughts or ideation. “It is generally agreed that Kafka had clinical depression, social anxiety, and many other stress-exacerbated ailments throughout life” (NIH, 2007). Along with his mental health failing, he also dealt with Tuberculosis (Türk, 2017). Kafka fully believed that his physical illness was caused by the struggles he faced mentally. He wrote many letters to Milena (Neimneh, 2015), a woman whom he became very close to but ultimately the relationship failed. In one of his letters, he writes: “I am mentally handicapped, the lung disease is none other than an overflow of the mental disease” (Kafka, 1920). Everything that was wrong with him, he ultimately blamed on his mental health and all the problems he dealt with on the inside. People struggling with suicide feel the same way. Their inside feelings tend to take control of their entire body, and they feel there is nothing they can do about it.

      In Kafka’s eyes, suicide would not just be something that is a personal tragedy, but instead a reflection of deeper corruption in society. If Kafka were alive today, he would be deeply rooted in suicide. Based on his writings, he would perceive this problem with deep sorrow, but also a sense of dark understanding. He would likely view the suicide epidemic with feelings of despair and empathy. Kafka would see modern society as a place where people are constantly misunderstood, judged, and isolated which can lead to suicidal ideation. The world overwhelmed him, so he would be able to comprehend how it still does the same thing to people today.

      Kafka would not even be surprised by the epidemic, but instead think that it is inevitable because of what society has come to. He believed that inside problems can often be blamed on the outside world. That resonates in the world today because people often value control over connection and productivity over peace. In Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, he demonstrates how the outside world can harm your mental health. This is shown through ways of high societal expectations, discrimination, and isolation. All of these things are still happening in society today, which causes people’s mental health to greatly decline. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), people struggling with mental health often hide it because stigma and discrimination against people with mental illness is still a problem in society today (APA, 2025).

      If Franz Kafka was still alive today, he would not be surprised that suicide is a social epidemic. He would understand why suicide has become such a big deal and relate to those who are struggling with it. Throughout his entire life, he dealt with feelings of isolation, loneliness, and being misunderstood. Many of the feelings he had internally, carried into his writings. He displayed all the characteristics of someone dealing with depression and suicidal ideation. Kafka would likely be disappointed with what the world has come to. He would feel great sorrow for those going through the same things he did.