s in getting up from his bed actually relate to the difficulties that Kafka faced the very morning of the initial composing of The Metamorphosis. In regard to this he wrote Felice Bauer, his German fiance: I was simply too miserable to get out of bed. It also seemed to me that last night my novel got much worse, and I lay in the lowest depths. I’ll write you again today, even though I still have to run around a lot and shall write down a short story that occurred to me during my misery in bed and oppressed me with inmost intensity. (Corngold 64)His “short story,” mentioned in his letter to Bauer, obviously refers to The Metamorphosis. The first few lines of the story clearly has an obvious connection to his difficulty in getting up from his bed. His mentioning of “running around a lot” can clearly be interpreted in The Metamorphosis as the innumerable thoughts that are zooming by Gregor’s now inhuman brain. Kafka’s character, Gregor, obviously has to do a lot of chores: he has to catch a train and report to work since he was a commercial traveler. Kafka lived a miserable life. He was constantly haunted by the oppressive image of his father. This could be clearly seen in Gregor’s grave attempts to get out of the bed. Becoming desperate, he thinks of getting help from his dad and the servant girl, so that they can put their strong arms under his covex back and lever him out of the bed. He could then turn himself right over onto the floor and from then onwards, he hoped his SHAH 4legs could find their proper function. But, since his door was locked, he would need to call for help, which he does not prefer. This definitely shows Kafka’s fear of his father. He would rather lie on the bed for the rest of his life than to call his father to help him out of the bed. Kafka’s f...
