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The Powerful Opening of Kafka's Metamorphosis



'When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.' Franz Kafka opens his novella Metamorphosis (also The Transformation and The Transfiguration) with the above phrase, a simple statement of fact. He startles the reader with this bold first sentence. It draws the reader directly to the question of why? Why is Gregor Samsa a monstrous vermin. The inclusion that Samsa has had 'unsettling dreams' could indicate that he was subconsciously aware of his metamorphosis taking place. It also tells us that his mind is not at rest. The words 'monstrous vermin' in the publication translated by Stanley Corngold differ from the description in the original German. The German translates directly to 'horrific bug' . 'Monstrous vermin' still leaves the reader space to imagine a number of different vermin that Samsa could have become, but the use of 'horrific bug' narrows......

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Approximate Word Count: 1111
Approximate Pages: 5 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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