Existentialism is a philosophy dealing with man's aloneness in the universe.

Either there is no God or else God

stands apart from man, leaving him free will to make his own choices. From this basic idea of man being
alone in an uncertain and purposeless world, many related ideas have developed. One great worry of
existentialist writers is that life is becoming too complicated and too impersonal. People become more and
more involved with their work, which is taking them away from their friends, family, and culture. However,
these provide the only "meaning" that life could possibly have.
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At the beginning of the text, his only concern is that he has to go to work. He’s thus thinking about how he
could get up and work given the fact that he is now a bug. He seems more preoccupied by the fact that he
might be late than by the fact he has become an insect. Instead of panicking, he can only think about moving
from his bed in a way that wouldn’t hurt his new body. That is in fact a very surprising reaction when you
wake up one morning with the body of an enormous insect.

Owing to this perspective, the author highlights existential questions such as the meaning of life,
communication with others, relations between an individual and his own body and his own mind. Gregor’s
story is used as a pretext to bring up questions about loneliness, social and familial relationships, and
individuality. Behind a short fantastic novel, Kafka reaches major philosophical concepts.
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Gregor doesn’t know what he looks like. He never sees himself in a mirror and thus has no idea of his own
appearance. I believe this emphasizes the interrogation about the self that appears in the novel. I would like
to show the link between Kafka’s novel and the thoughts of Kierkegaard.

According to Kierkegaard, the self is built in opposition to the finite and the infinite. The finite is your
determined and fixed characteristics, whereas the infinite is the possibilities and the capacity of choice that
you possess as a human being. You must find a balance between the finite and the infinite to build your self.
Indeed, if an individual only explores his infinite part, he will fall in a dark mood of paralyzing incertitude and
anxiety. On the other hand, if the finite is too important, there is no more freedom, doubt, or reflection.
When you lose yourself in the finite, it means no alternative exists and it therefore is alienation. I believe
Gregor is in that situation: his possibilities have been widely reduced. He is lost in the finite of his bug’s body.
His own self alienates him. The reader can really feel the oppressing atmosphere of the story. He’s not even
wondering for a minute how he could come back to his human life.

If Gregor can’t find a balance between the finite and the infinite, does he still have a self? How could he
define himself? For Kierkegaard, the self « is an act of relating ». This means the self is the result of a two
relations. The first one is the connection between the body (which is temporal), and the soul (which is
eternal). But that is not enough to build a complete self, there must be a second step which consists in linking
one self to another. According to Kierkegaard’s perception, one can analyze Gregor’s self. At the beginning,
he can’t make the connection between his mind and his body. He has to adapt his human personality to his
bug’s movements. With time, he builds the first step of his self. Although he achieves his first purpose, he
now has to link himself with his peers. However, his family doesn’t recognize him and neither do they accept
him thus making impossible for him to fulfill the second step. His self is therefore incomplete, but he goes on
thinking and trying to communicate. He may still has a self and he may still considerate himself as an
individual, the others don’t see him as a real person and his self is destructed by his family’s perception.

Gregor is locked in his new body and in his mind. He doesn’t communicate with his family like he used to. He
can’t be understood. Moreover, he doesn’t seem to be really anxious about what is happening to him. He
only thinks about material matters such as money. This novel has a deep dramatic and suffocating mood.
Kafka thus conveys a universal feeling of unease and a relevant interrogation about the self.