Vermin: Identity and the Standing Metaphor in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis [Ungeziefer. Identität und die Metapher des Stehens in Franz Kafkas Die Verwandlung]

Abstract

Gregor Samsa’s problem is not with his new body, but rather with how that body is construed through the language and upright culture of his world. Standing, in that world, is a primary determinant of human identity, a definition that excludes a creature whose body interacts differently with the world. Through constant repetition of words and gestures related to uprightness, Kafka develops a constellation that confronts readers with deep questions about a society structured by an exclusive metaphor. Dominated by language maligning a body like his, Samsa inhabits a text that both propagates and condemns that language.