Patriarchy in Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis :: Metamorphosis essays

Patriarchy in The Metamorphosis Patriarchy, that is, the supremacy of the father in a family and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line, plays a major part in family life. However, the institution of patriarchy is not just limited to European cultures. In this essay, we will examine the instances of patriarchy in "The Metamorphosis" and compare it to instances in Japan. In the beginning of "The Metamorphosis," we can tell from the way Gregor's family is organized that Gregor is the 'father figure,' in that he is the primary breadwinner and the one who makes most of the decisions for his family. On page 1781, we can see Gregor thinking that me would "take charge of the family's affairs again," hence showing that before he turned into a bug, he was the dominant person in the family. He is the only person in the family who actually goes out to earn money. His father has already retired, while his mother and sister, following the standards of that time, do not go out and work. Gregor is the only one who goes out as a traveling salesman, and is responsible for earning money for the whole family. His father stays at home and only "lies wearily buried in bed"(1778) while Gregor goes out on business trips. From this, we can see that Gregor has taken over his father's responsibilities as head of the household. He is earning money and supporting the family while his father has retired and only stays at home, doing nothing. This conforms with the practice of patriarchy in that the son, Gregor in this case, inherits the position and responsibilitles as head of this household from his father. In Japan, the son of a family is expected to take over the responsibilities of taking care of his family when his father retires, similar to how Gregor takes over in his family. The son is also expected to look after his parents after they grow old and retire, similar to how Gregor looks after his retired father and mother. If he does not look after his parents, he is thought of as being 'unfilial' and seen as a bad person. In contrast, daughters are expected to go out and find a good husband and get married, similar to Grete at the end of "The