Kafka’s breakdown in communication Anonymous College

The aim of this essay is to investigate to what extent Kafka conveys a collapse in communication, how he achieves this enterprise, the significance of this goal, and the effect his literary decisions have upon the reader’s perception of the enterprise. To communicate a breakdown in communication is a paradoxical goal in that it involves the two contradictory and arguably mutually exclusive concepts of simultaneously successful and failing communication. Kafka demonstrates a deterioration in communication through the lacking contact between Gregor Samsa, referred to henceforth as Gregor, and his family, which worsens as a result of the metamorphosis and eventually brings the novella to its climax.

The most evident breakdown in communication in the text is demonstrated by Gregor’s inability to communicate verbally with his fellow family members, which becomes apparent at the beginning of the text when Gregor attempts with great futility to explain his tardiness to his work superior, who remarks that Gregor is speaking with a “Tierstimme”. Kafka’s choice of this lexeme is significant because while portraying the protagonist’s nonsensical, animal-like vocalisations it also acknowledges that this still constitutes a voice, a...