Essay about The Outsider and The Metamorphosis - 1430 Words

English World Literature Essay: The Outsider and The Metamorphosis Comparisons between the relationships that the protagonists had with their parents and how these defined their characters. In the novels, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and The Outsider by Albert Camus, there are many important relationships that help define the protagonists. The protagonist in The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa, and the protagonist from The Outsider, Meursault, both had significant relationships with people that helped develop and define their character, the most important of these being their relationships with their parents. I will compare the two protagonists in their relationships with their parents and explain how these relations define†¦show more content†¦Meursault never mentions his father in The Outsider and so we are only looking at his relationship with his mother. At the beginning of The Outsider, Meursault receives a telegram informing him of his mothers death. He accepts this with little emotion, seeming to be more concerned by the fact that his boss will be angry with him for taking two days off to go to the rest home where his mother was staying before she died. This immediately demonstrates Meursault’s lack of feeling or emotion over death. In his view, everyone dies eventually and it is inevitable. We learn that he sent her to the rest home because he did not have enough money to care for her, had nothing more to say to her, and he thought she would prefer to be around other people of her age. So his relationship with his mother defined a part of his character because it showed his lack of emotion that continues throughout the book. The very first sentences of the play: Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know. Are a good example of this lack of feeling and although he gives a fair reason for not knowing when she died, you still get the feeling of a lack of emotion which is clarified at many other points throughout the novel. When he arrives at the rest home, he says that he would rather not see his mother’s body. Meursault knew this wasShow MoreRelatedThe Outsider Phenomenon In Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis1199 Words   |  5 PagesThe Outsider Phenomenon In life, it is a universal reality that there will be those in society who are not accepted as others are. This can be due to race, intelligence, personality, beliefs, and an infinite amount of other reasons. Individuals such as these are known by many monikers: outsiders, outcasts, pariahs, strangers, aliens, and more. All these terms describe vaguely the same type of being; one who, for whatever reason, is not accepted in normal society. However, these outsiders areRead MoreEssay On Misunderstood In The Metamorpoda711 Words   |  3 PagesOutsiders: Misjudged or Misunderstood? What does being outsider mean? Does it mean being left out of being different? People have often felt like an outsider at one point in their life, and wonder why. 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