According to Frank Kafka’s works of the ‘The Metamorphosis’ in 1915, its prudent that isolation and alienation are the major themes as proven by Gregor’s physical transformation into a creature that strips him of his humanity in the eyes of his family, and his inability to communicate further makes him feel greatly isolated, since his family often defines him by his ability to work, something that is now difficult for him to do due to his metamorphosed condition.
Alienation is discrimination due to certain particular aspects which could be outlined as a specific contagious illness, race, poverty, etc. Just like Gregor’s case of isolation and alienation, such occurrences and experiences also happen in real life situations away from the fiction world of imagination such as Frank Kafka’s, of Gregor waking up on a particular day only to find himself transformed into a gigantic insect, ways from his normal being of being a salesman and the sole provider of his family. Isolation also serves to separate individuals who are sick from those who are well, for instance, Gregor’s case.
A real-life situation once experienced is of persons with big working titles, working in substantial productive companies and institutions that are vastly spread both national and international wise, and are the breadwinning parties in their either nuclear or even extended families; providing food, shelter and other essential and luxurious needs but end up being diagnosed with chronic and most feared illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS or even Diabetes.
Narrowing down these illnesses, individuals who have HIV/AIDS are the most likely ones to isolation and alienation from the society by every other individual since the disease is highly infectious and cursed by many most especially in the African nation. Once an individual is diagnosed with the virus, fear develops among people around him or her leading to actions such as being sucked from work, one which most probably was the primary source of income due individuals’ benefit of doubt to such a person that he or she might work inefficiently as a result of the infection.
Once an individual is viewed from such a perspective, discrimination, stigmatization, isolation and alienation follows, rendering that person ‘useless’ and ‘inefficient’ to fulfill a family’s needs, just like Gregor’s father viewed and treated Gregor, the moment he realized he could not work or communicate anymore or even provide for the family since he had turned from being a normal human being to a giant insect.
