In Camus’ The Stranger
and Kafka’s Metamorphosis, the protagonist finds himself in an extraordinary
situation that challenges his will. In both novels, this initially unsympathetic
character struggles to redeem himself. In so doing, his identity develops and
his positive qualities become evident. The characters thus become unexpectedly
sympathetic to the reader, and each novel concludes with a hopeful tone.
In The Stranger, the
protagonist Meursault can be judged as a cold-hearted killer who is emotionally
detached from the world around him. His alienation from society and indifference
to love and sorrow are blatant. “Mother died today,” he comments, “Or
maybe yesterday, I don't know.” He treats others callously: “She asked me if
I loved her. I told her it didn't mean anything but that I didn't think so.”
Meursault only focuses on the physical aspects of life, especially relating to
light and heat: “There wasn’t a shadow to be seen and every object… stood
out so sharply that it was painful to my eyes.”
The Stranger’s central
event occurs when Meursault shoots the Arab. The language used in this passage
is so elaborate and rich in simile – “The steel… was like a long, flashing
sword,” for example – almost detaches the act from Meursault and causes the
reader to question whether he did it with intent or not: “That's when
everything began to reel. The sea carried up a thick, fiery breath. It seemed to
me as if the sky split open from one end to the other to rain down fire… The
trigger gave.” Camus detaches Meursault from the action with “The trigger
gave,” further insulating Meursault against intent or consequence – and
therefore against blame.
In prison, Meursault’s
positive qualities become apparent. He has the opportunity to get away with a
minor sentence but instead, with “It was because of the sun,” admits his
guilt. He also appears more sympathetic in contrast to the unlikable judge who
“sees nothing but a monster” in Meursault. The reader, who has come to see
the killing as unpremeditated, feels defensive of the protagonist when the judge
wishes the death sentence upon Meursault and states: “Never before have I felt
this onerous task so fully compensated and counterbalanced, not to say
enlightened by a sense of urgent and sacred duty.” The reader feels the judge
is being overly harsh to Meursault, misjudging his inherently decent (if
detached and alienated) character. When the climax is reached and Meursault is
sentenced to death, we therefore feel sympathetic to this formerly unpalatable
character.
Gregor of Kafka’s
Metamorphosis comes across as self-involved and unsympathetic at first. Some
evidence suggests that Gregor, unlike Meursault, acts this way intentionally.
For example, his primary reason for working so hard and supporting his whole
family is to appear as a hero: “If I didn’t have to hold my hand because of
my parents I would have given notice long ago.” He even prioritizes it over
romantic relationships, as the picture in his bedroom shows no personal
companion or even a sensuous image but rather shows “a lady, with a fur cap on
and a fur stole, sitting upright.”
Gregor’s transformation
into a beetle can be viewed in two ways. On the one hand we feel pity that he
should, for no specific reason, be turned into a repulsive beetle. On the other
hand we feel that he deserves it, considering that his life seemed very hollow
and unimportant before his transformation. In either case, Gregor’s real
transformation takes place throughout the story as he comes to realize that what
truly makes him happy is not his “strenuous career” but rather things such
as his sister playing the violin “so beautifully.”
The point of view used in
Metamorphosis is the limited omniscient, which functions to help Kafka create
sympathy for Gregor. If we were given accounts of Gregor only by his family, our
opinion of him would be limited. At first his parents appear to care for him:
“‘Oh dear,’ cried his mother, in tears, ‘perhaps he’s terribly ill;’”
but after seeing him as a beetle, they show no sympathy for him at all:
“Pitilessly Gregor’s father drove him back, hissing and crying ‘Shoo!’
like a savage.” By using the limited omniscient instead of the third person
point of view, Kafka provides insight into Gregor’s sometimes unselfish ideas:
“It was a secret plan of his that [his sister] should be sent next year to
study [the violin]… despite the great expense.”
As the reader’s sympathy
builds for Gregor, he, like Meursault, becomes a victim. Now that Gregor is just
an “old dung-beetle,” his family may as well pelt him with apples until he
dies. What is he worth if not providing a comfortable life for the family?
Just as the prosecutor in
The Stranger is made to appear unsympathic, so too is Gregor’s family in
Metamorphosis. By using these comparisons, the protagonists are made to seem
like heroes, even if only for a short time, and therefore more sympathetic. In
addition, both Gregor and Meursault go through a transformation throughout their
stories and become wiser: “As if that blind rage has washed me clean, rid me
of hope,” one says. “For the first time… I opened myself to the gentle
indifference of the world.” Their emotional evolution is another reason that
readers become more sympathetic to them.
Camus and Kafka also show
their characters’ awareness and fear before their deaths, their vulnerability
making the reader feel even more compassion for them. The previously unemotional
Meursault has become fearful: “I explained to him that I wasn’t in despair.
I was simply afraid.” Just as he begins to make sense of the world, life is
stolen from him: “The presiding judge told me in a bizarre language that I was
to have my head cut off in a public square…” But Camus has resigned himself
to his fate: “The presiding judge asked me if I had anything to say. I thought
about it. I said, ‘No.’” Gregor reacts in a similarly odd, detached manner
when he is left to die: “‘I'd like to eat something,’ said Gregor
anxiously, ‘but not anything like they're eating. They do feed themselves. And
here I am, dying!’” By concluding the novels with death, Camus and Kafka
show symbolically that the characters have completed – as best they can –
the journey to find true identity.
Camus’ and Kafka’s
decision to make their characters sympathetic carries the implication that there
is hope within all of us – that we can change our views toward what might have
once seemed unsympathetic or simply distasteful. We see Meursault and Gregor
struggle through circumstances beyond their control only to fail in the end,
making them seem, paradoxically, almost heroic. Their positive qualities
gradually emerge – not least at the time of their deaths, when Gregor for
example thinks of his family “with tenderness and love” – and the reader
is left feeling unexpected sympathy for both characters.