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I have chosen to look at Metamorphosis and The Mountains of Majipoor because I am interested in the similarities between the way the novelists show alienation and I would like to explore this idea further. I am certain that the novelists intended to make the effect they did in their writing and I would like to discover exactly how it was that they achieved their effect. Metamorphosis is a novella, a surreal short story that deals with a mans unusual experience of a metamorphosis into a gigantic insect. Something I noticed right away with this novel is the central metaphor. Gregor's transformation into an insect should not be taken literally but as a method of getting across a view. I see Metamorphosis as an allegory.
The central metaphor could have been used by Kafka to portray his feelings of how society treats the labour incapable. He had been separated by economic and social demand, business duties (pg 17) the demands of him to work to support his family, what s the use of lying idle in bed, (pg 13). Gregor manifests a physical appearance that corresponds to the difference he has with his family socially. This separation may represent his alienation in the novella. However, Kafka s story has been interpreted in many different ways. One interpretation of the story is that it is a reflection of Kafka s fear of physical and mental collapse due to his own ill health.
This is a good interpretation that I agree with to a certain extent. It could be that Kafka feared that he would experience the same alienation he presents in his writing himself, if his own condition worsened. The Mountains of Majipoor is a novel with a science fiction-fantasy genre. It deals with a mans exile from his home and occupation. Silverberg shows Harpirias alienation immediately, through the story. After his exile the letters Harpirias receives become less and less regular as he becomes cut off from his old life more and more.
an occasional brief letter greater and greater spaces between each communication. (Pg. 14). Silverberg shows us the passage of time from Harpirias banishment being much longer than a year. In this time he gets little communication in any form. A visitor? A visitor?
No one ever came visiting Here Harpirias is talking to himself and asking himself a rhetorical question. This could be Silverberg's way of showing that Harpirias has been alienated for so long that his mind is now adjusting to the changes of state. Harpirias no longer asks questions he expects to be answered. When Harpirias receives the letter informing him of his new assignment he summarises the instructions to himself.
into the forlorn, ice bound mountainous territories of Zimroel s far Northeastern region. (Pg. 15) The language Silverberg uses in the quote above; forlorn, ice bound, and far; all suggests an area of solitude. It creates an image of vast sheets of ice and sharp mountains breaking through it with no one for miles and miles. The image he has created with this description is cold and alienated. Silverberg has structured the sentence in a way that puts stress on the words forlorn and far, so when read the words are stretched. This adds to the effect of the language, supporting the image of alienation and solitude. One of the things both authors do in their writing is to write the narrative in the 3 rd person, yet they record the point of views and opinions of the main character many more times than any other characters.
Throughout both novels the writers will only give the emotions of the main character an importance, explaining the basis behind them. All other characters opinions and emotions are recorded much less often and normally have no emphasis or importance attached to them. In Kafka s writing when Gregor notices that in the right hand room his sister began to sob. (Pg. 16) there is no further reference to it and the narrative moves on to the next topic. This is because it is written from Gregor s perspective and these were things one did not need to worry about for the present. (Pg. 17) so the narrative moves on as Gregor s mind does. In Silverberg s writing the same technique is employed, telling the reader the thoughts of the main character Harpirias thought of the 8 paleontologists (Pg. 97) and altering the narrative to correspond to his thoughts. The writers use this technique to put you in the shoes of the main character, allowing you to feel empathetic towards him.
This is a great way for the writers to emphasise the alienation of the main characters because the reader feels the same alienation as the main character. It is presented to us as a personal matter, thus forcing us to realise it and concentrate more on it. The writers want us to do this because it is something that they both have as an underlying motif, important to them. I think Silverberg in particular thinks alienation is undesirable because of how he presents and represents it in his novel.
He uses the lost tribe to represent the outcome of extended periods of alienation. They are a savage and primitive tribe, especially when compared to the space-travel capable Majipoor. This shows alienation to be an undesirable thing. All through the novel Harpirias talks of how large and powerful the Majipoor are and he is amazed when the tribe asks to speak to their equivalent to a king face to face. He thought it was laughable. Silverberg uses the comparison between the Majipoor and the tribe to show the alienated group to be the inferior group.
The way the Majipoor are described are as intelligent, advanced people with a strong society built on laws and hierarchies. The lost tribe are represented as violent and very primitive with a society based on who is the strongest and who has the most daughters. Silverberg shows the difference between them when the chieftain offers his daughter to Harpirias as a sign of peace and Harpirias declines. They are shown to have different morals and to be disgusted with the others. One of the most important things Silverberg does here is to make the Majipoor s morals very similar to western morals (his target audience). This makes us agree with the Majipoor and be disgusted with the tribe s morals also putting the tribe into a bad light.
This allows him to bring it back to alienation and how it has made the tribe think in this disgusting way. The settings of both novels are another way of presenting alienation. In The Mountains of Majipoor the main setting is in the icy mountain range North of the continent. There are no other people like Harpirias for hundreds of miles because the mountain range (the Nine Sisters of Khyntor. (Pg. 4) ) is very difficult to get to and completely inhabitable.
This then, is a good setting for a novel dealing with alienation and a good way to create an environment of isolation for it to develop in. Metamorphosis has two settings only for the whole novella: the front room / dining room and Gregor s bedroom. This presents the feeling of entrapment. The only thing we are given from the outside world, as readers, are sounds like the doorbell ringing. In Metamorphosis, Gregor is alienated from his family much like Harpirias is in The Mountains of Majipoor. His family locks him in his room and doesn t allow him into the front room.
In fact they do not allow him to come near them in any way. So you re not coming any nearer? (Chairwoman to Gregor on Pg. 50). He is also alienated from the outside world. Kafka represents this in various ways. The fact that he never leaves the house and is forced to leave his job is obviously alienation from the out side world but also the fact that his physical metamorphosis alienates him is a more interesting matter. There is a hospital across the street to his house that he was once able to see from his bedroom window.
He can no longer see the hospital because it is now out of his range of vision. Kafka uses this to symbolism how close help was for Gregor but yet he could not get it because of his physical change. He has become alienated from the help he needs because of his disability. Gregor s disability is highly responsible for his alienation. Gregor s speech becomes insect like and no one can understand him, which inevitably alienates him further from the people around him. No one in the family is prepared to make the effort to try to talk to Gregor, and instead they shut themselves off from him emotionally.
This presents alienation because Gregor is now the odd one out, the only one who does not belong. By the end of the novella the family has emotionally cut themselves off completely from him, shown when Gregor dies and his father says now thanks be to God... It is slightly different in The Mountains of Majipoor because Harpirias does not have anything such as a physical disability to be alienated for. Instead, his alienation comes as a punishment for a mistake he made.
He has a stain on his past, an unforgiven mistake that led to his exile and ultimately to his present situation. Kafka creates a situation where it would be difficult for Gregor s family to carry on as normal. Gregor s metamorphosis forces a metamorphosis of the family s lives. His father goes back to work and the family is forced to have lodgers at the house. Although this is different to Silverberg s novel it also has some similarities. They are both alienated through no fault of their own.
Gregor did not ask for his metamorphosis and Kafka gives no impression that he deserved it, Harpirias crime was a mistake, on unfamiliar ground he failed to recognise the boundary into the next territory and shot a prized animal whilst hunting. The authors both like us to sympathise with the character. This is because they are both using the story and the characters within it to express opinions they have on life and it is much easier to do this if we agree with and sympathise with the main characters. One of the interesting things I noticed when reading Metamorphosis is the way that Kafka never shows amazement or submerges us in cries of despair which is a contrast to the reaction of his family. Instead he expresses alienation through his central metaphor whilst keeping a fairy tale surrealism. Using the critic s example that I mentioned before about Kafka s physical situation at the time, I can see why Kafka doesn t demonstrate any sort of astonishment or bewilderment to Gregor s situation.
Kafka could have often felt much like an insect, which gave him the idea for the central metaphor in his novella. The fact that the situation of Gregor had a great deal of verisimilitude to his own would explain his docile narrative style when talking of Gregor s status. When reading the narrative I found myself always taking Gregor s status as a metaphor, which helped me to understand what I think Kafka is trying to show in Metamorphosis. The Mountains of Majipoor is not based around a central metaphor like Metamorphosis. It still deals with alienation but in a more matter of fact way. When reading the novel you get the sense of time passing at great length and of solitude.
He creates the effect by never explaining things any differently unless an event occurs. The sheets of snow prevent Harpirias from seeing any further than a few metres and so we are never blessed with anything different until an event happens which we are often then told that it is a few days later. When some days had passed Silverberg shows the solitude of the main character by the lack of speech in the narrative. He does not speak to, nor is he spoken to by any of his fellow travellers except for his guide. Silverberg also seems to use the guide to show how Harpirias does not belong.
The guide is always explaining and informing Harpirias even of the species he comes across. Khulpoins Korinaam said. (Pg. 37) Silverberg does this to show how Harpirias is alienated. He has been sent away by his people and even now whilst he is amongst others he is still alone. The word Silverberg adopts here; Khulpoins is very alien, even difficult to pronounce for the reader. Silverberg lets us understand how Harpirias has no concept of a Khulpoins. Silverberg often juxtaposes passages seemingly unrelated to each other in order to remind you of Harpirias alienation.
At the beginning of the novel he jumps from time period to time period, juxtaposing each chapter with the next showing the difference of Harpirias new and old lives. Later he uses Harpirias memories and juxtaposes them with passages relating to his quest. This is a way of always reminding us of the situation Harpirias is in; thus showing how alienated he feels. Alienation is when someone is with people but still feels alone, when someone is outcast or made to feel like they don t belong.
Both authors show this with a multitude of literary techniques. Gregor is still amongst his family but isn t allowed to interact with them. Harpirias is made to feel inferior almost constantly and is alienated by his fellow travellers by a mixture of ignorance and a warrior s contempt. Silverberg is even anthropomorphic when describing the storm and shows it to seem to have a personal grudge against Harpirias. Both of the main characters are presented as reasonable people who do not deserve their fates. 33 c
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