Spiritual Beliefs - Tolstoy - Kafka

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In both the stories of Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, this paper will attempt to demonstrate that the spiritual beliefs of each author’s contribution in no small way to the respective themes of hope and despair found in these two works. The Metamorphosis is said to be one of Franz Kafka’s best works of literature. It's a novella in which the protagonist, a traveling salesman by the name of Gregor Samsa, wakes up one day to discover he's been transformed into a giant insect. In its original language, German, the word used does not translate into "insect." Rather, it is a more vague term that describes a dirty animal unfit for sacrifice. It has traditionally been thought of as an insect, or cockroach. It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novel Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways are similar to Franz and his father Herrman. Franz Kafka grew up in a financially secure Jewish family in Prague. He spoke German and was neither a Czech nor German due to his Jewish upbringing. Born in 1883, he was the eldest child and the only son (Hayman). He lived his life in the shadow of his dominating father under constant pressure to take over the family business. Kafka’s father viewed Franz as a failure and disapproved of his writing because he wanted Franz to become a business man like him. This obsession with wanting Franz to become a businessman led Herrman to beat his son. His father pushed him away, and choosing literature was a lifelong struggle for him as it was not a well-looked upon career (Hayman). The Metamorphosis also shows resemblance to some of Kafka’s diary entries that depict him imagining his

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