UMUC Asia - Put it in Writing - Literary Analysis Paper

Sample Literary Analysis Paper

The following essay illustrates good organization and good writing. The student writer (from a sophomore-level Introduction to Fiction course) compares the themes of two Franz Kafka stories, The Metamorphosis and “The Hunger Artist.” The paper is not perfect (not much in this world is) or even truly excellent (see comments at the end), but it is good. An English instructor has provided comments on the essay’s form and its development of ideas.

Please note: Don't single-space or leave huge margins on your papers!

`EXISTENTIALISM IN KAFKA`	Give your paper a title.
Existentialism is a philosophy dealing with man's aloneness in the universe. Either there is no God or else God stands apart from man, leaving him free will to make his own choices. From this basic idea of man being alone in an uncertain and purposeless world, many related ideas have developed. One great worry of existentialist writers is that life is becoming too complicated and too impersonal. People become more and more involved with their work, which is taking them away from their friends, family, and culture. However, these provide the only "meaning" that life could possibly have. One author prominently known for his work with existential ideas was Franz Kafka. Kafka, who wrote from the mid-1910's until the early 1920's, took the ideas of existentialism and interwove them so well into his novels and short stories that they became a trademark of his writing. Two of his stories are good examples of this philosophy: The Metamorphosis (which is one of his most famous) and "The Hunger Artist."	The student begins by trying to define a concept important to the essay. These sentences provide background to the thesis, explaining some of the major ideas to be covered. This part introduces the author, relates his work to the ideas discussed so far, and then narrows the thesis to the examination of these themes in two of his shorter works. Note that the writer put the short story in quotation marks while the novel was underlined or italicized. Note also the length and development of the introduction!
In The Metamorphosis, Gregor, the protagonist, works as a salesman. He doesn't like his job but works very hard, making his job his life. When he wakes up one morning having turned into a dung beetle (or perhaps a cockroach?) during the night, he thinks only about how he is going to get to work, not how it happened or what he can do about it. The hunger artist is also completely dedicated to his job, which is fasting. To him it is an art, one which he works at day and night. All of his thoughts focus on how he can improve himself. At the end of forty days (which was the fasting limit set by his manager), he always asks himself, "Why stop now when [I am] in [my] best fasting form . . . ?" (3). This demonstrates that for the hunger artist, work is so much of a compulsion that he cannot stop doing it, as he tells the overseer at the circus while dying.	The writer chooses only those plot details directly related to the point being developed. Avoid "plot padding"! One quotation shows words added in brackets to make it fit the sentence's grammar. Don't use parentheses—draw the brackets if necessary! Note also the use of an ellipsis (. . .) to indicate the omission of the end of the sentence. Finally, notice the insertion of the in-text page references for the quotations [ (3), (1)] before the periods at the end of the sentences. Because the source introduction indicates the author and story cited, the writer does not need to give a full citation e.g., (Kafka 3) or (Metamorphosis 3).
Kafka also uses the existential idea that man's fate is sometimes beyond man's control. In his stories, chance or destiny rules man's life. Gregor could not control his metamorphosis, just as he cannot control his "new" legs which "waved helplessly before his eyes" (1). The hunger artist's fate is to die of starvation, since as he says, "I have to fast, I can't help it" (8). Gregor dies; the artist dies. Their lack of control over their fates emphasizes man's helplessness and "forlornness," to use Sartre's term.
For both Gregor and the hunger artist, work leads from dehumanization to death. Their deaths illustrate another theme of existentialist writing: that man, though alone, cannot survive by himself. He needs to interact as a member of society in order to give "meaning" to his life. Man needs mankind in order to "be alive." Before his metamorphosis, Gregor was very much a loner. He got up at four every morning to travel all over the region to sell products, and he didn't have the time or the opportunity to make lasting friendships. Nor did he really try. In his free time, he read or did artwork, neither of which required anyone else. Nevertheless, Gregor's employers did not understand that he was trying to do a good job. They thought that he was trying to cheat the company. His company treated him like a piece of machinery to be replaced at the first sign of breakdown rather than like a person to be complimented for trying his best. When Gregor was only a few hours late for work due to becoming a bug, already his boss complained:	The writer keeps us posted on the development of ideas. The first sentences of this and the preceding paragraph restate ideas about existentialism which were mentioned in the introduction.
`"Here you are, barricading yourself in your room ... neglecting your business duties in an incredible fashion ... I thought you were a quiet, dependable person, and now all at once you seem bent on making a disgraceful exhibition of yourself ... And your position in this firm is not so unassailable" (7).`	Note the block quote format of this quotation. Use a one inch indentation for the left margin. Quotation marks are used only because this is dialogue from the story. If the student were quoting the narrator directly, no quotation marks would be used. Use block format for quotes of four or more lines.
Likewise, Gregor's family did not understand that he was working hard so that he could pay back the money that his father owed to the company's president. They also didn't understand that he worked to send his sister to the Conservatorium to study music because he loved her and gladly made this sacrifice. Kafka makes this dehumanization even more clear when he has Gregor wake up transformed into an insect. It is in this moment of crisis that Gregor seeks out the company of people. Only then does he realize that he has to be near the ones he loves. Money in itself cannot bring love or togetherness. The family, however, doesn't want the company of a giant dung beetle; in fact, they are repulsed by the sight of him. They think of Gregor as an "it," as shown when Greta, Gregor's sister, says of him, "We must get rid of it" (33), the "it" referring to Gregor the bug. Gregor then does what his sister wants: he dies.
The hunger artist is not treated as a human being in his work either. And he is so wrapped up in maintaining his reputation as the best faster in Europe that he doesn't try to form social relationships. He also has a hard time being understood. The people who guard him can't comprehend that it is against his honor as a hunger artist to eat something when they are not looking. His manager cannot understand why it is so important to test himself by going beyond the standard forty-day limit. The adults who come to see the hunger artist think that he is a joke. They are merely "amusement seekers" who come to look at him as he sits in a cage strewn with dirty straw. When he joins the circus, he is placed off to the side, near the animals. This is considered appropriate; after all, the hunger artist is a curiosity, an "it." Right before he dies, he tries to reach out to society with a kiss directed at the overseer of the circus, but it is too late. Finally, when he dies, as much from a lack of human kindness and affection as from a lack of food, he is buried, straw and all, in much the same manner as an animal would have been buried.
Despite this alienation and despair, there is an element of hope in these tales. In the existentialist philosophy, possibilities for man always exist, though he may not see them. Kafka does give hope, and these hopes rest with the young people. Just like Gregor changed, at the end of The Metamorphosis his family had to change and start a new life. After their supporter (Gregor) dies, they must earn their own way in the world rather than rely on him. The hopes of Mr. and Mrs. Samsa shift to Greta, their young daughter. For her they have aspirations, and the symbolism suggests that she will fulfill them: "It was like a confirmation of their new dream and excellent intentions that at the end of their journey their daughter sprang to her feet and stretched her young body" (28). In "The Hunger Artist," the hopes for a better future also rest with the children. The people have been in a dark era brought on by a depression after a war. Better times are coming, though, as the hunger artist realizes when looking at the children visiting the circus. He recognizes these better times in "the brightness of [the children's] intent eyes" (6). The artist does not know whether he will be alive to see the change, but he is aware of its coming.
In both stories, Kafka deals with existentialist ideas. He touches on the view that society is becoming too complicated, too impersonal, and suggests that in our compulsion for work we are getting out of touch with each other. When we start treating humans as inanimate objects instead of people, the results are disastrous. Although Kafka makes these dismal observations, he also provides for a brighter future. Although humans as a group are becoming less and less personal, he seems to say, an optimistic future is possible if individuals will only stop and examine themselves and their relationships with other people.	The last paragraph of this essay could have been made stronger with a more explicit explanation of the relevance or importance of this analysis to understanding the stories or what, according to the analysis, the stories teach us. The student does touch on that latter topic but handles it in a very general fashion, winding up with a somewhat lame summary of points already made.
`WORKS CITED Kafka, Franz. "The Hunger Artist." In The Collected Short Stories of Franz Kafka. Ed. Nahum Glatzer. London: Penguin, 1983.` `---. The Metamorphosis. Trans. Stanley Corngold. New York: Bantam, 1972.`

FINAL COMMENTS: This paper was submitted for an assignment calling for a five-page (1250-word) analysis. No outside sources were required, but this particular paper would have been strengthened by directly citing some source for the summary of existentialism presented in the introduction and body (these ideas were mentioned in the class but should still be documented for the reader's benefit). On the whole, though I don't agree with everything said here about either existentialism or Kafka, the student has argued well, using evidence from the stories for support. The organization of the paper and the writing are clear. Moreover, while the student drew on ideas brought up in class, the paper goes beyond those ideas. These strengths decrease the significance of the rather weak conclusion and the lack of documentation for the ideas cited about existentialism. Grade: B+, but it might well have been an A.