The Absurdity of Being: Body and Soul in Kafka’s Narrative

The body, in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Letters to Milena, becomes more than mere flesh and bone. It transcends its physicality, emerging as the very landscape upon which the fractured self is rendered. Through Gregor Samsa's grotesque transformation and Kafka’s emotionally charged letters to Milena, the body becomes a metaphor, a vessel that mirrors the collapse of the inner world. What we are left with is not just the disintegration of form but an unfolding crisis that speaks to the core of human alienation, both spiritual and corporeal.

Physical Fragmentation in The Metamorphosis as a Reflection of Inner Crisis

Gregor Samsa’s transformation, that horrific shift from man to insect, is not simply an abhorrent physical metamorphosis. It is the unraveling of his identity, his humanity, his very purpose. The grotesque body is a reflection of a more insidious alienation—his inability to communicate, to move in the world as he once did, echoes a deeper, more existential fragmentation. What was once a body of productivity, of function, becomes a silent prison of rejection and disgust, a betrayal of the self.

In this disintegration, we witness not only the loss of Gregor’s identity but also his collapse as a protector, as the provider for his family. The body that once conveyed purpose is now a burden. This fracturing of the body mirrors the emotional detachment Gregor feels—a loss of self not merely in the abstract, but made manifest in his very skin. He is cast aside, not just as a man, but as an object, a grotesque reminder of what he once was, now unable to serve any role in the narrative of his family’s life.

Emotional Fragmentation in Letters to Milena as a Reflection of Psychological Strain

"You are the knife I turn inside myself; that is love. That, my dear, is love." - Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena

This haunting sentiment encapsulates the profound emotional fragmentation Kafka experiences throughout his life. Kafka, too, presents a self splintered, unable to reconcile his emotional world with the physical form that betrays him. In his letters to Milena, his vulnerability is palpable, and in that vulnerability, we see the deep fissures within him. His obsessive love, his chronic self-doubt, the incessant alienation—all of these fragment him further. His words, scattered and torn, refuse coherence. These letters do not just contain words—they are the body of Kafka himself, in all its disarray. A body of text that cannot hold itself together, that mirrors his internal disintegration.

The letters themselves are a fractured self—where desires, fears, and regrets bleed into one another, unable to find any semblance of order. Kafka’s body becomes an impediment, a heavy burden against the fragile terrain of his emotional life. The physical discomfort he often describes reflects this emotional fragmentation, suggesting that his very flesh is an obstacle, one that cannot house the tumult of his spirit.

The Body as Metaphor for Existential Struggles in Kafka’s Works

Kafka’s exploration of the body transcends the personal and reaches the universal. In both The Metamorphosis and Letters to Milena, the body becomes the stage upon which existential disillusionment unfolds. Gregor’s transformation into an insect, grotesque and irredeemable, symbolizes a breakdown of meaning. He is estranged from the world, from his family, and ultimately from himself. His body, once a tool of survival and connection, is now a grotesque reflection of his alienation.

Kafka’s letters, too, convey a sense of alienation, though not physical but psychological. His constant questioning, the yearning for understanding from Milena, reveals an aching disconnection—not just from her, but from the world. Both works expose the emptiness at the core of existence, where the body’s decay and emotional fragmentation are mere reflections of a greater, existential crisis. Kafka asks: How can one live in a world where meaning itself has eroded? And in that asking, we are left with the absurdity of both body and spirit—broken, crumbling, yet endlessly yearning for something beyond.