Identity crisis in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis: a critical discourse analysis

A post-modernist understanding to reality has assigned a dynamic constructed nature to all discourses including identity discourse. Discourse about identity may refer to topics such as identity nature, identity construction, identity search, or identity crisis. This latter refers to the phenomenon by which individuals undergo significant challenges and transformations that push them to question who they are. Identity crisis has been the center of the debate in many political discourses, media discourses, literary discourses, etc. Identity crisis in literature mirrors the universal human experience of self-discovery and personal development. How the Self is constructed vis-à-vis the Other in times of crisis is portrayed in many literary works an example of which is Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. In this novella, Gregor’s physical transformation into an insect symbolizes an existential crisis. A sudden shift from an identity to another was a shocking incident that Gregor could not handle nor his family or the society where he lived. This paper discusses identity crisis in The Metamorphosis from a critical discourse analysis perspective. Using van Dijk’s Ideological Analysis, we will analyse the identity crisis caused by Gregor’s physical transformation. Comparing the two phases of Gregor’s identity construction, we will be able to show how identity crisis is related not only to personal characteristics but also to how the Other perceives the Self.