Essay on Alienation of Individuals and Cultural Values
The alienation of an individual is the result of the indifference of the society, as a rule, but, in its essence, the alienation of an individual mirrors basic norms and values of the society. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the main characters of “Metamorphosis” by F. Kafka and “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by H. Melville Gregor Samsa and Bartleby respectively. Both main characters willingly or not alienate from the society. They turn out to be in the complete loneliness, but, if Gregor has no one to help him, Bartleby willingly refuses from the help of the lawer, who was his employer.
In fact, the main character of “The Metamorphosis” is Gregor, who used to be the breadwinner for his family. However, he suffers strange transformation into a giant insect and it turns out that there is no one to help him. In such a way, F. Kafka reveals moral values of the society through the alienation of the main character. Gregor turns out to be a mere source for living, which was used by his family as long as possible. As soon as he became unable to bring any benefit to his family, he turns out to be absolutely useless and abandoned. In such a way, Kafka gives insight into the essence of the consumerist, profit-driven society, where humanistic values have died out and there is nothing but selfish interests and the desire of obtaining some profits even from the closest people, including family members. Therefore, Kafka shows the society, where people do not care about anyone but themselves. Each lives on their own, whereas a person, who wants to help other people and who is ready to share his last piece of bread with his family are complete strangers for such a society. In fact, such person as Gregor is absolutely unnatural member of the society, where he lives. Hence, his physical transformation reveals his moral and ethical difference from the rest of the society. His desire to help and to take care of others finds no support in the society, where he lives in.
Melville depicts a highly individualistic society. Unlike Kafka’s Gregor, Bartleby is not absolutely abandoned and he has the person, who is eager to help him – his employer, the narrator of the story. However, Bartleby is willing to ignore any efforts of his employer to help him. Instead, he prefers to live on his own and he would not prefer to do the job of others or receive any help from others. In such a way, Bartleby is highly individualistic and he just wants to live on his own. His individualism turns out to be absurd as his motto not prefer to leads to his death as he refuses from food being imprisoned. On the other hand, the author shows the incomprehension of the individual by the society. Even the narrator, who wants to help Bartleby, cannot understand him, while others are not even willing to help him.
Thus, two stories show the alienation of the main characters as the result of the values dominant in the society.
