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The Horror of the Shade

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The 20th century was marred by previously incomprehensible acts of violence. Vast

swathes of humanity were swept away by the scourges of war, famine, and political unrest.

These tragedies left an indelible scar on the soul of humanity, and caused many to reconsider

their significance in a universe that seemed so indifferent to their suffering. Religious answers

rang hollow, as did the humanism that had been a hallmark of the enlightenment. Men were left

to ponder how they could find meaning, and this pondering became evident in their writings.

They wrote tales in which men and women were essentially meaningless, and any harm done to

them was merely the accidental stomping of an ant by a child. They wrote about men

transformed into loathsome, creeping things that were shunned by their families. They wrote of

crushing, unfathomable loneliness of their species in the inky black vastness of the cosmos. Their

works were a testament to the existential crises that the entire race of man labored under, and in

the face of false optimism they held aloft a torch of darkness and said to man “Behold the reality

of your condition and despair!” They offered no false hope to those who would cling foolishly to

fortresses of sand. They were the Cassandras of their day and, like that Sybil of old, fostered no

great love among their peers. Virtually unknown in their own day, they now stand among the

pantheon of greatness; luminous in their darkness.

Among these purveyors of doom, two men stand out in their brilliant distillation of the

human condition. These men were Franz Kafka and Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Writing

simultaneously, they offered bleak visions of reality to a weary mankind. Kafka’s writings were

of a more personal nature, focusing on a central character, and more deeply concerned with the

breakdown of interpersonal communication between his characters e.g. Gregor and Grete in “The

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Metamorphosis.” Conversely, Lovecraft offered a more cosmic scale by showing the cosmic

insignificance of humanity by showing glimpses of mind shattering horror that crept in through

cracks of reality e.g. “From Beyond” “The Call of Cthulhu.”

Figure 1 H.P. Lovecraft and Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was born in July of 1883 in what is now the modern day Czech Republic.

While he longed to make a living by writing, he had to take a job as an insurance salesman in

order to pay the expenses of living. His most widely known and read work is “The

Metamorphosis;” a tale of a man turned into an insect who gradually withdraws from the human

experience. Gregor, the protagonist as such, slowly loses touch with the hallmarks of what it

means to be a man. He does so first by losing his job, then by the food he eats, and by the

removal of his furniture by his sister and mother.

The loss of his employment occurs at the very beginning of the story. Having never

missed a day of work, he is sought out by his office’s chief clerk. The clerk runs in horror when

he discovers the misfortune that has befallen poor Gregor. Gregor exists as an archetype for

humanity as a whole at this juncture in the story. Men and women are only useful so long as they

are productive, and once that productivity ceases then they are no longer of use to society and

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must be locked away and shunned. The clerk bolts out of the door, and leaves Gregor to the

warm bosom of his family. How many tales are told of workplace accidents, or illness

experienced by employees wherein the injured or sick man or woman are swept away like dust

on a mantle. How often are the stories of wounded veterans who must resort to panhandling and

vagrancy reported on the evening news? While these injustices are far too prevalent in modern

society, they were positively rampant in Kafka’s day. Gregor is the serpent upon which the

disenfranchised gaze, hoping to be healed of their wounds. He is a metaphor for weary man to

latch onto, to realize that his condition is far from unique, and to take dark solace in knowing that

he does not suffer alone (Meyers.)

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Figure 2 Gregor Samsa

Gregor’s solitude is temporarily assuaged when he finds that his sister cares for him by

bringing food to his room. She brings a saucer of milk to soothe her afflicted brother, but finds

that he does not like it. And so:

“To find out what he liked she brought him a whole selection of food, all set out on an

old newspaper. There were old, half-decayed vegetables, bones from last night's supper covered

with a white sauce that had thickened; some raisins and almonds; a piece of cheese that Gregor

would have called uneatable two days ago; a dry roll of bread, a buttered roll and a roll both

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buttered and salted. Besides all that, she set down again the same basin, into which she had

poured some water, and which was apparently to be reserved for his exclusive use.” (Kafka)

The urge to eat is a universal sensation, and the foods that Kafka use in his story hold

deep symbolism. Firstly, the half decayed vegetables are symbolic of Gregor’s decaying

humanity. Like the vegetables, his connection to the rest of humanity is slowly rotting away;

isolating him. He no longer has the basic hallmarks of what it means to be a man, and though he

has the mind of a man his outer appearance has changed completely. The bones symbolize

Gregor’s mind. Though his outer appearance has changed drastically, he still thinks like a

human, acts like a human as best he can, and thinks of others with courtesy like a gentleman

would. The bones could also symbolize the hardness with which Gregor is treated by those who

should treat him with the most tenderness. The white sauce symbolizes how the family conceals

Gregor, and hide him away from society. The almonds and raisins symbolize the sweetness of

the gesture of Grete when she brought the selection to her brother, though this sweetness is

eventually withdrawn. Cheese is a very interesting choice that requires additional analysis.

Cheese is a transformed food. It begins as milk, and through controlled decay changes into

cheese. Earlier in the story, Gregor rejects the milk that was brought to him. The milk stands as a

symbol for his humanity, and when he rejects that milk, he rejects his own humanity. By

contrast, when he sees the cheese he begins:

“…sucking greedily on the cheese, which had strongly attracted him right away, more

than all the other foods. Quickly and with his eyes watering with satisfaction, he ate one after the

other the cheese, the vegetables, and the sauce. The fresh food, by contrast, did not taste good to

him. He could not even bear the smell and carried the things he wanted to eat a little distance

away.” 

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All that is fresh and full of life repels him, but that which is fetid and repellent draws him in with

its siren song of putrescence. By devouring the cheese, Gregor takes up his cross and drinks deep

of the poisoned chalice offered him. Lastly, the bread could symbolize the sustenance that all

life requires. While he is no longer human, he still required nourishment. However, this

nourishment gradually ceases to be received from food. These symbols could mean many things,

and to attribute only one meaning to each would be to rob the text of its richness.

The removal of the furniture is a pivotal scene in the tale. Grete and their mother enter

Gregor’s room to remove the furniture and decorations so that Gregor would have more room to

move comfortably. Gregor acquiesces to their removal of his furnishings, but reacts strongly

when he thinks that they will remove the picture of the young woman. Why is this? Of all the

indignities that he has suffered thus far, why react so strongly over a picture? The picture

symbolized the vestiges of Gregor’s humanity. Pictures are two dimensional, and idealize a

moment in time. They are not truly what they appear to be, but remind those who view them of

what they represent. Gregor deeply wants to cling to the two dimensional remembrance of his

own manhood, and reacts by clinging desperately to his little memento. Like the picture, Gregor

is no longer what he truly is, but is instead a husk of his former self. Unlike the picture his form

is that of an insect, but his substance is still that of a man. Conversely, the picture has the form of

a woman, but the substance of paper, ink, and glass.

That Gregor is portrayed as an insect is no coincidence. How do most people react to an

insect? Most act with disgust and loathing, and swiftly crush the innocent creature underfoot.

Insects are regarded with little affection, and even if they are not actively treated with disdain

they are generally avoided by most. In addition to the aforementioned symbols, Gregor exists as

a symbol for the human condition. Work dehumanizes many, medical woes dehumanize others,

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and poverty dehumanizes many more. Gregor experiences this throughout the events of “The

Metamorphosis.” His work literally dehumanizes him, his mother’s asthma dehumanizes her by

reducing her to a medical condition, and the poverty of the family dehumanizes them by turning

them into servants for the three boarders. Gregor is not the only family member who is

dehumanized. True, he is the only one who is no longer a human, but his family is also

dehumanized in the way they treat him. They see him as the insect that he appears to be, but not

for the man that he is underneath (Straus.)

Figure 3 Edward Watson portraying Gregor Samsa

The final act of the story is one of the most heart breaking scenes in literature. Gregor

seeks one final act of reconciliation with his family, and fantasizes about the warmth and

affection that had been denied him in his affliction. He limps pitifully towards the sweet music of

his sister, and opens his soul to the sustenance that he had craved. How is this poor creature

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rewarded? He is chased into a dank, refuse filled room where he dies alone and miserable. What

can be ascertained from this scene? The primary significance of this scene is that Gregor never

loses his desire for human connection. He clung ferociously to his humanity to the very end, and

died, perhaps, the most human character in the story.

Kafka gives his readers a vision of deep, personal isolation in his works. While it is true

that personal isolation can be a crippling sensation, there exists a deeper, more withering type of

isolation; cosmic isolation. This type of isolation is found expressed most keenly in the works of

that second prophet of darkness, Howard Phillips Lovecraft. His work, like Kafka, was deeply

influenced by the milieu in which he found himself. He wrote of a pantheon which was foul, and

abysmal in its relation to man. However, direct malice was quite rare. Instead, the evil done was

the result of either accidents on the part of humans, or the indifference of the deities in

accomplishing their aims. For instance, in “The Colour out of Space” the sentient color is not

interested in destroying the family of simple farmers. It is simply trying to return to that from

which it came. Likewise, the titular monstrosity in “The Call of Cthulhu” isn’t interested in

destroying the hapless sailors that stumble into his lair at R’lyeh. They are simply in his way

when he issues forth from the bowels of the Pacific. Thus, Lovecraft offers a vision of a universe

in which humans are no more important that aphids or pine moss. They simply exist, and if they

are destroyed so be it. These deities exist as metaphors for a universe in which man is a speck

floating on a dot, that swims about in a deep, limitless ocean of blackness (Hull.)

Of Lovecraft’s writings, the work that gives the most succinct distillation of his

philosophy would have to be his seminal work “The Call of Cthulhu.” The opening lines state:

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to

correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of

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infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own

direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated

knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that

we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety

of a new dark age.” (Lovecraft)

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Figure 4 Sketch of Cthulhu by Lovecraft

Lovecraft’s insight into the human condition is a bleak, and hopeless one. Whereas Kafka

showed a deep, personal loneliness, Lovecraft amplifies that loneliness to the entire species of

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humanity. He reflected a deeply cynical view of humanity and the sciences. Why would he not?

He was writing at the end of the First World War in which humans slew each other with sadistic

glee that would give even the foulest of devils pause. How was this accomplished? With science.

Automatic machine guns, mustard gas, mines, and all manner of unspeakable horrors were

unleashed on men who had to huddle in holes in the earth and watch their friends decompose

before their eyes (Rath.) How could this fail to create a distrust of that which claimed to improve

the human condition?

What solace is given to weary man in the face of this abhorrent revelation? Madness. In a

world where such unuetterable atrocities are committed, what other explanation could exist? The

comfort that Lovecraft offers is simply the knowledge that any suffering that man may encounter

is ultimately meaningless. It is the stirring of foam on the tide, and candle smoke blown about by

a zephyr. He shows no kind, paternal deity that wishes good for his children. His gods are

indifferent at best, and openly malevolent at worst. They exist as metaphors for the cosmic forces

of the universe that man, for all his breast beating, is incapable of resisting. Were the oceans to

rise or the sun to implode, what defense would man in his impotence be able to raise? So,

mankind floats on his placid island of ignorance. Alone, and human. All too human.

It would be easy to slip into nihilism by accepting that which is offered by Kakfa and

Lovecraft. If it is the fate of man to die alone, then why seek companionship? If the entire race of

man is doomed to extinction, then why drink the chalice of life to its dregs? This question has

plagued philosophers, scientists, artists, clergy, and many others for far longer than the 20th

century. It would be foolish to offer a concrete answer to a question which the greatest of minds

have wrestled with for millennia. However, if an answer were to be attempted it would have to

be this: life, for all its contradictions, suffering, and injustices is also full of beauty, love, and

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grandeur. Yes, there are unspeakable horrors that are experienced each day, but there is also the

delicate majesty of a butterfly’s wing. There are plagues and famine, but there are also sunrises

and the song of a nightingale fluttering on evening breezes. While there exists ignorance and

hate, there is also the music of Bach, and the sonnets of Shakespeare.

It would be equally foolish to hide beneath the mantle of maudlin optimism instead of

the dark cloak of nihilism and existentialism. One must find balance between the two. For their

part, Kafka, Lovecraft, and all like them give a glimpse into the darkness of the human condition.

It must be remembered, that each sunset is followed by a sunrise, and each birth begins the

countdown to another death. In all things there is balance.

Figure 5 In order to be happy, balance must be found

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Works Cited

Hull, Thomas. "H.P. Lovecraft: A Horror in Higher Dimensions." Math Horizons13.3 (2006): 10-12. JSTOR. Web. 04 May 2014.

Kafka, Franz, and Nahum N. Glatzer. "The Metamorphosis." The Complete Stories. New York: Schocken, 1971. 89. pag. Print

Lovecraft, H. P. "The Call of Cthulhu." H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2011. 355. pag. Print

Myers, Richard K. "The Problem of Authority: Franz Kafka and Nagib Mahfuz."Journal of Arabic Literature 17.1 (1986): 82-96. Print.

Rath; J. "Biological Weapons, War Crimes, and WWI." Science 296.5571 (2002): 1235c-237. Print.

Straus, Nina Pelikan. "Transforming Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis"" Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 14.3 (1989): 651. Print.

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