Characters' mental chaos in Franz Kafka's The metamorphosis (1915) and Rachid Boudjedra's L'escargot entêté (1977)

Abstract

This dissertation gives tribute to the notion of human beings that are put on the margin of society through dragging the main protagonists of, The Metamorphosis (1915) by Franz Kafka and L'escargot Entêté (1977) by Rachid Boudjedra, into analysis. This work is all about Gregor Samsa and the unnamed rat exterminator, these grey characters that represent a deteriorated minority inside the frame of our social environment. These people are usually not understood because they do not have clear bruises on their skin, yet they are suffocated by their mental suffering. The main purpose of this study is to capture the mental chaos of these two protagonists, go on a journey inside their minds without being judgmental, and investigate the degree of their resemblance and difference in order to humanize them. Hence, both characters are examined using the theory of psychoanalysis and most specifically some concepts introduced by Sigmund Freud and Jaques Lacan, and this helps us to break the beautified image of the human being which is usually portrayed in many literary works