Somebody to Love

In the immortal words of Queen, “Each morning I get up and die a little…Can anybody find me somebody to love?” Most people wouldn’t group Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” into the same category. After all, one is a realistic story about a woman’s role in society and the other is about a transformation into a giant bug. I, on the other hand, see a striking resemblance between Nora Helmer’s friend Mrs. Linde and the repulsive insect that is Gregor Samsa. Neither can survive without doing something useful, both need something and someone to live for.

Each character undergoes a transformation that divides their lives into two distinct before and after phases. For Gregor, his transformation occurs when he wakes up as a bug. Before this drastic metamorphosis, Gregor is a provider, upholding the burden of supporting his family financially. His elderly father, his mother, and his younger sister depend on him for survival--“the money was received with thanks and given with pleasure.” After he transforms into a bug, he can no longer contribute to his family. He can’t make money, he can’t talk; he is useless. Even the sight of him is repulsive. Moreover, he becomes dependent on his family for survival. His sister feeds him and his entire family, even his aging father, has to take up jobs to make ends meet. This is a role that basically guilts him to death.

Luckily, Mrs. Linde does not meet the same fate. Still, she is happiest when she is caring for others, like she did for her mother and her brothers. When they do not need her anymore, Mrs. Linde undergoes a metamorphosis into a jaded older woman who lacks direction in life. She wanders from job to job—seemingly aimlessly—“clinging to the wreckage” of her former life and believing that she is most useful in the role of caregiver. In a way, Mrs. Linde is emotionally deadened when her usefulness is gone. Krogstad essentially saves her by becoming her new object of affection, “someone and something to work for.”

So ultimately, bugs and women aren’t that different after all. They’re just searching for a little purpose in life and somebody to love.