The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Ambiguity of Human Emotion

A person is defined by more than his name, his occupation, or his family because he belongs to a greater universe where he is defined as a human, famous for imperfection and the conscience. However, the most obvious characteristic of humanity is governed by the dynamics of emotion. In Franz Kafka's novel The Metamorphosis Gregor Samsa finds himself falling out of society and losing touch with humanity, and his loss of identity is furthered by …

…indicates that he is lost from humanity, creating the hopelessness that he can never be included in society. His ability to understand the other keystone, anger, lends itself to a different hopelessness, one that is depressing because it suggests that his only connection to humanity is a negative bridge. Thus, the narrator's accounts of Gregor's inability to understand human emotion develops the theme of hopelessness because it implies that his future is void of humanity.