Witnesses to Trauma: Kafka’s Trauma Victims and the Role of Community

Indianapolis, IN

This paper examines two of Franz Kafka's most famous characters, the hunger artist of "The Hunger Artist" and Gregor Samsa from "The Metamorphosis," through the lens of modern studies of psychological trauma. Studies of isolation and abandonment and isolation trauma show that the artist and Gregor are left unable to cope with trauma in their lives because they have no meaningful relationships with other people, and when they experience singular traumatic events in each of their stories, they are doomed to failure when it comes to "working through" their respective traumas. This paper applies modern psychological research to the behavior of the hunger artist and Gregor Samsa and shows that the lack of therapeutic communities for both of the characters prevents their healing. Their inability to speak about or interpret their traumas makes it impossible for them to do anything but succumb to their traumas.