Although I had heard it mentioned many times before, I had never read Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis until this class. I cannot say I really understood it based on that first reading, beyond the basic story plot. There are lots of different arguments I might be able to make about why Kafka wrote it, or what he was intending, but at the same time I'm not sure that I feel particularly strongly about any of those arguments. As far as how it relates to WWI, I am not sure I can exactly say either. Because it was written in 1915, I do think Kafka would have been highly influenced in his writing by the war itself and by the attitudes of people during that time of crisis. Obviously the war was far from over at this time, so it was not written as a response to the war as a whole. I do think thematically and conceptually it does relate to other things written about WWI, and to the feelings people would have had at the time. Someone mentioned the absurdity of life in a post, and this was something that occurred to me as well as I read. There is obviously a real sense of absurdity in the story and in Gregor's fate. Why was he transformed into a "horrible vermin?" Kafka never gives us an answer. We are just given the facts that he was transformed, and that he lived a rather horrible and pointless life as a result of his change. In a way, this relates to the war. It was horrible, and to the people who were losing loved ones, it would seem rather pointless. It was absurd. The numbers of people dying, the ways in which it was being fought... these things were all absurd. Perhaps Kafka is commenting on this? Or if not intentionally making a comment, perhaps those kinds of emotions were working their way into his writing as a result of the sentiments of people at the time. I also think the feeling of helplessness in the face of extreme change is something that is very important. People at this time were faced with all kinds of changes, and felt a fair amount of helplessness. There was nothing anyone could do to stop the horrific events that were unfolding. Kafka's story presents this attitude as well. Neither Gregor or his family was able to do anything about his horrible change, and they all felt quite helpless. Although I don't know if these thematic or conceptual elements were purposefully placed in the story to relate to the war, I think they are present in the story as a result of the war and the attitudes of people at that time.