In The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the authors use the motif of solitude and isolation to symbolize the freedom. These qualities respectively free Gregor Samsa and the city of Macondo from external troubles. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayIn The Metamorphosis, the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, wakes up one morning transformed into an insect. Gregor must now face this transformation, as it will change his life forever. Although Gregor doesn't realize it at first, he has actually been enslaved by his family for some time. He has an unconditional sense of duty to his family, as he works hard to pay off the family debt "very seriously" and dreams of sending his sister Grete to learn to play the violin professionally. His devotion to his family reveals how caring and compassionate he is. However, his family generally does not view him as a member of the family, but rather as a source of income. During his transformation, the family worried about how it would affect their finances rather than their well-being. This is shown on the morning of Gregor's transformation. It's the first day he's been off work in five years, and his family's immediate concern is his work. As Gregor is freed from this obligation, he realizes the true nature of his family. The more they isolate themselves from him, the more he realizes that they have been oppressing him all along. Gregor eventually learns to accept the irreversibility of his metamorphosis and realizes that he can do nothing but adjust his attitude and accept the change that has occurred. There is a strong imbalance between freedom and duty throughout the novel. Although it is obvious that Gregor hates his job, he is essentially limited to it by his duty to his family: "it was […] a requirement of family duty to suppress his dislike and to endure – nothing else, simply endure” (Kafka 50). He wants to fulfill his duty and dreams of the day when he will finally be able to repay the family debt. Gregor is constrained and forced to work in a stressful environment for the benefit of his family: “The stress of business is much greater than that of the head office and, on top of that, I have to deal with the problems of traveling, worries about train connections, bad irregular food, temporary and ever-changing human relationships that never come from the heart. (Kafka 4)Freedom is achieved in his transformation, but is interrupted by his family, who maintain a feeling of imprisonment. Instead of comforting Gregor, they lock him in a room which they begin to fill with trash. This piece may be a metaphor, symbolizing Gregor's life in confinement. The trash they put in the room may represent a false sense of love they gave it. While it is true that his transformation literally dehumanized him, it is also important to note the dehumanizing psychological effects it has on his family. Gregor fails to gain freedom, because when he is not imprisoned by his work, he is imprisoned by his family. It turns out that the only path Gregor must follow to achieve freedom is death, where he is finally isolated from all his troubles. Similarly, the town of Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude is also confined through interactions and changes. that this brings. Although the novel itself attributes many biblical allusions, the characters in the novel are generally not very religious. It is implied that the town of Macondo was.