metamorphosis, frankenstein, and contemplating ...why do we want to be beautiful?

live on fm radio: january 30th, 2026

Franz Kafka was born on the 3rd of July in 1883 in Prague. He wrote, in German, works like ‘The Trial’, and ‘Metamorphosis’, and many other short stories which normally involve a comically inconvenient thing occurring to the protagonist. Let it be known that ‘Metamorphosis’, or ‘Die Verwandlung’, as my numerous German listeners may know it as, is one of my favorite stories of all time. In this story, as many know, Gregor, the protagonist, wakes up to find that he has transformed into something incredibly horrific- resembling a beetle. He wakes up from his slumber very concerned by the fact that he is late to work, which is his priority, as he tries to make sense of himself in his new body. His family is horrified, shutting him inside of his room, letting him out only for small amounts of time, until they begin to treat his room as a storage closet, pushing Gregor away until he finally (spoiler) dies. Afterwards, the family goes on a vacation and is happy; it seems that Gregor’s passing has benefitted them.

Many things can be said about Metamorphosis and Kafka, one theme in life I’ve really been pondering is… Why do we want to be beautiful? In this case, for Gregor, to be beautiful (or at least human) is to be a functioning member of society. Is to be productive and go to work and support his family. Once he has lost his ability to be productive and go to work, his family won’t even support him, they can barely look him in the eye(s). So for Kafka, maybe beauty wasn’t always as important to him, but it was the productivity which his beauty allowed him to behold. Who are we when we produce nothing, or perhaps we produce nothing except disgust in those around us..?

Maybe this is why so often, we find that our lives revolve around our appearance. We are doing things, eating less, or going to the gym, or wearing makeup, for some reason. We are changing our routines in order to look and feel more beautiful, possibly to circumvent a tragic fate similar to Gregor. Perhaps it might even be easier to wake up all bug-like, at least I know that I would have to stop trying to be a beautiful woman- but a life of such sorrow and self-loathing seems… for lack of a more colorful word… really horrible, just in a different way.

Another book I’ve read recently is Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley. At the end of the day… This book inspired me to want to break down human existence into four truths:

P1: We attribute things of beauty to things of value.

P2: When we value something, we care for it.

P3: People want to feel cared for or cared about.

Therefore, people want to be beautiful.

In Frankenstein, Shelley portrays something so entirely human through a non-human creature. To me, good fiction is necessarily true. Frankenstein is a story about the pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of love, and subsequently a tale of rejection, consequence, and human-nature. On the surface of this novel, is the story of a creature who cannot be loved, not even by his creator, due to his hideousness. This is heartbreaking. Maybe you’ve seen the new film-adaptation of the novel, in which you may have found it easy to sympathize with the creature- perhaps this is due to the sheer beauty of Jacob Elordi’s portrayal. However, it is undeniable that Frankenstein is left to be by himself, and is therefore suffering, due to his appearance. People see him, not as something to be cared for, but as something to run away from, to shut out, to forget exists or else be haunted.

Now there are many many ways to interpret Shelley’s novel, however I think the fundamental, bone-chilling truth I tend to cling to is: the idea of true isolation, a complete lack of care from others- and for oneself.

i. Ugly Beauty - Thelonius Monk

ii. My boyfriend got a beetle haircut - Donna Lynn (1964)

iii. Human fly - the Cramps (1978)

iv. Taxman - the Beatles (1966)

v. Superbug - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (2019)

vi. Teenage Frankenstein - Alice Cooper (1987)

vii. Victor - Blondie (---)

viii. Weird Science - Oingo Boingo (1985)

xii. At Seventeen - Janis Ian

xiii. Sorrow - Life Without Buildings

xv. I wanna be adored - the Raveonettes

xvi. Wishful eyes - Neutral Milk Hotel (unreleased)

xvii. My Funny Valentine - Chet Baker

Xix. Cosmik Debris - Frank Zappa (1974)

xx. Gold & Silver - Colour Haze

xxi. She’s a Beauty - The Tubes

xxii. Ugly - Violent Femmes