Existentialism as a movement came in picture during the mid twentieth century that is after both the dreading world wars.Every movement that has emerged has a history or backdrop of it’s own. Existentialism flourished because the people were questioning there beliefs and had lost their faith in life and God after having experienced the wars, Holocaust, atomic attacks and changing world powers. Existentialism explores that existence precedes essence, and we are responsible for whatever situation we are in at present because we are the ones who have created it. It goes on to explain human existence in the absurd world. There are numerous authors related to the movement like Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Soren Kierkegaard, Franz Kafka among others. We’ll today explore the approach of Kafka in Metamorphosis and Samuel Beckett in Waiting for Godot. 

In Metamorphosis Kafka deals with the themes of existentialism with an unexplained metamorphosis of his protagonist Gregor Samsa who was a sales manager in an insect. The themes of existential angst, absurdity, symbolism etc are explored throughout the narrative. He also tries to put light on bureaucratic absurdity and themes of alienation through the portrayal. Samuel Beckett in his Waiting for Godot approached existentialism by projecting irrationalism, helplessness and absurdity of life. It presents two tramps waiting hopelessly for an unidentified person. The text shows repetitive actions and tries to explore the idea of search for meaning in a relatively meaningless universe.

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