What is freedom? Freedom can be defined in many forms. The dictionary would define freedom as being free from confinement. However, it is more than that. Freedom is defined not only as freedom from confinement, but also as freedom from oppression and the life you would normally live before. Two examples of freedom are defined both in Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and in On the Rainy River from the collection of short stories entitled The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Metamorphosis is about a story by Gregor Samsa. Samsa is a commercial traveler and the main breadwinner of the house as he is the main source of income for his entire family, consisting of his parents and sister. Samsa is also a hard worker, he has never missed work in the last five years and always showed up on time. One night, his life is completely turned upside down when he wakes up one morning and discovers that he has transformed into a cockroach. When he first woke up, his thought was, "I'd better get up, since my train leaves at five" (Kafka, 90). Once Samsa got up, he was completely shocked as the clock read "half past six" and wondered if the alarm had gone off. Samsa feared that if he didn't show up for work, his boss would question his absence, as Gregor was not absent even once during his five years of employment. During his life as a human, Gregor's life basically consisted of working in the office, travelling, "worrying about train connections" and saving money to repay his parents' debt which, according to Samsa, "would take another five or six years ". " (p.90). This implies that all her life she limited herself to working and providing money for her family without having a social life of her own. Once turned... to the center of the sheet... perspectives. From the point from Samsa's point of view, it was his freedom to live a life in which he lived a mundane routine. From O'Brien's point of view, he was the one who decided whether to fight for freedom or go into exile different, there is a common theme and that theme is entrapment. Samsa was physically trapped because his family had confined him to his room and if he did not obey orders he would be punished. O'Brien was emotionally trapped because he had chosen to isolate himself from social life and go away from home to make a decision. If he had not fought with his emotions throughout the story, he would not have been trapped at all. Works cited Kafka, Franz Metamorphosis. New York: Schocken, 1971. Print.O'Brien, Tim. On the rainy river. New York: Penguin, 1990. Print.