In Franz Kafka's novella, The Metamorphosis, and in Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird, the protagonists are subjected to a societal alienation. However, Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis, and the boy in The Painted Bird, cope with this alienation through different tactics, and as a result, their success varies. "When he lifted his head a little, he saw his vaulted brown belly, sectioned by arch-shaped ribs, to whose dome the cover, about to slide off completely, …showed first 75 words of 2024 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2024 total…the hardships put before him. Both protagonists underwent changes that could not have been prevented, and had to deal with tem accordingly. Both characters found ways to live with their life transformation. Clearly the boy was more successful in dealing with his life change although younger. From The Metamorphosis and The Painted Bird, the reader learns that one must take action in coping with a life problem to alter that problem or cease it altogether.