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Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis Relationships

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“Metamorphosis” When Gregor Samsa transforms into a bug, his family, whom he loves unconditionally, reveal their true attitude toward him. In “Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, Gregor sacrifices everything for his family; in return, they abuse him, lie to him, imprison him and finally, they wish him gone from their lives. Despite this, Gregor's unconditional love for them endures. There are two ways one can love: conditionally, or unconditionally. In a healthy relationship between father and son, the parent usually exhibits unconditional love but in the Samsa household, Gregor is tolerated only when he can pay all the expenses for the household with his salary. Once he metamorphoses and can no longer work, Gregor’s father is furious at the …show more content…

When Gregor crawls out of his room towards the chief clerk, “Gregor's father seized the Chief clerk’s stick in his right hand, picked up a large newspaper from the table with his left, and used them to drive Gregor back into his room.” From that time on, Gregor is a prisoner in his room. However, Gregor's response to his father’s behavior doesn't resemble anything related to anger or revenge; no matter what his father does to him, his unconditional love remains. Instead, Gregor feels it is his fault that he has to impose his condition on his …show more content…

The father’s inappropriate response when he learns of Gregor’s death is “Let's give thanks to G-d for that.” It's disturbing that Gregor waited his whole life for his father to accept him; yet even when he's dead, his father doesn't show any love for his son or appreciation for anything he did for the family. Even though his family didn't reciprocate with the same affection, when Gregor is slowly dying, he dreams of the pleasure it would give him to send his sister to music school. Gregor never hates his family, even though they are not deserving of his love and devotion to

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Gregor in a sense is treated like a tenant in his own home; his parents never enter his room, only reminding him of waking, eating and leaving. This emphasizes the strained relationship between Gregor and his family. However, after his metamorphosis his family treats him more so like a burden, for Gregor no longer provides

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When Gregor's father saw his condition he didn’t feel empathetic and only hated Gregor,“his father gave him a hard shove, which was truly his salvation, and bleeding profusely, he flew into his room”, Gregor's father is never really ever able to understand him and is always impatient with him and even. Grete although is nothing like the father, she is very kind to gregor and with her new responsibilities she has been helping the family a lot. “ whereas until now they had frequently been annoyed with her because she had struck them as being a little useless”, right when the family thought she was useless, Gregor’s condition had lead the family to discover how useful Grete really is. Mrs. Samsa protects Gregor because she care about him deeply and cannot stand the fact that he is a bug, “Let me go to Gregor, he is my unfortunate boy! Don't you understand that I have to go to him?”

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The narrator said, “During the first fortnight, Gregor’s parents could not bring themselves to enter his room…” He has been disconnected from his family to the point where they’re emotionally unstable and unable to treat him as he deserves with affection and comfort to help him cope with his metamorphosis. The narrator shows this disconnection before the mutation,”Gregor later earned so much money that he was in a position to cover the expenses for the entire family…” He later described the exchange not “particularly warm”. Gregor feels alienated by his parents because of the lack of affection for him providing for them.

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Gregor is being isolated and left out of his own blood family. In Part 3, the text states “In this overworked and exhausted family who had time to worry and longer about Gregor more than was absolutely necessary?” (167). Gregor becomes neglected and lives in filth. His room is used for storage and garbage.

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Gregor is portrayed as apologetic and disoriented, while his family is portrayed as hostile and unforgiving. “Mother, mother,’ said Gregor quietly, and looked over towards her”. “At that his mother screamed all over again, hurried from the table, and collapsed into the arms of his father, who was rushing towards her.” The evidence shows that when Gregor turned into a bug, he tries to calm his parents down while his parents are scared of him and wants to get rid of him. Likewise, conflict fits in to the events conveyed in the plot of the

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1464 Words | 6 Pages

He notices that they are beginning to wear down from his transformation and financial situation. They take on some boarders to make up what they are missing from Gregor inability to work. Soon after there is an incident with the boarders that causes them to leave. Gregor’s family is treating him like he is a burden now, even saying so and not understanding that he can still hear them. He feels so bad at this point that he decides to rid his family of his presence.

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629 Words | 3 Pages

To better understand, in the story, Gregor is assaulted verbally and physically by his father. Gregor's father “... without for the moment taking accurate aim,

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1264 Words | 6 Pages

The physical act of the father hurling the apple at him and the subsequent pain from the apple being lodged in his back creates an even greater sense of resentment towards his father. However, as mentioned earlier, Gregor still thinks of them with love and emotion in his last moments. Given that we (humans) are introspective beings, and that Gregor is still human, it is only because Gregor’s limbs are different that he is unable to experience sensations the same way human do and not because his mind is any less capable. This means that the essence of a human being lies within the mind rather than within the body. Without the mind the body is

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Gregor began to resent his father for throwing household items at him, squashing him like a bug. Even his beloved sister Grete began irritating Gregor by removing all of his belonging from his room, leaving him with nothing. The cruelty performed on Gregor by his own family sends him into a dark pit of despair. With nothing to live for he began to slowly end his life, making one final sacrifice for the ones he loves

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1268 Words | 6 Pages

Kafka shows his readers that Gregor’s father showcased his dominance aggressively towards Gregor, most likely because he felt as though Gregor had taken that position from him, and acting as though he had to protect his family from the vermin that had replaced their son. Gregor’s mother attempted to show what little affection remained for her son, by agreeing to help Grete move Gregor’s furniture. She could not stand the sight of him, but still wanted what was best for him, leading to her see Gregor and pass out. His father mistook the situation as Gregor attacking his mother, and went as far as to through apples at Gregor, injuring him in the process. With Gregor no longer acting as a source of income for his family, they had to become independent and fend for themselves.

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The author states, “If there was anything Gregor knew, it was that his father loved his mother, that he loved him and Lizzie, that he would have loved Boots”(Collins 10). This proves that his father had cared for his family and would have loved them all. The author states in the middle of the novel, “‘Look, please, what I really need is for you guys to help me bring my dad home’”(Collins 116). This proves that Gregor really cares for his father and really wants to find him and take him back home. The author finally states in the end of the novel, “His dad held out his arms, and Gregor rushed into them and held on tightly” (Collins 295).

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He tries to keep himself separated from his family and others, but that fails after a while. His family cannot take the sight of what he has become, except for his sister who becomes the one to look after him. In the story, Gregor’s family feels that he cannot communicate with them, but he still can understand everything they are saying. So, they lock him inside of his room away from the world. Gregor’s mother and father feel that Gregor will eventually get better, and turn back normal.

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781 Words | 4 Pages

His father is quick to injure him, his mother cannot look at him without the risk of getting ill, Grete no longer brings him varieties of food and has grown tired of the whole situation, so Gregor has been becoming less and less accounted for. Gregor reflects that he is imprisoned in his room, which is turned into a junk room showing the family is losing nearly all compassion they had for him. Then the night that the lodgers take sight of Gregor and refuse to pay for the time they spent there, Grete has had enough. She explains that the monster is no longer Gregor, and that they have been fools

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Gregor’s obligations to his family result in his inextricable role as a provider for

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1048 Words | 5 Pages

This shows how negligent she is of Gregor. She cannot put her feelings of his appearance aside in order to accept him as her son. A mother would usually be the most accepting or understanding of her child, but even she no longer loves him. When his mother finally visits Gregor in his creature form, she gets overwhelmed and runs out crying. This makes the father think that Gregor did something to him, which causes him to throw an apple at Gregor, which gets lodged into his back.

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