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Gregor Samsa Metamorphosis

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“One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.” This is the beginning of the end for Gregor Samsa. The metamorphosis had the ultimate effect in store for him: death. Aside from Gregor’s physical death, he also experiences the realization of the death of something more: his individuality. The effect the metamorphosis had on Gregor Samsa is the death of him physically and the realization that his individuality had perished; as well as all of the physical, mental, and social effects that accompanied the metamorphosis. The effects of the metamorphosis on Gregor socially are a huge contributor to Gregor’s literal and figurative death. Throughout the story, Gregor faces …show more content…

As Grete starts to alienate Gregor and become more indifferent about him, Gregor gets increasingly agitated. Throughout the story, Gregor shows little impatience or agitation with his family and puts them on a bizarre, undeserved pedestal with all of his affection with the exception of when Grete in particular alienates him. Society’s alienation of Gregor, and Grete’s alienation in particular, is one of the main causes of Gregor’s death. Up until the point when Grete rejects Gregor after Gregor is drawn in by her violin playing, Gregor had hope of acceptance. After Gregor realizes society, including Grete, had completely alienated him, he gives up and lets himself die. When Gregor approaches Grete while she was playing the violin, the only thing he desired was for her to want him. “...but stay of her own free will; she would sit beside him on the couch with her ear bent down to him while he told her how he had always intended to send her to the conservatory…” The “stay of her own free will” portion of that sentence emphasizes Gregor’s desire for Grete to come into his room and be with him because Grete wanted to be with Gregor. As Gregor collected dust in his room and faced rejection from society, he still had hope. Gregor still had hope that Grete would accept him and that was the driving force

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Gregor’s initial reaction to his transformation shows his preoccupation with work. His confusion over his radical transformation does not last long, quickly becoming concerned with work and disregarding that he woke up physically transformed into a monstrous vermin. Immediately after realizing he had transformed, Gregor explains, “Well, I haven’t given up hope completely; once I’ve gotten the money together to pay off my parents’ debt to [the boss] that will probably take another five to six years… But for the time being I’d better get up, since my train leaves at five” (4). The quick transition of Gregor’s thoughts from the initial shock to his economic duties reveals his ironic nonchalant attitude towards his nonsensical transformation and

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1. Almost from the very beginning of Gregor’s metamorphosis, Mr. Samsa has been unwilling to accept Gregor as his son. Furthermore, Gregor’s transformation into an offensive form of an insect, constantly reminds Mr. Samsa of the grotesque, feeble, and pathetic aberration that he has fathered. Consequently, now that Gregor has genuinely revealed himself in all his audacious behavior, his cruel father is driven to destroy him. In his eyes, Gregor has become everything loathsome to him—scrawny, parasitic, and futile—not the kind of son this once successful and ambitious storekeeper could be proud of.

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1480 Words | 6 Pages

" Physically: Gregor literally crawls into his room, lays down on the floor, and takes his last breath. Mentally: Gregor's family alienates him and is ultimately responsible for Gregor's death through their negligence. Clearly, the bug is Gregor, but Mr. and Mrs. Samsa and Grete treat 'it' as if he was scum. " They were treating him as though he was invisible. They would literally walk past his room every day and attend their family dinners without saying anything to Gregor at all.

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484 Words | 2 Pages

This change has long since happened but is in full affect more than ever since the transmutation. Overall Gregor has changed both physically and emotionally. He was mutated into a giant bug at the beginning of the novella. His emotional connection changed between his parents for the worst. The spark between them has faded as the money Gregor made grew.

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555 Words | 3 Pages

Grete’s Significant Transformation She’s the only one who can face Gregor in his new body. She is the only one who can understand his needs. She is no longer Gregor’s little sister who needs to be protected, now she wants to return the favor, her name is Grete.

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777 Words | 4 Pages

The Repercussions of Cruelty Cruel actions lead to cruel endings. Gregor Samsa, the protagonist in Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis, is turned into a bug from the mental and emotional abuse by the hands of his own family. The cruelty in the Samsa household is apparent from the beginning of the storyline. Their neglect and lack of compassion for Gregor's condition immediately sets the dark and miserable mood of the novella. Gregor’s whole existence has been about caring for his family and making sacrifices for their well being.

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1047 Words | 5 Pages

Gregor Samsa’s transition from human to vermin was not the only shift that happened through the duration of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The novel is centered around Gregor who wakes up as a vermin, presumably a cockroach, which catalyses a series of emotionally traumatic experiences for him and his family, culminating in Gregor’s death. Yet the most significant change is, in fact, the gender role reversal seen both with Gregor and Grete, his sister, as Gregor becomes more effeminate and Grete becomes more emasculate, directly correlating with their societal and emotional transformation due to Gregor's physical change. From the moment, Gregor wakes up he has transformed. But not just as a vermin.

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Even though his family has assumed the world and thought that their dear son and brother had been turned into a monster. Gregor still looked out for them, was extremely selfless, and still cared deeply about his family. Even in his isolated, depressed state, he spent hours working on a way to make it so Grete didn’t have to see him. “One day he carried the sheet on his back to the couch this job took four hours” (29). Even after being essentially ignored by his family he still puts himself through strain to make sure that they are taken care of in whatever way he can.

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150 Words | 1 Pages

The real tragedy of Metamorphosis isn’t Gregor’s death, but the way he decide to lead his life. He worked a job he hated to repay the debts of a man who never appreciated him. Gregor’s family showed almost no compassion for Gregor. When he ultimately dies, the family wasn’t sad at all. They were relieved to finally be rid of Gregor after his usefulness came to an end.

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Kafka tells the story through Grete viewpoint to point out the obligation of gender equality. He shifts the story from Gregor’s perspective to Grete’s perspective. Gregor’s transformation forces Grete to fill the role left unattended by Gregor and creates her own point of view, whereas before she would mindlessly obey everyone’s commands. Grete obeying everyone’s commands without refusal lets the reader imply she has not possessed her sense of self, yet because she never experiences the need for independence before Gregor’s metamorphosis. As Gregor weakly diminishes, Grete gains her powerful self-confidence and forms her own opinions, since Gregor can no longer provide for the family, she doesn’t feel the pressure to obey the family like she

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947 Words | 4 Pages

“When the wind blows, some build walls while others build windmills. ” This quote was incorporated to demonstrate the different emotions and reactions people have towards change. Change can be both negative and positive and while some people embrace it, others are frightened by it. In collection 3, it can be inferred that many of the stories such as, The Metamorphosis, Life After People, The Starry Night, and The Lord of the Flies, show how change can negatively affect someone 's life, a groups lives, or in extreme cases, the world.

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1857 Words | 8 Pages

Franz Kafka, heavily influenced by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, devises the character Gregor Samsa in order to portray a detailed experience of an individual’s metamorphosis. Kafka’s narration style differs greatly from Ovid’s, in that, the narration begins with a first person perspective and changes to a third person narration, which remains consistent to the end of the novel. Unlike the stories within the Metamorphoses, there is a clear contrast in the portrayal of Gregor’s transformation. Ovid and Kafka’s depiction of a metamorphosis incorporates the concept of identity in the individual’s transition, however Kafka emphasizes the family dynamic and the hostility Gregor feels. Gregor’s family’s inability to look past Gregor’s exterior appearance

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942 Words | 4 Pages

What was once a lack of social mobility and opportunity pre-metamorphosis is now represented as a lack of physical movement for Gregor. Moreover, Gregor is still subject to family obligations. As a giant bug, he is expected to stay out of sight to spare the family, just as he was expected to pay back the debt to spare the family. However, as mentioned, now the family obligation also has some physical aspect to it. If Gregor doesn’t abide by his new obligations, he is met with violence or physical threats.

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795 Words | 4 Pages

Growing up in a community with an unequal view of women, Grete has been influenced by the idea that her knowledge is of no importance. Grete had been looked down upon by her family for her lack of a stance and her position in society. However, Gregor’s transformation forces Grete to make up for his shortcomings, pushing her out of her comfort zone as well as her ideal gender role. Given the circumstances, Grete gives up her simple, easy lifestyle to make up for the loss of Gregor. In the beginning, Gregor depicts Grete using degrading terms to explain his sister, which suggests that her role as a female falls below his status as a male.

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718 Words | 3 Pages

In the Metamorphosis, Gregor was a man who devoted his life to his family and work. He did everything for his family and nothing for himself. But when he turned into a bug, everything changed. Suddenly he became the taker instead of the giver. It wasn’t until he went through the transformation that he realized his self identity.

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