Gregor's Transformation In The Metamorphosis

In the story “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka the main character Gregor and his family dealt with the conflict of his past life as a human, and his current life as a bug. This begins with the opening sentence when it is made clear that Gregor has truly transformed into a bug. The author states, “One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had changed into a monstrous insect” (719). Instead of the main character beginning to panic about this transformation he actually began to stress about the job that he has chosen. Gregor thought, “The stress of trade are much greater than the work going on at head office, and, in addition to that, I have to deal with the problems of traveling, the worries about train connections irregular bad food, temporary changing human relationships which never came from the heart” (720). Gregor was mentally dealing with stress of a human being because he was focused on the job choice that he has made and the negative impact it has had on his life. In that moment he also realized that he truly transformed into an insect, and instead focusing on this transformation it was as if it did not hold importance.

An example of this was when she filled a bowl up with milk and chunks of white bread. Gregor’s response indicated that he was no longer a human that enjoyed milk, but instead he preferred food that insects would appreciate. The author stated, “But he soon drew back again in disappointment because the milk, which otherwise was his favorite drink and which his sister had certainly placed there for a reason, did not appeal to him at all” (730). This indicates that Grete initially choose Grete’s meal by remembering his preferences as a human, and it was not until he declined the meal that she knew that along with his appearance his meal preferences also