Gregor Samsa In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

The life of Gregor Samsa, the protagonist of Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis, revolves around his family - he slaves at work under the pressure of his family’s debt until, one day, he wakes up as a monstrous vermin. Kafka narrates this bizarre tale of Gregor’s transformation in an unsettlingly detached manner, isolating and examining the Samsa family members on an individual level by introducing Gregor as a disturbing factor in the unit. Through inspecting the family’s reactions towards Gregor, Kafka conveys how people fundamentally are isolated individuals whose actions are motivated by desire. Mr. Samsa uses the family as a medium through which he can fulfil his desire to exercise authority. After Gregor’s transfiguration, Mr. Samsa becomes the only male member of the family that can work to provide for the family and protect the women from Gregor. He takes pride in his work, refusing “to

She is driven by the will to gain practical value and uses Gregor’s transfiguration to reach her goal. Before Gregor’s transformation, she was considered “as being a little useless” (28), a pretty, innocent girl with not much worth. However, after Gregor loses his value by turning into a vermin, she gains value as his caretaker; through her exclusive ability to tend Gregor, she benefits from Gregor’s misfortune. To her family, she becomes the guide of action for matters regarding Gregor. Her perspective towards Gregor’s existence changes once again when she begins work at a shop. She is often “exhausted… [she] had gotten fed up with taking care of Gregor” (42) and increasingly neglects Gregor’s humanity as he is no longer the only source that gives her merit to her family. She later proposes that the family “must try to get rid of it” (49) as Gregor has little pragmatic use to her, and his existence only threatens her