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Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

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Gregor Samsa- Human Or Insect Gregor Samsa, an unhappy traveling salesman wakes up one morning as a cockroach. Many readers believe that his transformation is a metaphor for self sacrifice and isolation, however some readers take this information more directly and believe his physical form is an insect. Personally I took this transformation as a metaphor for how Gregor was feeling about his life and the isolation he felt from his family. In Franz Kafka's novel The Metamorphosis the main character Gregor portrays more human qualities than insect. Gregor displays many human qualIties throughout the course of the novel, mainly the guilt and resentment he feels toward his family. As the sole provider in his family Gregor was constantly working …show more content…

Kafka highlights Gregor's guilt with an insight on Gregor's thoughts “Gregor spent the days and nights almost entirely without sleep. Sometimes he thought that the next time the door opened he would take charge of the family’s affairs again, just as he had done in the old days.” (Kafka 40) After Gregor's sister Grete closes the door to his room, as she does everyday Gregor reflects on his past. He thinks about how he was once the person his family relied on. Gregor feels so guilty about not working because his family completely ignores him in this state, showing they never cared for him. Since he's a bug and can't work anymore he feels useless to his family and like he has lost his purpose. Gregor has no identity to his family other than a provider and readers can see this based on the way they treat him after his metamorphosis. Gregor starts to resent his family because of this. He realizes that when he isn't useful to them they treat him more horrible than before. Kafka emphasizes this by saying “Gregor was a member of the family in spite of his pathetic and repulsive shape, who could not be treated as an enemy; that, on the contrary, it was the …show more content…

Gregor does everything for them and always considers their feelings. For example whenever a family member enters the room he covers himself up with the sheet because he knows they won't want to see him. After his metamorphosis he still worries about his family and their financial situation. Mainly we can see that he still tries to maintain a relationship with his sister. He really cares for her and believes she is very talented. This is the reason he wants to put her through music school. After the metamorphosis Gregor is still very moved by Grete’s music “ Was he an animal that music could move him so… He was determined to force himself on until he reached his sister… to let her know in this way that she should bring her violin into his room, for no one here appreciated her playing the way he would appreciate it.” (46) This highlights how human he is, he still loves and cares for his sister and is moved by her talent. This is a scene that takes place in the third act close to his death. Even while he is the most “insect” he's ever been he still possesses human-like qualities such as the way he thinks about his sister as well as the empathy he feels for her since she needed to get a

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He is willing to take on anyone in order to support his family, which plays into the theme of family duty. Also, Gregor’s determination and military experience (pg 12) is displayed in his plan making and strategizing to capture his manager. The loyalty to his family, displayed by working and trying his best to keep a job he doesn’t want, gives insight into Gregor’s character. The unhealthy relationship Gregor has with his family is very common for a character in Franz Kafka’s book. His own tumultuous relation reflected onto his characters lives.

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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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His corporeity points to his mortality which makes the inhuman world his master. Gregor’s inhuman world is as incomprehensible to human reason and sensibility as is death; it is far more human and humane than the reality of the people surrounding him who have denied their own

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This is the reason he isolated himself from his family. Gregor is forced to work in an environment he hates but his transformation overlooks that. He doesn’t have to suffer from his occupation and allows him to spend more time with his family. However, this change only had a positive affect temporarily.

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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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This contrast between the usual and the new, unexpected situation that Gregor is in shows an absurd tone as Kafka writes a storyline for Gregor that is likely not the response that most people would have to the horrifying idea of turning into an

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Gregor’s sister still cares about him, but she starts to become possessive; she eventually gets a job to support Gregor. Gregor’s mother is trying to be supportive and help him through the transformation. Gregor’s father is violent and angry about the transformation, and eventually begins to throw apples at Gregor. When Gregor dies, the family is relieved that their burden is gone. Gregor’s point Of View

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Neither Kafka nor Gregor followed the existentialist idea of freedom of choice in a person’s life. They both had a life they didn’t ask for and responsibilities they were forced to assume. This principle of lack of freedom is clearly shown by the unexpected transformation of Gregor, waking up as an insect and obtaining the freedom he lacked, emancipating himself of obligations, injustice and final duties. He is freed from the obligation to work to maintain his family and liberated himself from his tyrannical father. Although he turned into a horrible insect, the metamorphosis did not change the beauty of his soul.

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1504 Words | 7 Pages

Every time she entered Gregor’s room, it was “as if she were suffocating” until it “had even become very unpleasant for him, now, whenever she entered” (31). Gregor eventually died when Grete declared that they would “have to try and get rid of it”, destroying what was left of their relationship (47). By viewing Grete as a symbol of Gregor’s past life, the deterioration of their relationship

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Kafka uses symbols such as The Picture Of the Fur Coat Lady, Doors and Windows, Gregor as a Bug to provide insight to his dehumanization. Kafka uses the picture of girl in the fur coat to symbolize the last of Gregor's humanity before he turned into a cockroach. One example of this is Gregor's reaction to his sister Grete and his Mother. ”That picture, at least, which Gregor was now completely covering, surely no one would now take away”(Kafka 35) he thinks this when Grete and his mother are moving his furniture out of his room. This is unusual behaviour for Gregor even as a bug, he has never once

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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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705 Words | 3 Pages

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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542 Words | 3 Pages

This can be related to the ever-present theme isolation; Gregor is locked away in his room and Grete is trapped by taking care of Gregor. In the end, Grete has completely changed in relation to herself at the beginning of the story. Once loving her brother, she now resents Gregor, referring to him as "it". She pleads her parents to get rid of him so both Grete and the parents can be free of their burden (Kafka 62).

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He loathes that as a vermin, he is a burden to his family. Under the couch, Gregor is “(…) in a state of worry and murky hopes, which led to the conclusion that for the time being he would have to keep calm and with patience and the greatest consideration for his family tolerate the troubles which in his present condition he was now forced to cause them.” (Kafka 11). Gregor’s family, on the other side, never accepts his new condition and are not capable of adapting psychologically to the sight of a their son/brother as

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Gregor is the main provider within the family for the amount of income he brings, and is idolized for his role. Being raised in the 20th century, Gregor 's view on women had been the same as any other male during this time period and looked down upon women as inadequate, and, in most societies, the man provides and the woman maintains; however, this viewpoint alternates once the unexpected change in their life occurs resulting in a switch of leadership within their household. "Gregor felt very proud that he had been able to provide such a life in so nice an apartment for his parents and his sister. (21)" After his mysterious modification within his physical form, his mentality also weakened.

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