Gregor, a character in “Infinite in Between”, experiences a tragic event mid-way through the story. His father, his best friend, passes away of a heart attack. Gregor’s father passing came out of nowhere and was unexpected.(Or was it?) In Foster’s book “How to read literature like a Professor” it states that “it’s never just heart disease or rarely just an illness” (Foster…). I think the death means that Gregor is growing up and becoming an adult.
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.
After Gregor’s metamorphosis the cruelty his family showed him changed. He was now not just confined to his house but his bedroom with very little human interaction. His sister Grete who seemed to show Gregor the most compassion in the begining changed and in the end was the one to say “it has to go”. Grete’s sudden change of heart towards Gregor triggered his death as he crawled back to his room and died at 3
To start, even before readers know he has become a creature, they are made aware that Gregor has a particular disdain for his life and his job. He might as well be a visitor to his own home due to his job as a travelling salesman. Already it becomes clear that Gregor is not has happy and stable as he could be, and to top it all off, Gregor is not even all that concerned with his new form (Klingenstein 1.) His reasoning behind this apathy is that he is still the provider for his family, thus not allowing him time to dwindle on his transformation.
" 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
However, his family never realizes these sacrifices and takes Gregor for granted, ultimately leading to his painful demise. Gregors perpetual devotion to his harsh family represents the unconditional love one feels for their own flesh and blood no matter how wicked they may be. The family's reaction to Gregor’s transformation into a bug demonstrates their lack of compassion for
“He remained in this state of peaceful reflection[...]Then, without his consent, his head sank down to the floor, and from his nostrils flared his last weak breath”(54). It is common in literature, movies, and plays for a death to be one of two extremes: either bloody and horrible, or sad, dramatic and horrible. Kafka used the latter, employing the phrasing of ‘his last weak breath’ instead of a show of twitching and coughing gruesomeness. It gave Gregor one last human sentimental, human connotation.
Most people would have been in complete disarray when they discovered the new body provided. In Gregor’s case what is perceived is that he will be able to continue on living his normal existence after
Human beings become disoriented when put in situations of isolation or loneliness. This tendency contributes to the notion that alienation is a powerful force. In literature, this debilitating feeling is often used by authors to parallel his or her own life in the character(s) or represent a specific body of people that can be related to the general audience. Alienation and isolation are often used as main or central themes in works of literature, both fiction and non-fiction, making it possible to recognize the similarities and emphasize the differences between stories in specific genres. This logic applies to The Metamorphosis and Bartleby, the Scrivener.
He became embodied by his weak form and closed off to the real world, literally. Gregor’s influence on his family also allowed his father to grow as an individual and appear superior when dressing within his
In the Disney movie The Little Mermaid, Arial doesn’t want what everyone else around her wants in life. She dreams of being a human unlike her friends and family. Both Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Franz Kafka are different from the norm, like Arial. They experiment with what it means to be a “normal” human in their books. Though the books Metamorphosis, and Notes from the Underground have different authors, they share many parallels, but also have numerous contradicting themes.
