Dealing with Transformation in The Metamorphosis Essay

At this point in the story Gregor is completely captivated with Grete, which is an unexpected consequence in her plan of manipulation. Grete began to practice her violin to show her parents just how classy she was even though she was able to take care of Gregor. While entertaining guests and playing the violin Grete captivated Gregor with the sweet sound of music. “On hearing all this, his sister would break out in tears of emotion, and Gregor would climb up to her shoulder and kiss her neck, which, since she had been going out to work, she had keep free without any necklace or collar.” Gregor also feels bad about what has happened with his sister. Due to Gregor’s situation Grete has to work and this is keeping her from wearing her beautiful necklaces. Grete has effectively manipulated her parents and Gregor. In the final paragraph of the novella it talks of Grete and how highly her parents think of her. The novella ends with one final dehumanization of Gregor. The last sentence shows Grete stretching her young body after Gregor has died with a horrid

Grete has to work closely with her parents in order to overcome the changes throughout the book. In doing this, she and her parents develop a stronger alliance. All three of them try to become acquainted with Gregor in the bug form, especially Grete; instead they all go against him which causes them all to become closer. In the “Clinical Social Work Journal,” Alexandra says “In the end, what appears to be a stable sibling-parent triangle has been established”(Kivowitz 38). Alexandra then

When Gregor first turned into a bug, his sister Grete, showed him kindness by bringing him some food “She brought him, to test his taste, an entire selection, all spread out on a newspaper. There were old half-rotten vegetables, bones from the evening meal, covered with white sauce which had almost solidified, some raisins and almonds, cheese, which Gregor had declared inedible two days earlier, a slice of dry bread, a slice of salted bread smeared with butter… and out of delicacy of feeling, since she knew Gregor would not eat in front of her, she went away very quickly… Gregor could now make himself as comfortable as possible.” (Kafka 153) As the story progresses Grete becomes careless and no longer is sympathetic toward Gregor. In fact she hardly even feds him anymore “But even when the

The plans for a new dwelling for the Samsa’s have been postponed, once more due to Gregor’s condition, his father is not pleased. As days pass Gregor dwells in his bed complaining of soreness every time he moves about. For the past few days all Gregor does is gorge down food and sleep an unheard of amount of hours. A week later Gregor decides to get up from his bed, he enters the kitchen and he finds no servant, but instead his sister Grete, who before departing for work makes him something to eat. She still works as a salesgirl, nothing had changed in the Samsa’s residence, only Gregor’s exterior. He pulls up a

the family representative of Gregor, in a sense, to a mother who does not understand and a father who is hostile and opposing. The father is physically violent toward his metamorphosed Gregor, pushing him through a door in Part I: "...when from behind his father gave him a strong push which was literally a deliverance and he flew far into the room, bleeding freely" (20). Grete appears to concentrate on protecting Gregor from this antagonistic father and an indecisive mother. In Part II, when Grete leads her mother into Gregor's room for the first time, we see the strange way in which Grete has become both the expert and the caretaker of Gregor's affairs (Nabokov 271). She convinces her mother that it is best to remove all of the furniture from his room. Kafka attributes her actions partly to an adolescent zest: "Another factor which might have been also the enthusiastic temperament of an adolescent girl, which seeks to indulge

Grete Samsa is Gregor’s sister. Grete immediately feels pity for her brother and wants to help him. This continues until near the end of the story when Grete gets a job and takes over the role as the main provider. It seems at this

First, when Grete is fearful of Gregor, she tries to get away from him as quickly as possible. For example, when Grete sees Gregor for the first time she is “shocked” by his appearance, “los[es]” control and “slam[s]” the door. Grete “regret[s]” this and “tip-toe[s]” into Gregor's room as if he is a “stranger” (12). This quote expresses Grete’s fear of Gregor and how she reacts impulsively as a result. First, Kafka describes Grete as being “shocked” or scared because of Gregor's transformation. This is because the change is sudden and his new form threatens Grete. Also, Kafka's use of “lost” or something that can not be recovered, to show that Grete can not remain calm and therefore acts instinctively and impulsively. Next, the mental image

Grete’s initial reaction to Gregor’s bug transformation is that she “began to weep while Gregor was still lying quietly on his back”(47). This reaction shows that Grete’s level of maturity is not adequate enough to deal with the change her brother is experiencing. Grete is not only showing her emotion and care for Gregor, but proving that his metamorphosis is causing Grete to experience emotional weakness. As Gregor is moving forward in his journey; Grete enters into her stage of exploring just how much power she has over the situation that is occurring within the

Unfortunately, after a while she seems to resent Gregor and his hideous transformation. Slowly, the reader can see the dehumanization that occurs when Grete considers Gregor. Toward the end, Gregor wishes to hear his sister play the violin and scurries out from his room, disturbing his family and the tenants of the household. His sister, who had been almost kind in her treatment of Gregor in the beginning, turned monstrous. “'We must get rid of it,' cried the sister again, 'that's the only thing for it, Father.

Before his transformation, Gregor used to be an important voice in the family because he provided for them. After the transformation, Gregor is no longer depended on as he once used to be. This leads him to feel as if he is a burden to his family. This explains his loss of desire to eat and his lack of motivation. When talking to her parents about Gregor, Grete illustrates their dilemma:

From the beginning of the story we see how Grete is the only one in the family who is sympathetic to her brother Gregor when she cries because he doesn’t open up his door, while everyone else don’t give it much thought.. Even when Gregor was turned into a bug, she was the only one in the family who faced him and who was able to translate his wants and needs by feeding him and setting up a chair so he can look out the window. She was not afraid of him because deep down she knew that her brother was still in there, bug or not. However, we witness many changes as Grete tries to get accustomed to her new life of responsibilities, and her brother as a bug. In a way, she goes through her own metamorphis. She begins feeling like he’s a chore for her,

In The Metamorphosis, Gregor, who has transformed into a vermin, has ignored his transformation and worries about not being able to aid to his family financially. One could say that Gregor’s primary role is to fulfill the role of the financial provider in his family, as he is the only one that works. The father, however, chooses not to take the role of the provider and expects Gregor to fulfill this role. When Gregor does not meet up to this expectation, it frustrates the father, as he must begin working. This shows that the father has always been able to work, but would rather not burden himself with this task, and when Grete starts to work afterward it proves this. Afterward, Grete, Gregor’s sister, starts to work independently and realizes

Grete seemed to be the one family member who still wanted to help Gregor despite his new form. While his father and mother were unwilling to come into the room and care for him, he could find solace in the fact that his sister still seemed to know that he was more than just a cockroach, he was still Gregor. She went so far as to bring him different foods to try, as she was not sure what he would like, but she wanted him to be content with his food, “But never would he have been able to guess what in the goodness of her heart his sister did. She brought him, evidently to get a sense of his likes and dislikes, a whole array of things, all spread out on an old newspaper,” (108). However, as time progressed and Gregor’s form remained the same, Grete slowly began to pay less attention to him.

The only reason Gregor’s continued presence is tolerated in the home is due to the Samsa’s fading memory of their son’s humanity. It is Grete, who’s transformation reaches a climax when she begins to change from a loving sister, once concerned with bringing her brother, as Kafka writes “[food in]… a wide range of choices, all spread out on an old newspaper” (280), to a inconsiderate sibling who no longer recognizes the humanity of her brother despite his physical form, unwilling to see or meet any of his emotional needs, and even going so far as to refer to him as an ‘it’ rather than a member of the family. Grete’s dehumanization of Gregor is expressed by Kafka throughout the story, beginning with Grete’s decision to remove all the furniture in Gregor’s room, “They were cleaning out his room, taking away from him everything he loved (286).” And then from her impassioned plea to her parents in which she cries: “We can’t go on like this. Maybe you don’t realize it, but I do.

The family now has a strange sort of routine, with the father falling asleep every night and requiring assistance from the women of the house to find the bed. When the new characters arrive, the three tenants, they offer a new set of obstacles for the family to overcome. In one instance, when the reader sees the full extent of Gregor’s possible incestuous tendencies, he imagines Grete coming into his room alone, and he imagines kissing her throat. This resembles Gregor’s final shift into a complete animal. Grete, however, is being admired by the tenants, even if it is for a short time.