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Dust In The Metamorphosis

Decent Essays

The Metamorphosis: dust and grime What is the real significance of dust and grime in the story, The Metamorphosis? The significance of dust and grime is the personality of Gregor Samsa which is represented through his transformation and how it is perceived through those who interact with Gregor. The Significance of dust and grime in the story is shown through Gregor’s bedroom, the food that he eats and the food that surrounds him, and lastly, the way Gregor is treated by the people who interact with him. Many peoples personality is shown through how their room is maintained. Gregor’s bedroom is the main location in the story, The Metamorphosis. At the very beginning of the story, Gregor wakes up and realizes he is late for work, in which his …show more content…

Later in the story, after Gregor’s transformation, Grete feeds Gregor. At first, Grete brings Gregor milk, since it was his favorite, but it didn’t appeal to Gregor at an insect. When Grete notices, she brings him more options to choose from: "There were old, half decayed vegetables, bones from last night’s supper covered with a white sauce that had thickened; some raisins and almonds, a piece of cheese that Gregor would have called uneatable two days ago… (He) sucked greedily at the cheese, which above all the other edibles attracted him at once and strongly. One after another and with tars of satisfaction in his eyes he quickly devoured the cheese, the vegetables, and the sauce; the fresh food on the other hand, had no charms for him, he could not even stand the smell of it and actually dragged away to some little distance the things he could eat.” (107-108) from this passage. we can see Gregor seems to only enjoy the food that was obviously spoiled. The filth in this part of the story is represented by the food that Gregor did eat. This symbolizes, again, what Gregor represents on the inside. Gregor seems to have had a “rotten” personality, which was reflected through what he ate, again relating to the phrase, “You are what you eat”. Gregor’s transformation is most likely a simple representation of who Gregor really was as a person. A second passage from the …show more content…

Most of the furniture was taken out of his room. Gregor, already depressed and weak, simply laid in the same spot for hours. Since Gregor’s family overlooks him and thinks much less of him, they begin to treat him as they view him; “Perhaps she intended to take the things away again as time and opportunity offered, or to collect them until she could throw them all out in a heap, but in fact they just lay wherever she happened to throw them, except when Gregor pushed his way through the junk heap and shifted it somewhat, at first out of necessity, because he has not room enough to crawl, but later with increasing enjoyment, although after such excursions, being sad and weary to death, he would lie motionless for hours.” (128) At this point, Gregor’s family no longer cares about the conditions of Gregor’s room. Most of the things that don’t have a place elsewhere, end up in Gregor’s room. At first, Gregor seems hopeful that the many items in his room are temporary, but as time passes and more item are placed in his room, he becomes depressed and hopeless. It could be thought that Gregor’s family assumed, at one point, that since Gregor transformed into a dung beetle, he would want to live in the conditions a dung beetle would be living; except more realistically speaking considering Gregor was a life sized insect and was still kept inside the Samsa’s home. This could represent either that

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