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
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 Metamorphosis, written by Franz Kafka, is a cultivating story about how the life of Gregor Samsa and his family drastically changes. This change causes Gregor’s father and sister to betray him and even Gregor to betray himself. This all starts when one morning Gregor wakes up as a giant bug. This occurrence does not allow Gregor to work anymore and provide for his family. As the novel goes on his sister is the only one to take care of him but this takes a toll on Gregor and the rest of his family. Soon his family is in a financial crisis causing each member of the family to start working. They even had to start renting out a room in their apartment just to make ends meet. With all of these events happening to the family it causes many
The Metamorphosis changes Gregor’s personality, as well as the family’s attitude towards Gregor, and alters the family duty each member has before and after the transformation. The theme isolation gives the twists and turns the novella needs to portray the genre of magical realism and helps contribute to the flow and outcome of the
Gregor’s role in his family characterizes him as an altruistic individual whose nature made him ignorant to his family’s manipulation. Gregor endures most of his hardships without complaint and puts the needs of his family firmly above his own. Upon realizing his transformation at the beginning of the novella, his first thoughts were not of alarm but of great concern about being late to work because it is his only means of taking care of his family (Kafka 6). After his father’s business failed, Gregor “work[ed] with special ardor” (27) doing laborious work as a traveling salesman, not only to “pay off [his] parents’ debt”(4), but to also spend what little money he has to give Grete the opportunity to perform violin professionally (26). With all these responsibilities, it’s inevitable for Gregor to be under great stress, which can infer that Gregor’s transformation is a result of his willful desire to escape the pressures his overburdened life. Gregor struggled between remaining a steadfast provider or following his desire for independence, however, his metamorphosis freed him from a job he detests. Now that it is impossible for Gregor to work, Mr.Samsa reveals that “he possessed more money than Gregor knew about” (#). This is a significant event where Kafka uses the motif of betrayal to emphasize the corruption in familial infrastructure represented through Gregor’s sacrifice and interaction with his family, as well as to socially comment about how people in society use
Although Gregor turned into a bug, the real Metamorphosis occurred before the change and with the whole family. Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis reflects the ideals about industrialization and existentialism during the turn of the century. In the novella, Gregor turns into a bug, and the whole family has to deal with it in different ways. Many characters go through a metamorphosis in the novella. Although the changes may not be physical the changes occurred greatly in Gregor, Mr. Samsa, and Grete.
Later on, these people become a burden on them. This make the whole Gregor family be against him. Gregor's mother and sister used to clean the room at the beginning. But not at the end. They felt that cleaning out Gregor's room would make him feel happy, or might help him. But they really hurt him. It is painful for someone you loved if you took everything from them. It would make them feel isolated, unwanted and unloved. Seeing your mother and sister sad cleaning the room, I would rather have them not so their not disgusted or even more sad.
In the beginning of the novella, Gregor undergoes a transformation. Many readers view his transformation as he turns into a bug because of the way Kafka describes Gregor. Kafka may have been undergoing a transformation of his own. Kafka dealt with many issues growing up such as self doubt, issues with his father, and eventually, health issues. Like Kafka, Gregor deals with issues with his father and within himself and begins to feel less and less like himself as the novella continues. He awakes from his sleep to ask himself, “What’s happened to me (Kafka, 3)?” With the conflicts Gregor has with his family, especially his father, he begins to feel unwanted and unappreciated. Gregor also feels that he is becoming less sensitive when that used to be one of his main traits as a human (Kafka, 24). Seeing that Gregor is losing his sensitivity, that shows that he is truly losing himself since he is losing one of his main traits. Feeling less like himself, Gregor becomes more distant with his close
Gregor Samsa's metamorphosis occurs one morning when he wakes up from unsettling dreams and finds himself changed into a monstrous vermin. This change makes Gregor dependent on his family members and reverses his previous situation in which his family was dependent on him. As a bug, Gregor is useless to his family and can no longer perform simple human tasks, let alone support his father, mother, and sister.
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
Furthermore, Gregor’s descent into social and physical abjection then forces his family to change radically in order to support themselves. In the beginning, Gregor starts off as the provider for his family. He hates his job, but he still goes above and beyond the call of duty to give his family a more comfortable life, even indulging the expensive endeavour of his sisters’ dream of studying the violin. However, after the metamorphosis, he is thrust into the role of a dependant – forcing his family to take responsibility and support themselves. His sister steps up to the plate in the beginning, giving him a selection of foodstuffs to find what he likes and even cleaning up after him. His parents are still in denial at this point, so much so that they refuse to see him at all. But as time goes by, his family begins to accept the situation and even try to help Grete out. His father produces some money from his previous failed business venture and his mother and sister try to make life more comfortable for Gregor. Grete in particular changes the most noticeably; Gregor himself notes at the beginning that her life up till that point had been “enviable”, consisting of “wearing nice
His family shuns him and will not look at him. In time, his family abuses him and keeps him in filth and debris, which is not only in his room, but clinging to his carapace. They also forget to feed him, or just kick scraps into his room. By showing how much Gregor's identity is affected by his treatment from family and others' treatment of him, the story shows how identity is socially constructed, rather than being an inborn trait. The devolution of Gregor's room from a human bedroom to a storage closet reflects how his connection to human society deteriorates as the story progresses.
Locking up his room in his own house suggests that he feels his home to be just as unhomely as a hotel. Norman Hollan states “Gregor’s repulsive appearance means he has to remain in his room, a prisoner, completely isolated.” This is true because he is not willing to leave his room because of what he is and so is basically a prisoner within his own home. Goldfarb also states “Gregor’s transformation is not an escape from his past loneliness but an intensification of it.” Gregor’s whole life has been basically devoted to paying off family debt, worrying about wasting an hour of his employer’s time and spending very little time developing his life.
Whenever Gregor leaves his room he causes an uproar which usually ends with him being physically punished and forced back into his room by his father. This can be seen in the first chapter when Gregor reveals himself to his parents and boss, and becomes injured when his father forces him back into the room. In addition in the second chapter Gregor sustains mortal injuries for following his sister Grete into the house to help his collapsed mother. In the end, with his injuries and seeing himself as a nuisance and a monster like his family did, Gregor dies.
The first sign of an external change comes when “Gregor … woke up one morning … (and) found himself changed in his bed into a gigantic insect” (53). He eventually recognized the limitations that his new body puts on him and learned to adjust. He started to prefer dark, cramped spaces such as the dark corner in his room and under the sofa. He also felt more comfortable resting on the ceiling and walls of his room than he does lying in his bed. Another change that Gregor undergoes is his change in appetite. When Gregor’s sister brings in a platter of food full of kitchen scraps Gregor seems to enjoy the moldiest food more than any of the fresh food provided to him. The objects in Gregor’s room that he was
Metamorphosis is often described as a change of the form or nature of a thing or a person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means. Gregor Samsa led an ordinary and rather mundane life as a traveling salesman who spent the majority of his time on the road with little time to form friendships or relationship with anyone outside of his small family. Once filled with gratitude by providing for his family, he is soon filled with resentment and obligation as his family adjusts to their newfound income. All of which comes to a halt when Gregor wakes up late to work and is horrified by the sight of his new appearance with countless sets of legs and a hard-shell-like exterior. His family soon finds out about his physical