Gregor, By Gregor: A Hard Working Man

Although work is immediately presented as the exterior factor pushing Gregor into the system, the majority of the book is characterized by Gregor’s relationship with his family-- and their individual role in forcing Gregor to stay within the norms of society. Even in the context of Gregor’s employment, his work itself can be seen as an extension of his familial pressure to operate within his societal role. The necessity of money, and it’s direct relation to his family was described

     Throughout the story there is a metamorphosis that is taking place in his home. He has traded places with the family and is now living the life they had previously embelished in. His father begins to work along with his sister and his mother must now work and do the cooking and cleaning. Gregor on the other hand does nothing but daydream, crawl, and nap through his days. One ironic statement from his sister “He must go, if this were Gregor he would have realized long ago human beings can’t live with such a creature, he’d have gone away one his own accord. This creature persecutes us, drives away our lodgers, obviously wants the whole apartment to himself, and would have us all sleep in the gutter.” How selfish of her, had he not taken care of them and he was not the only one working

To fully understand the depths of Gregor’s family’s betrayal, it must be mentioned how much he does for his family. His father had once owned a very unsuccessful small business, and when the business went under the family’s financial woes were unimaginable. Gregor saw this and wanted to bring joy to his family again. Kafka states, “At that time Gregor’s sole desire was to do his utmost to help the family to forget as soon as possible the catastrophe that had overwhelmed the business and thrown them all into a state of complete despair” (Kafka 25) He found a job so that

He supported his mother, father and Grete. Now that he cannot work, his family is desperate for money. The father decides to go back to work to bring home money. To make some more money on the side, they rent their apartment out to three lodgers. One night while the lodgers were there, Gregor was seen, which made the lodgers freak out and leave. This marks a turning point in how Grete feels about Gregor. She comes to realize that he has no humanity left. The reader sees this when Grete explains to her father, “It has to go,’ cried his sister. ‘That’s the only answer, Father. You just have to try to get rid of the idea that it’s Gregor. Believing it for so long, that is our real misfortune” (Kafka 1107). Grete no longer thinks of him as Gregor, but refers to him as “it”, showing that she really has no regards for him. This ultimately adds to the decision that they should get rid of

Diction surrounding Gregor’s father: Gregor’s father is portrayed as a lazy man, however under certain circumstances, he is forced to work. He is transformed into a working man and as time goes on his physical appearance shows that he is now enslaved to the working class and his life revolves around his job. Despite being a more productive member of society, the negative connotation of his descriptions shows that he is still being suppressed by society.

Before Gregor’s transformation into a bug, he experiences living a miserable life at both work and home. When Mr.Samsa’s business failed, Gregor took the job of a travel salesmen and was left with the responsibility of financially helping out the family. Despite the fact that Gregor had the desire to quit his job, he felt forced to come up with “the money to pay off… [his] parents’ debt” (138). In order for that to happen, Gregor would attend his demanding job everyday, and although his job was stressful, he worked extremely hard to get what he earned. For the past five years without ever missing a da, he estimated it will take another five to six years to completely pay off the debt. At first his family was very thankful for Gregor’s hard work, but as time passed they began to see it as his obligation and were so used to him providing for them that they became to appreciate his work less and less everyday. But when Gregor is not able to make it to work for the first time, his boss has the nerve to show up to his house and complain that his “productivity has... been very unsatisfactory”

So concerned with ensuring his parents and sister were taken care of, he forgot his own needs. It was apparent to everyone that he was no longer thought of as a son or an extension of the family, but merely as a "support system." The tragic fact is that "everyone had grown accustomed to it, his family as much as himself; they took the money gratefully, he gave it willingly but the act was accompanied by no remarkable effusiveness" (Kafka 48). It appears that in the course of his hectic work schedule, he overlooks that in return for dedication to his family, he remains unloved and unappreciated. Yet Gregor still "believed he had to provide his family with a pleasant, contented, secure life" (Emrich 149), regardless of how they treated him.

1. "The bread winner provider of the family" this is a traditional description of the father's role in the family. He was expected to

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

With Franz Kafka himself, having a lack of relationships to express his thoughts/emotions to, all that he could reveal himself to was his own mind, hence his writing. With the formation of his self-image, Gregor Samsa, in, The Metamorphosis, Kafka attempts to display such inner-thoughts through the things which occur to Gregor in a way that can be seen as biblical allusions. As the novella begins, it becomes evident that Gregor is a person who is willing to suffer for the sake of others. He works every day, not because he wants to support himself and be happy, but because he wants to, “pay off [his] parents’ debt…” (Kafka 4) and plans, “to do it without fail.”

With all of Gregor dedication in helping his family and at work, he has not once been praised or rewarded. His family and coworker take his dedication for granted, therefore causing selfishness within them. Gregor’s family selfishness really showed when Gregor

his father died. His father knew that he would succeed him so his father prepared him for a

He relied solely and completely on his son. After Gregor’s transformation, his father followed suit. He became a proud and productive individual of the lower bureaucracy. He found the balance between work and leisure that Gregor could not.

     In the third and final chapter, the family found the new drudgery of their lives. Their “overworked and tired-out family” (p. 880) increasingly neglected Gregor. He longed for responsibility and was “often haunted by the idea that next time the door opened he would take the

Gregor had accepted the fact that he would forever provide everything for his family, working himself to death to make sure that they ate and that they had everything that they needed. He fights his new destiny tooth-and-nail; he doesn’t want to accept