Gregor Samsa In The Metamorphosis

     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

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.

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

Grete undergoes a change in perspective to such a degree that by the end of the novella it is she who declares, “we must get rid of it” (84). This change in perspective shows how Kafka believes that members of society often stop sympathizing with the isolated group when it becomes inconvenient for them to continue doing so. Gregor’s mother reacts in an initial manner somewhere between the father and sister since when first seeing him she “went two steps toward Gregor and collapsed right in the middle of her skirts” (23). These conflicting desires continue through the novella, such as when Mr. Samsa tries to kill Gregor, “she begged him to spare Gregor’s life” (65) but at the same time she is repulsed by him. This illustrates how she wants to help him and tries to think of him the same way she did before his transformation, yet is unable to. This resembles the idealists in society who theoretically support the alienated person but often succumb to social pressures when they are forced to face the problem. These three reactions to Gregor’s transformation as a result of the initiation of his isolation by the manager demonstrate the spectrum of reactions. From the immediate acceptance of the hierarchy represented by Mr. Samsa, to the true compassion of Grete and the idealism of Mrs. Samsa, Kafka shows how a wide variety of reactions is expected from society, and how people often change their opinions.

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

But, as time goes on his sister Grete, who had been the one to care for him the most, begins to lose faith in his humanness. She says to her parents, "You must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor. The fact that we've believed it for so long is the root of all our trouble." This same idea is reiterated when Gregor finally dies and his mother says, "Well, now thanks be to God." His family was convinced after a short while that it wasn't even their own Gregor underneath that hard exoskeleton.

Kafka utilizes a new narrative perspective in the last passage of his work to expose the one-sided love between Gregor and the rest of his family. The majority of the story had been told in a free indirect discourse restricted to the mind of Gregor. In this position, Gregor’s humanity —despite his inhuman exterior— and his genuine love for family is revealed. As the only source of income for the family, he works with every fiber in his being to overcome the debt that plagues them, as “He felt great pride at having been able to give his parents and sister a life like this in such a beautiful apartment” (411). This compassion is clearly not reciprocated when the narration shifts to the remaining family following Gregor’s demise. Instead they critique the shelter that Gregor

The struggles with love and women that Kafka faced are also experienced by Gregor and the lack of a primary woman in their life contributes to their misery. In the end, Gregor starts to feel miserable as he waits for death to approach him slowly. After hearing his sister, the one whom he felt closest to, say “It has to go,” Gregor falls under a more severe state of depression (38). He refused to eat and in the end “he could no longer move at all” showing how serious his depression affected his appetite and his overall health. By this time, Gregor is ready to accept his fate and “remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three in the morning” (38). Gregor’s slow and painful death represents Kafka’s demise as tuberculosis kills the victim slowly. Kafka knew the fate of tuberculosis and incorporated his feelings about the slow death into The Metamorphosis for the reader to understand his morbidity. Kafka expresses his depression to the audience through Gregor.

Gregor Samsa vs Meursault The two main characters in The Stranger and The Metamorphosis live strange lives. Gregor Samsa and Meursault both endure a complicated and absurd life. Gregor and Meursault are prisoners, isolated and have different types of friends and family. Gregor Samsa and Meursault are prisoners in each of their stories figuratively and literally.

After Gregor’s metamorphosis, Grete feels that he is threatening their dreams at finally achieving a normal

Many views of existentialism are exposed in Kafka's Metamorphosis. One of these main views is alienation or estrangement which is demonstrated by Gregor's relationship with his family, his social life, and the way he lives his life after the metamorphosis. Namely, it suggests that man is reduced to an insect by the modern world and his family; human nature is completely self absorbed. Kafka reflects a belief that the more generous and selfless one is, the worse one is treated. This view is in direct conflict with the way things should be; man, specifically Gregor should be treated in accordance to his actions. Gregor should be greatly beloved by his family regardless of his state. This idea is displayed in three separate themes. First,

It is quite intriguing to learn the concept of transmutation of an animal, but it is well unheard of an actual person to have been mutated. Once finishing reading the short story “Metamorphosis" written by Franz Kafka the reader is able to conclude that the title pertains not only to Gregor’s mutation, but also to the whole story. Metamorphosis is a transformation of a human being or insect into ultimately an unrelated creature. It seems to resemble that process at the beginning by the way Gregor worked for his family while they got used to living comfortably letting him work for them. Though when Gregor’s transformation happened the family collapsed over financial problems and there mutated loved one.

The title, The Metamorphosis, contains in itself one of the few motifs in the novel, transformation. Gregor Samsa, the protagonist, awakens one day in the body of an insect, completely mutated. The conversion continues as Gregor adapts to his new body and his new physique. Not only does Gregor go through a transformation, but also does those around him. With no one to provide for them anymore, Mr. Samsa got a job, which is on the other side of his sitting, relaxing, and sleeping all day side. In addition to Mr. Samsa, Grete, Gregor’s younger sister, evolved from a young woman into an adult. At the start of the novel, she is portrayed as a little naïve girl as she “began to cry” (12) when Gregor wouldn’t come out of his room; but as

Worried about their son, his entire family urges next to the door and demands Gregor to unlock it. At that moment, his manager angrily storms to his house and demands an explanation for his delay. His mother tries to pleads his manager by complimenting Gregor’s devoted and hardworking attitude. She didn’t want her son to lose her occupation as she still perceived him as the successor of the family, and if anything were to happen, it would only disrupt the sustainability of her family. Finally, Gregor opens the door and witnesses the repulsive and scared faces of his family and manager. The horrified office manager backs away, his mother who was "already in tears...yelling" (12-13) passes out, and the father cries. Nevertheless, Gregor “[filled with] assurance and confidence” continued to see himself as his human self, and tries to protect this identity by delivering a long explanation. However, he doesn’t realize that no one saw him as Gregor, and regardless of how strongly he believed in his perception of himself, his family simply saw him as a disgusting creature. Courageously, the father shoves him back into the room and isolates the hideous Gregor into the room.

A villain is someone who opposes who opposes the protagonists (Websters). In Franz Kafka’s, Metamorphosis Gregor Samsa’s father’s tendencies and actions enhance the story. As Kafka recounts a story about Gregor who wakes up one morning, not feeling like himself, literally. He wakes up in an entirely different body, no longer does he walk and talk like a man, but rather lives and breathes through the body of a large insect. After all of Gregor's, hardships and demonstrated devotion, his father still has the audacity to complain, when his son can no longer work and support the family. Mr. Samsa embodies a villain and this can be seen through his actions and through Kafka’s description of him. Mr. Samsa’s actions enhance the novel, because