The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

     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

Changes in your life, depending on how you see it, can be good or bad. In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, we come across Gregor, the protagonist of this story, whose miserable life takes a turn when he turns into a vermin, resulting as a burden to his family. He then later dies at the end of the novella causing a relief to the family. With that being said, who can we ultimately blame for Gregor’s own transformation and death? Although Gregor is largely responsible for his unfortunate fate, his parents are the biggest culprit for Gregor 's atrocities.

Gregor’s metamorphosis brings many positive and negative changes in himself as well as his family. His family used to rely on him for his income as he was the only source of money in the family, but now they all worked and earned money themselves that is a very big positive change in the family. The negative change was bad for the Gregor himself as he couldn’t face the world with his new appearance,

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

The deterioration of Gregor's life was in part due to the ostracism associated with his being turned into a bug. Once his family found out what happened, they banished him to his room, and his parents could not even bear to look at him. Prior to his metamorphosis, Gregor was an integral part of the family. He provided the money by which the family survived. Yet as soon as he changed, he was labeled an outcast, who was useless to the family, and therefore not paid any attention. He felt this ostracism, and it made him not want to continue on in life, he gave up because he felt unloved.

One of the “deep” causes for Gregor’s end is because it helped caused metamorphosis among the other family members. For example, Gregor sister used to rely on her brother however she went from a girl to a woman. She began to take care of him but at the end she gets a job to help her support her family and also blossoms into a young lady (Page 44).Even though the his father business did not succeed they decide they need to save the their money and look for jobs in order to live. For example, they talk about their future “all three had jobs which very good [...] in conformation of their new dreams and good intentions” (Page 44). The death of Gregor helped the family put into perspective that they need to move into a different apartment in order to save their money and they begin to become more of happy family. If Gregor didn't die at the end the family would still rely on him to make the money and do work for them but now with this metamorphosis they have to change their

Gregor's existence before the metamorphosis was much like after it; limited to work and family, he went unnoticed by both. After changing into a cockroach one night, Gregor is forced to live a life of isolation with a family who is appalled by him. He is placed in a "dark bedroom, in the jumble of discarded furniture and filth" a " monstrous vermin, a grotesque, hidden part of the family" (Eggenschwiler 211). Shock and terror, resulting in Gregor being locked away, marked his family's reaction to his metamorphosis. His sister is the only one that, while frightened, would tend to Gregor's room and meals. She even took the responsibility so far as to get angry with anyone who

Prior to the metamorphosis Gregor led a physically isolating life with little time for anything other than superficial relationships. Hinted at the beginning of the piece he longed to break free from his traveling salesman's job and shrug off the financial burden placed on his back. The metamorphosis was equally as mentally imprisoning as to what it was physically. Gregor was unable to express his emotions or even communicate his needs to his family this ultimately led to the family’s gradual shift of resentment towards him solely because they were unable to see how much of their once family member remained.

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

Gregor falls into severe depression after his metamorphosis. Before Gregor’s transformation, he lived a routine life. He would wake up early, go to work, and come back late only to start the process all over again the next morning. As well as being extremely draining, this lifestyle held no benefits for Gregor, as his work was centered around sustaining

Gregor was just an ordinary man, living a normal life. Until one day something strange seemed to had happened. This transformation would change his life for the duration of his living period, Gregor was now an insect. He soon learned to adapt to his conditions and his transformation as well, over the course of the next few months he had picked up a few things from his new instincts. Throughout the story “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, it shows the change and the new life that Gregor is now living.

In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” Gregor Samsa deals with the alienation from his family stemming from both absurd and mundane circumstances. While Gregor’s transformation into a bug is the catalyst to his physical alienation, Gregor had for years been becoming more and more isolated mentally and emotionally from his family due to his displeasure at his having to work a job he hated due to his father’s failings and the lack of gratitude he received from his family for his hard work. It was not just his family who Gregor was becoming isolated from, but it was humanity in general that Gregor had been drifting apart from, as he had not mentioned having any friends or work colleagues which leads the readers to believe he had no social life

Sarah gives us a great quote about life, “Let go of things you can’t change, and focus on the things you can.” Gregor realizes this early and tries to live as normal of life in his new body instead of worrying. He knows that he can’t do everything he used to and he does get frusterated, but he keeps pushing on through

Had Gregor chosen to continue fighting the transformation, the ending of the book might not have been so tragic. In the article, “On Translating Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’” by Susan Bernofsky, she discusses the language of Kafka’s famous novel, the translation of the novel, and the plot. She mentions that regarding Gregor’s transformation there is someone mainly at fault, and that is Gregor himself. On explaining why the event is primarily his fault she writes, “Finally Gregor has only himself to blame for the wretchedness of his situation, since he has willingly accepted wretchedness as it was thrust upon him. Like other of Kafka’s doomed protagonists, he errs by failing to act, instead allowing himself to be acted upon” (Bernofsky).

Gregor changed physically but still had human feelings and needs. He accepts his fate and tries to go on with his life the best he can in his situation. The main thing Gregor needed to do is to get use to his new body. I believe that his family didn't transform but their metamorphosis are because they demonstrate how easily one's beliefs, values and basic treatment of others can be compromised because they can't adapt psychologically. Gregor isn't happy with his physical change but he accepts hid situation. His metamorphosis from man to cockroach represents his "judgement on himself by his defeated humanity" ==Kafka==. He doesn't know how to leave his job and to take care of his needs and his identity because he feels obligated to his