Help with my home work

Folashade N. Folarin

Professor Ileana Loubser

English 1302

16 Febuary, 2019

The Metamorphosis

In his novella The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka reveals Gregor’s actions and purpose. It is an intriguing story of a young man that lives his life to please his family. In this epic story, Gregor the main character undergoes many changes that suggest how isolated he turns out to be from being human and a part of the contemporary society up until he experiences a metamorphosis into a giant beetle. Through this metamorphosis, Gregor is enlightened about what he wants, rather than focusing on what people want him to be or do. Gregor’s day-to-day life and struggles in order to meet his self-imposed obligation to his family as well as his ordeal after he metamorphizes into a beetle, not forgetting the event that led to the actual metamorphosis, which is his desire to liberate himself from the burden of being the sole provider of his family’s needs.

Unequal and unfair treatment due to differences in social status is a common phenomenon. According to Franz Kafka, Gregor is in the same situation and he is concerned about his family’s total dependency on him. Hence, in the morning the metamorphosis takes place, the thought of getting up from bed as early as possible everyday preoccupied his mind. He reiterates the stress involved in his assigned job in comparison with the office-based employees. Gregor describes his career responsibilities: “‘O God,’ he thought, ‘what a demanding job I’ve chosen! Day in, day out on the road ” (Kafka 3). Gregor believes that he is given this kind of job as a result of his status in the society and the fact that he has no choice because he is working to care for his family and to repay his father’s debt. Gregor compares other travelling sales men to himself, describing how their employer treats them well, and they even having enough time to sleep and have a good breakfast, a luxury he does have. He goes further to expatiate on how his boss will deal with him if he were to wake up late. He says, “If I were to try that with my boss, I’d be thrown out on the spot”

Gregor in his state, still fears that the boss will call him lazy if he calls in sick despite not being sick in the last 5 years of working for his boss. These are some of the issues and thoughts that make Gregor to start thinking of a way out of his responsibilities, which eventually manifests into the metamorphosis he experiences

Gregor’s current physical condition is a result of his revolt against the constraints placed on him by his family’s financial status and the way in which he was treated at work. “He was the boss’s minion, without backbone or intelligence” (Citation). Gregor is described as a man without any support nor any form of brain based on how he has been used at work by his boss, when on duty he would observe his colleagues and realize just how simple the task given to them are relative to his own task. Despite that, he tolerates it all because of his obligation to his family. It is an obvious truth that his social dissent is responsible for his current physical condition . He is still afraid of his family been reproached by his boss about him been lazy even if the company doctor confirm he is ill. In his metamorphosed state, Gregor finds it difficult to talk. Hence, responding to call by his mother, father and sister Grete was an uphill task. The narrator states, “ He made an effort with the most careful articulation and by inserting long pauses between the individual words to remove everything remarkable from his voice” (citation) . Gregor however thought of all the feeling as just fantasies including the pain and the changes in his voice, he even attributed the changes in his voice to illness peculiar to commercial traveler which is related to him as a travelling salesman. Despite Gregor’s present state, he is still making an effort to get up from bed and be ready to meet the next available train, so he can meet up with errand boys that will take delivery of his goods. The eagerness with which Gregor want to get up and embark on his daily journey is an indication of the constraints he has regarding his family’s well being.

The story portrays Gregor as being responsible for all his family’s need. However, this total dependency on him by his family sometimes weighs him down and gives him cause for concern. He wished he could be like his sister that is not burdened with any responsibility but does not wish to be a woman, he sees women as living a too easy life. Hence, when he woke up in the morning of that faithful day – the day he metamorphosed into a giant beetle, and see that it was raining, he became very sad and pensive of his responsibilities, he lamented, saying he should rather get more slumber.

“Why don’t I keep sleeping for a little while longer and forget all this foolishness”

Gregor exhibits how uncomfortable he was with his monotonous daily routines, like, waking up early every morning, catching up the train, jumping from one train to the other, coping with irregular meals, et al. He was very bitter regarding his family absolute dependency on him and wish he is something else instead of been a man that he was. His job became insipid to him. The change Gregor experienced took an ironical turn when there was a complete shift in responsibility; he became cold hearted as begin to see his family fending for him as against his family depending on him. Gregor’s metamorphosis into a beetle is indicative of his rebellious thinking and his desire to free himself from all sorts of responsibility, which he eventually turn out to be as he became less sensitive by the day, paying no attention to his or the family needs and transforming into a person who basically does not care any longer. At the time when everything was well with Gregor, he pampered his sister describing her as a young beautiful and fragile woman. But as the reversal in responsibilities and duties became obvious, he began to feel bad about the situation in his house. He lamented the unwanted tranquility that has become a permanent scenario in his house, the noiseless atmosphere was as a result of the change in gender responsibility since Grete – the sister, now bears the burden of caring for the family and the father back to work, thereby the family has no time to come together to listen to their father reading the newspaper.

“By the time his sister slowly turned the key as a sign that he should withdraw, he was long finished and now lay lazily in the same spot. The noise immediately startled him, though almost asleep, he had to again scurried back under the couch”

The manifestation of the reversal is beginning to be evident in the relationship between Gregor, Grete, and their parent. Grete on her own part now has absolute power and control over Gregor. He had to hide himself on noticing that the door to his room was to be opened by Grete, since he knew Grete might not like the sight of him and that could make her stop the love and care she was given him. She also acts like intermediary between Gregor and their parents providing them with information regarding Gregor’s state of wellness. Grete became the caregiver for Gregor, providing his food, cleaning his room, and even protecting him from anyone that might want to open his room believing they could hurt him in the process. Gregor is now at the mercy of Grete, a complete reversal of responsibility and dependency on Gregor by all member of his family. Though in his current state, he occasionally wished things were the way it used to be especially the financial stability, peace, and satisfaction the family was enjoying but he is always quick to wave it aside, as he now thinks more of his own well being than that of the family. Moreover, he now perceived his sister as the breadwinner for the family. Even his parents are more appreciative of the role Grete now plays in the family. Comprehending the current state of affairs in his family was not so difficult for Gregor. He clearly saw the shift in responsibility – a situation he had wished for. Grete, Gregor’s the younger sister now assumed the responsibility of taking care of her brother, by preparing and serving him food, as well as washing his room, as well as supporting their parents, though the father started working like Grete and their mother resumed back her sewing vocation. She also decided to move out the furniture in Gregor’s room to create more space for him to move around the room freely, this was necessitated by the fact that he was no longer seen as human.

Though Gregor had wished for a switch in dependency, he never liked how it turns out to be after his transformation into a beetle. From the pain he felt on his side when he woke up to the manner in which his family treated him, as well as the constant anger shown by his father whom at some point wished Gregor would be killed.

“He must have tried it a hundred times, closing his eyes, so that he would not have to see the wriggling legs, and gave up only when he began to feel a light, dull pain in his side which he had never felt before”

He woke up first to see himself laying on his hard back with some pain which he got from sleeping in an awkward position and trying to switch to his right side, a position he has been used to. Initially, he thought it was a dream but when he lifted his head and see his abdomen sectionalized in rigid pattern, as well as observing that he now has multiple floundered legs. It became clear to him that what is happening to him is real. This marks the genesis of his long unplanned incarceration. Gregor’s first taste of what is to come happened when he fell off his bed while trying to rush out of the bed on hearing his manager’s voice. The impact on the floor, though damped by the carpet, gave him a lot of pain especially on the head as he could no longer lift his head very well. He even had to result to opening the door by using his teeth to turn the key injuring himself in the process. His manager threatened him about his position at work which according him is not secured, he also rebooked him in the presence of his parents, saying Gregor’s productivity has dipped. The action of the manger despite Gregor’s parents’ acknowledgment of their son’s commitment to his work as well as his contribution to the company referencing volume of orders he brought in, is a reflection of how the society see and treat the poor and the powerless members of the society. The injury and pains Gregor inflicted on himself in the early hours and days of his metamorphosis while trying to adapt to new form is minor compared to the share hatred and insensitivity he got from his family. Though his mother still loves him in spite of his change, his father on the other hand at some point wished him dead and latches out at him at every opportunity. Even his sister that has been the sole caregiver to him gave up after some time.

“I will not utter my brother’s name in front of this monster, and thus I say only that we must get rid of it. We have tried what is humanly possible to take of it and to be patient”

At this point, the entire Samsa’s family is fed up of caring for Gregor. More importantly, his sister that shown great courage and responsibility towards him no longer see hum as human anymore, referring to him as ‘it’ and repeated affirming the need to do away with Gregor. She even called him animal trying to co-habit with human. The shabby treatment of Gregor continues and deepens into hatred and frustration, which is responsible for what the sister suggested. Gregor’s incapacitation means he has to depend on his family to provide his needs, a condition he had wanted but he never expected that his father would give up so easily on him. They stop believing that the beetle they are leaving is Gregor. At the beginning Gregor was so eager to let people see him, so he could determine whether what he has turned to will help him shed the responsibility of working to provide for the whole family, however when the situation became reversed, the love and affection he once enjoyed when he was the family breadwinner was eroded and he became an object of shame and ridicule to his family. Gregor has been taken care of his family since he started working, sponsoring his sister’s education and training, providing them with good accommodation, as well as paying his father’s dept. However, when the situation is reversed and they all had to work and take care of Gregor, they lamented within a short period of time of how it is not easy to be working so hard and still have time to care for Gregor. He really endured a great deal of pain and lots of emotional torture in the time of his incarceration.

In the days leading to his untimely death, Gregor has come to realize how his rebellious act has changed the family’s peaceful existence and how it has brought untold suffering to everyone, including himself. His appearance begins to frighten them (his family) and they detest the sight of him. He himself grows weak by the day, majorly from injury he had sustain hitting his head on countless occasion as well as the apple that is stuck on his back and rotten away there. Moving around with his thinning wiggling legs became almost impossible

“’What now?’ Gregor asked himself and looked around him in the darkness. He soon made the discovery that he could no longer move at all”

Gregor’s condition took a turn for the worse and at this point he begins to regret the thoughts he had and the decision he made that led to his present condition. Though he was feeling pain all over his body, his greatest agony was seeing his family in such a terrible state, as well as their intolerance towards him. Lost in thoughts the night before his death, Gregor reflected on his ordeal and how his manhood has been completely taken away by been referred to as ‘it’ before and after his death. However, in his dehumanizing state, he still had a feeling of love and affection for his family. This is in realization that his family’s action on the way he was treated was not entirely their fault but rather the actualization of his desire to trade his responsibility. As he lay on his bed undergoing so much pain and thinking of the whole event of the past few months since he metamorphosed into a beetle, he began to wish he dies or disappear as quickly as possible. This could partly be because he couldn’t bear the pains any longer or could no longer withstand seeing his family going through the agony of having a son or brother that is not human. He was in a state of calmness and emptiness all night until early morning.

“Then without willing it, his head sank all the way down, and from his nostrils flowed out weakly out his last breath”

This was the last of Gregor, he was found dead by the woman that clean Samsa’s home including Gregor’s room in the morning. As time goes by Gregor feels more and more desolated and unwanted, and he started his rebellious act once again by not eating any food given to him. Though his health condition has deteriorated, he also starved himself of food based on his sister’s description of his body after his death. Upon Gregor's death, the atmosphere in his house becomes normal to other families, and the Samsa’s feels a great sense of relief. The family after his death enjoy left their apartment together for the first time is as many moths as Gregor’s transformation, took the train together and immediately had plans for the future, including a plan for Grete to get married. Gregor’s change from being human to a beetle and his subsequent death is a practical example of why it is not advisable to be rebellious. His death signifies liberation, as he realized that what he changed to was not what he had hoped for, he was freed from incarceration. He just wanted a change in dependency and not to become a monster that inflict pains on his family and the society

In conclusion, this intriguing and thought-provoking novel by Franz Kafka titled ‘the metamorphosis’ is about Gregor Samsa, a young and committed salesman, whose consciousness was awakened regarding dependency and the unfair treatment of people with low social status. He was marooned in a precarious situation as he was obligated to work to take care of his parents and sister. Gregor was embittered by this act of total reliant on him by his family; the bitterness pushed him to a point of revolt. He became rebellious in his thoughts, and these thoughts eventually overcame him and made him desire a way out of his perceived injustice. Unfortunately, the transformation he underwent did not only changes his life but also send him to his early grave.

Franz, Kafka. The Metamorphosis. Kurt Wolff Verlag, Leipzig, 2019. E-book.