Dehumanization In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

In December 1915, German author Franz Kafka wrote a short story called The Metamorphosis. It tells of a man named Gregor Samsa who is working as an accountant non-stop over the past few years and does almost nothing outside his job; He also has to pay off debt to his parents for his apprenticeship at his now current job. One morning, he wakes up only to find that he transformed into a cockroach. His family obviously does not react well to his metamorphosis and locks him up in his room. With time, they don’t regard Gregor as a family member; they take away all of his things and use his room for storage; they took away what kept him human. With Gregor's humanity decaying bit by bit, he eventually dies to get out of a world that he believes he

His mother, father and sister don’t work at all. “The father was a wealthy man… he hadn’t worked in five years… in those five years, he had put on a lot of fat and became very slow moving… And was Gregor's old mother supposed to collect money now, a victim of asthma… and was his sister, at seventeen still a child whom could hardly begrudge the way she lived until now” (Kafka 30). At his job, he probably worked more to be able to support his family on top of paying debt and supporting himself. Gregor hides from his family for two reasons. One: he is more comfortable being in confined spaces rather than being out in the open. Two: He wants to help his family despite his condition. So he hides to make life for his family much easier. And now with Gregor being an insect, he can’t support his family yet expects to be treated in return for supporting his family for so many years, yet gets nothing in return. Gregor knows that he wants to help his family but can’t, so he hides so his family can feel like he does not exist. His only hope was that his parents would love him and their love would make him ‘human’ again. It is what is keeping him alive. He hopes that after working hard for his family for five years they will return the favor by caring for him. After being rejected by his family due to his metamorphosis, he has no reason to live and his humanity started to disintegrate.

Both Gregor's work and his family were the causes of his dehumanization after his metamorphosis. In my opinion, the leading factor was his parents and how they dealt with his metamorphosis. They do not accept him, they do not care for him, they do not love him. “In front of the monstrous creature I refuse to pronounce my brothers name, and therefore I must say: we have to try to get rid of it” (Kafka 47). Moreover, what would have happened if his family loved