The Metamorphosis By Kafka

When Gregor's father saw his condition he didn’t feel empathetic and only hated Gregor,“his father gave him a hard shove, which was truly his salvation, and bleeding profusely, he flew into his room”, Gregor's father is never really ever able to understand him and is always impatient with him and even. Grete although is nothing like the father, she is very kind to gregor and with her new responsibilities she has been helping the family a lot. “ whereas until now they had frequently been annoyed with her because she had struck them as being a little useless”, right when the family thought she was useless, Gregor’s condition had lead the family to discover how useful Grete really is. Mrs. Samsa protects Gregor because she care about him deeply and cannot stand the fact that he is a bug, “Let me go to Gregor, he is my unfortunate boy! Don't you understand that I have to go to him?”

His whole entire family goes through a sort of form of metamorphosis. The minor yet crucial change comes from gregor's father. “ There was no closeness before his transformation and afterwards it was worse. In the end, the father has to get a job to help support the family, further alienating Gregor. He feels let down by his son.

This change has long since happened but is in full affect more than ever since the transmutation. Overall Gregor has changed both physically and emotionally. He was mutated into a giant bug at the beginning of the novella. His emotional connection changed between his parents for the worst. The spark between them has faded as the money Gregor made grew.

Every time she entered Gregor’s room, it was “as if she were suffocating” until it “had even become very unpleasant for him, now, whenever she entered” (31). Gregor eventually died when Grete declared that they would “have to try and get rid of it”, destroying what was left of their relationship (47). By viewing Grete as a symbol of Gregor’s past life, the deterioration of their relationship

She see her brother’s situation as an opportunity to empower herself. “This feeling sought release at every opportunity, and with it Grete now felt tempted to want to make Gregor’s situation even more terrifying, so that then she would be able to do even more for him than now” (Kafka 45). Grete selfishly cares for Gregor which explains why she gradually becomes disgusted with Gregor over the course of the tale. While caring for her brother, Grete sees this an opportunity to go beyond her social standing which led to her leading proclamation that the family must get rid of Gregor. Grete takes it upon herself to take care of Gregor further enabling him consciously.

Grete was shown earlier in the book as a young girl who was talentless and did not know any better and by the end of it she had transformed into this beautiful vibrant woman. Her metamorphosis was ignited from the pressure put on her from her working and taking care of her brother Gregor, the main character of the book who transformed into a pest. Her transition was situational. Like most, certain situations can change the way we see our lives forever.

Instead of grieving like a normal family, they spoke of the economic benefits that would come from his death and their future financial plans. Due to his inability to work, Gregor had become worthless to his family, and wouldn’t be missed at all. This shows how much Gregors family viewed him as an income instead of a son, no matter how much they loved him while he was an asset to the family, they couldn’t bring themselves to love him while he wasn’t able to provide money. The economic situation within their family outweighed any emotional attachment that they had towards Gregor. The family decides to leave the house, and as their sitting on the trolley with Grete they begin to talk about her upcoming marriage, and the economic benefits that her husband is going to have on their family.

Franz Kafka is a German novelist who wrote “The Metamorphosis.” In the story, he uses a third person point of view narrative. The novel uses absurdum, which exaggerates and dramatize the absurdity of modern life. The protagonist, Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, struggles with an external factor of transforming into an insect like creature. The transformation was not under his control and now struggles with a new identity.

He tries to keep himself separated from his family and others, but that fails after a while. His family cannot take the sight of what he has become, except for his sister who becomes the one to look after him. In the story, Gregor’s family feels that he cannot communicate with them, but he still can understand everything they are saying. So, they lock him inside of his room away from the world. Gregor’s mother and father feel that Gregor will eventually get better, and turn back normal.

While Gregor begins are the all mighty, male provider, he regresses into an effeminate state as he no longer can perform his tasks for work. As his transformation into a vermin worsens, he no longer can perform any action and further conforms to the true identity of a bug. Grete, on the other hand, picks up the male provider role that Gregor could no longer perform, but then, as she becomes tired with the work and as Gregor identifies with an “it”, goes back to her female role. Gregor's physical change forces him to degenerate to death, but allows Grete to thrive, growing into a

Gregor began to resent his father for throwing household items at him, squashing him like a bug. Even his beloved sister Grete began irritating Gregor by removing all of his belonging from his room, leaving him with nothing. The cruelty performed on Gregor by his own family sends him into a dark pit of despair. With nothing to live for he began to slowly end his life, making one final sacrifice for the ones he loves

(Kafka 34). Grete has learned in order to go up, one must go down, and what better person to go down than her now incapable brother. She exploits the fact that Gregor can’t work, and proves her usefulness to her parents, depicting how in Capitalism one can easily be replaced if they unable to achieve their expected

Franz Kafka, heavily influenced by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, devises the character Gregor Samsa in order to portray a detailed experience of an individual’s metamorphosis. Kafka’s narration style differs greatly from Ovid’s, in that, the narration begins with a first person perspective and changes to a third person narration, which remains consistent to the end of the novel. Unlike the stories within the Metamorphoses, there is a clear contrast in the portrayal of Gregor’s transformation. Ovid and Kafka’s depiction of a metamorphosis incorporates the concept of identity in the individual’s transition, however Kafka emphasizes the family dynamic and the hostility Gregor feels. Gregor’s family’s inability to look past Gregor’s exterior appearance

In Metamorphosis, Gregor’s love for his sister, Grete, is what brings him happiness and the ultimate reason why he stays alive. His love for his sister, is what allows him to continue living as a transformed bug, but once his sister rejects Gregor saying, “He must go… this creature

Growing up in a community with an unequal view of women, Grete has been influenced by the idea that her knowledge is of no importance. Grete had been looked down upon by her family for her lack of a stance and her position in society. However, Gregor’s transformation forces Grete to make up for his shortcomings, pushing her out of her comfort zone as well as her ideal gender role. Given the circumstances, Grete gives up her simple, easy lifestyle to make up for the loss of Gregor. In the beginning, Gregor depicts Grete using degrading terms to explain his sister, which suggests that her role as a female falls below his status as a male.