Mr. Samsa In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman working to pay off his parents’ debt. One morning, Gregor wakes up and discovers he is a “monstrous verminous bug.” He thought he was dreaming, but everything in the room appeared to be the same way he left them the night before. He tries to go back to sleep but cannot get on his right side because of his abnormal shape. He wakes up again and looks at his alarm clock, it is six thirty.

He is willing to take on anyone in order to support his family, which plays into the theme of family duty. Also, Gregor’s determination and military experience (pg 12) is displayed in his plan making and strategizing to capture his manager. The loyalty to his family, displayed by working and trying his best to keep a job he doesn’t want, gives insight into Gregor’s character. The unhealthy relationship Gregor has with his family is very common for a character in Franz Kafka’s book. His own tumultuous relation reflected onto his characters lives.

His corporeity points to his mortality which makes the inhuman world his master. Gregor’s inhuman world is as incomprehensible to human reason and sensibility as is death; it is far more human and humane than the reality of the people surrounding him who have denied their own

Kafka’s narration style provides different perspectives of the same situation in order to reveal how one may misinterpret the actions of others if the perspective comes from an external viewpoint. The variety in the narrative is essential to the development of Gregor’s character because through the eyes of the other characters his metamorphosis becomes undeniable and ultimately forces Gregor to conform to his new identity due to the way he is treated by his

The narrator said, “During the first fortnight, Gregor’s parents could not bring themselves to enter his room…” He has been disconnected from his family to the point where they’re emotionally unstable and unable to treat him as he deserves with affection and comfort to help him cope with his metamorphosis. The narrator shows this disconnection before the mutation,”Gregor later earned so much money that he was in a position to cover the expenses for the entire family…” He later described the exchange not “particularly warm”. Gregor feels alienated by his parents because of the lack of affection for him providing for them.

Gregor Samsa’s transition from human to vermin was not the only shift that happened through the duration of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The novel is centered around Gregor who wakes up as a vermin, presumably a cockroach, which catalyses a series of emotionally traumatic experiences for him and his family, culminating in Gregor’s death. Yet the most significant change is, in fact, the gender role reversal seen both with Gregor and Grete, his sister, as Gregor becomes more effeminate and Grete becomes more emasculate, directly correlating with their societal and emotional transformation due to Gregor's physical change. From the moment, Gregor wakes up he has transformed. But not just as a vermin.

Gregor continues to grow, and in the second chapter becomes more selfless and clearer thinking. Finally, at the end

In this excerpt of the short story, a biblical allusion is evident. The allusion to the forbidden fruit, the apple, was used when the father threw an apple at Gregor making the reader and Gregor realize that physical action could be done to him; it is now apparent that the family, or at least the dad, wants to get rid of him. It breaks the humorous tone of the piece, with the fantasy idea of being turned into a bug, into a more serious one with the realistic prospect of Gregor being wounded or killed. Throughout the piece, Gregor’s father has always expressed contempt towards Gregor because of Gregor’s “unhappy and hateful” state but never directly took action until now (Kafka 65). The way how this scene breaks the seemingly imaginative piece

As the main character, Gregor Samsa, transforms from human state to that of a beetle, there are many aspects that are left unexplained and seemingly unstable. For example, in the novel, Gregor’s transformation into a beetle is left unexplained by Kafka. Kafka opens up the novel by stating, “When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin” (Kafka 1). There is no scientific or physical evidence as to why this transformation occurred, but it can be ascertained that it is a psychological transformation.

2ND ARGUMENT. Secondly, Gregor Samsa’s diseased physical state can be referred to as the abject, since Kristeva associates illness with the repulsive bodily condition. To begin with, May argues that “human–animal transitions often act as a metaphor for disease and disability” (74). Similarly, Gregor’s parents perceive his transformation as a temporary plight: each time after Grete comes out of her brother’s room, they enquire about the state of things, namely “whether he [Gregor] had perhaps shown a little improvement” (Kafka “Metamorphosis” 84). Moreover, the(?) mother protests against removing furniture from his son’s room, because by doing this, family members demonstrate that they abandon hope “of his getting better” (86), thus implying that

He became embodied by his weak form and closed off to the real world, literally. Gregor’s influence on his family also allowed his father to grow as an individual and appear superior when dressing within his

Gregor later loses his feeling of safety because his father starts throwing things at him. Finally Gregor goes down to the last step in the pyramid which is physiological because he passes away. Gregor starts out on the top of the pyramid with self actualization. Gregor has a wonderful job, and he feels as if he is on top of the world. He

Joanna Martinez Ms. Tobenkin AP Literature, Period 4 November 14, 2015 Metamorphosis Quotes: 1-3 Chapter 1: “When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” (Kafka 3) This quote indicates George’s characteristics. It shows how Gregor sees himself and how he is accepting of himself.

Pre-translation, the word “vermin” in the first sentence is speculated to have meant “jew” in a derogatory manner. This posits that Gregor’s metamorphosis

This is like a homosexual wanting to be accepted. They just want to feel as though belonged, and in a since they want their “difference” not be such a big deal to other people. They just want to be able to feel normal like everyone else. Gregor faced problems which cause family