Character Changes in the Metamorphosis

Brianna Ramos

Professor Palade

English 112

14 February 2017

From Rags to Riches

In The Metamorphosis, Kafka depicts characters that are simple at first but by the end of the story, they are different and complex. Gregor Samsa, and the rest of the Samsa family, each go through phases of their own metamorphosis. Gregor, a hardworking man who is selfless, feels like there is no place for him on this earth. He could never find his muse. Grete Samsa, who is the sister of Gregor, starts off as being very quiet. She helps around the home when she is needed. At the end of the story she is more assertive. She has improved herself. Mr. Samsa also changes. In the beginning he is a feeble, lazy man, and is always making his family do tasks for him. In the end he’s hardworking and well put together man. Everyone in this story drastically changes for the better.

Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman who works to provide an income for his family. He works long and hard to make sure his family is stable. He stays in shabby rooms and eats in shabby places in order to make a living. Gregor spends a lot of his time looking for his calling. He finds no joy in life. Art is his passion, but he cannot find it. One morning, Gregor doesn’t appear for work. Gregor wakes up as a bug. He can only understand himself. Gregor is no longer accepted in his family. “Help, for God’s sake, help!” (Kafka 28). He’s now viewed as a monster. His own mother is scared of him. He has to quickly adjust to the changes that have taken place. His mother and sister remove all his furniture. They took away the last few pieces of his normalcy. They alienated him more than he already was. The rest of the family didn’t include him in discussions. They usually talk badly about him. The family acts like Gregor isn’t anything anymore. Towards the end, Gregor finds what he needs. Grete plays music for travelers who were living in the Samsa household. Gregor was relaxed and content while listening to his sister play.

        Grete Samsa is a very soft spoken, obedient girl. She’s known as the slave for the family. She does what she is told and doesn’t say anything. When Gregor changed, Grete started to change too. Grete started to feed her brother when she could. She gave him scraps of what the family had ate for dinner. She kept him alive for as long as she could. After a while Grete became more stern and independent. Grete is a very smart girl. “The sister, who had taken on a job as a salesgirl, in the evening studied stenography and French” (Kafka 67). Grete started to go on her own. She made life decisions that could benefit her in the future. In the beginning of the story, Grete seems like a girl who can’t do anything for herself, but at the end Grete is like a new woman. She has a new aura to her. She turned into a butterfly after her brother’s death. She's glowing and it shows that she is starting a new life.

Mr. Samsa is a lazy, greedy man. He needs help at first. He cannot do anything without the help of his wife and daughter. He relied a lot on the family; especially Gregor. Once Gregor turns into a bug, the father resents Gregor. He looks at Gregor like he means nothing anymore. The father is one of the reasons for Gregor’s demise. Gregor gets impaled by an apple that his father threw. “From the fruit bowl on the sideboard his father had filled his pockets, and now, without for the moment taking accurate aim, was throwing apple after apple” (Kafka 64). The father was fed up with Gregor. He didn’t like that a bug was getting all this attention. What the father did to change his life was very drastic though. The father decides to get a job at the bank. He turns into a whole new man. He puts a suit on with shiny buttons. He dresses impeccably. The father is a jack of all trades. He does everything at the bank. He does what he has to do to make money. In the end, after Gregor died the father became happier.