The Metamorphosis

This is a story of a young man who takes has the occupation of a traveling salesman. One morning before work when he awakes he realizes that he has been transformed into a huge bug, seemingly a cockroach. The rest of the story is about the hardships he endures with his employer, family, future, and ability to move about.

My feeling about this story is that it is pretty strange and I think I might understand what Gregor's (main character) transformation could be in comparison to. I think it's almost like having a handicapped person in your life. The way he is transformed overnight leaves him incapable of fulfilling his duties at work or anywhere. His family treats him very differently and seems ashamed of him, though I understand that the awkwardness of showing him is great.

By becoming handicapped in this way he can no longer communicate with his family. Before his transformation he would spend long times traveling as a salesman, only to provide his family with his income so they could lead a happy life. They hardly ever talked to him or wrote to him. The only person he felt close to was his younger sister Grete. So when he undergoes his transformation, Grete is still the only one close to him. She never talks to him directly because she doubts he can understand her, and the rest of the family continues to not communicate with him at all, cut down to not even entering his room to see him.

Being a slave to his job before was very depressing for Gregor, but he knew he at least served a purpose for the good of others. By being transformed he was left again in a very depressing state, but now found himself completely useless and more of a hassle to his family. He enjoyed the presence of anybody, even though they never interacted, and worried constantly about how the family would survive. The father having not worked in 5 years was used to complete laziness and the mother was also likely to be lazy since she was unemployed and had hired a housekeeper. The sister was brought up spoiled, so Gregor did not expect them to work or provide for themselves,