Communication

Communication

Communication is key to any family dynamic; without communication no one knows what is going on and people get isolated. In Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, the family’s communication, or lack thereof, is a big problem. Gregor’s metamorphosis into a world of complete isolation is seen through four stages of communication.

Gregor understands what his family is saying when he first morphs into a bug and he assumes that his family can understand him as well. “ Because the door was made of wood, the alteration in Gregor’s voice was probably not noticeable, since his mother was pacified by that explanation.”(13) Gregor has to explain why he didn’t go to work and since his mother never said anything about not being able to hear him, Gregor assumes that his voice has changed in only the slightest way. There are no telling factors to help Gregor come to the realization that his family can’t understand him. Gregor starts to become more isolated from his family because he thinks/assumes that they can understand him.

Gregor finally realizes that his metamorphosis into a bug has changed his whole being, including his voice. “He now realizes that his speech was no longer intelligible, even though it had seemed clear enough to him, clearer than before, perhaps because his ears were getting used to it.”(19) Gregor wants to communicate with his family but he has lost the “only” way of communicating. HIs voice doesn’t register with his family and because of this slight problem, Gregor is even more isolated from his family. “In order to restore his voice to its maximum clarity for the imminent decisive discussions, he cleared it a little by coughing, but took care to do this in very muffled tones, since possibly even that noise might sound different from human coughing, and he no longer trusted himself to make the distinction.”(19) Gregor doesn’t want to be different and so he tries to muffle his coughing just in case it sounded funny. That is the first time that Gregor grasps the fact that he can’t even trust his own judgment anymore because he truthfully doesn’t know what he sounds like. Gregor’s lines of communication have been cut off from any other human beings.

Gregor’s sister and Gregor enter into a nonverbal communication where she brings him food twice a day, but never says anything directly to Gregor. “He could never have guessed what his sister in her kindness actually did. In order to test his likings, she brought him a big selection, all spread out on an old newspaper.”(26) Greta, the sister, is taking car of Gregor because no one else will. Even though Greta won’t talk to Gregor, she still helps him out and that shows that Gregor is not totally isolated. “If Gregor had only been able to speak with his sister and thank her for all she had done for him.”(31) Gregor wants desperately to thank his sister but