Kafka’s Metamorphosis

Throughout history, civilization has undergone many changes typically brought on by technological advances. The most recent of these changes, the industrial revolution, instigated a mass movement of people from rural areas into rapidly growing cities and from farms into factories. While most agree that the industrial revolution brought about change for the better, some argue that the costs have outweighed the benefits and man has become worse off than he was before the revolution. In The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka creatively illustrates this later point and shows how man has become self absorbed and reduced to the status of a lowly worker insect by the modern world.

The Metamorphisis begins with a daunting image of Gregor waking to “unsettling dreams” as a “monstrous vermin”(3). Right from the beginning of this story, the reader is bombarded with the image of Gregor’s metamorphosis into a revolting insect. Upon waking up as an insect, most people would likely become frightened and concerned over their new appearance and what to do about it. However, instead of worrying about the horrifying situation he is in, Gregor’s first concern is not being late for his job which he despises. By placing higher importance on a job he cannot stand rather than his own well being, Gregor shows that he has become a “tool of the boss”(5) and a slave to his job. We quickly learn how poorly Gregor views his job as he says, “what a grueling job I’ve picked. . . .the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate. To The devil with it all”(4). His literal metamorphosis into an insect is a figurative representation of the transformation of workers during the industrial revolution into “worker bees”. After the industrial revolution, many factory workers performed routine, straightforward tasks like machines, and as a result many jobs became dull and impersonal.

Although Gregor cannot stand his job, he is unable to quit due to his family’s debt. He is the sole provider of his family’s income since his father had a business disaster. Gregor made it his “sole concern. . . .to do everything in his power to make the family forget as quickly as possible the business disaster which had plunged everyone into a state of total despair”(25). In his family’s time of despair Gregor manages to do everything in his power to help out. However, when Gregor morphs into the insect, his mother runs away screaming and his father “seized in his right hand the manager’s cane. . . .and stamping his feet. . . .came on, hissing like a wild man”(18). His parents are incredibly self absorbed; they are more concerned with Gregor scaring off his manager, getting fired, and losing their source of income than worrying about their own son’s

health.

While Gregor’s parents want nothing to do with him once he turned into an insect, his sister, Grete, is genuinely concerned with his well being from the time his family senses something is wrong. When Gregor does not come out of his room, his mother calls up to him and says, “Gregor, the manager is here”(9). Similarly, his father says to him, “Gregor the manager has come and wants to be informed why you didn’t catch the early train”(9). His parents are looking out for their own well being by trying to get Gregor to come down and make amends with the manager so he does not lose his job and their source of income. This contrasts Grete’s reaction as she says, “Gregor? Is something the matter with you? Do you want anything?”(6). She is truly worried that something is wrong with Gregor, whereas his parents are concerned about his actions affecting their own well being. While Gregor’s parents will not come near his room, his sister becomes his lifeline by providing him food and cleaning his room for him. She thoughtfully “in the goodness of her heart. . . .to find out his likes and dislikes, she brought him and assortment of things, all spread out on an old newspaper”(23). This shows that she actually cares for Gregor and is trying to please him as best she can in light of the situation.

Despite the fact that Grete cares for Gregor in the beginning of the story, she soon begins to despise and neglect him. In the beginning when she opened the door to his room for the first time and peeked in, she became startled upon the site of him and slammed the door shut, but “as if she felt sorry for her behavior, she immediately opened the door again and came in on tiptoe, as if she were visiting someone seriously ill or perhaps even a stranger”(22). At first she feels bad for him and is embarrassed when she becomes startled by him. However, she quickly forgets her politeness towards him and enters the room by running “straight to the window without taking time to close