The Metamorphosis- Ali Zandani

Do you think that Gregor is more powerful BEFORE or AFTER his metamorphosis?  Explain your response.

I think Gregor lost his power after his metamorphosis. Gregor had all the power before his metamorphosis because he was recognized as the the provider of the family. Even thought he hate his job, his only priorities was to provide for the family and help his parents  pay their debt to his employer. “Once I’ve got together the money to pay off the parents’ debt to him—that should take another five or six years—I’ll do it for sure”. However, after Gregor transformed into a insect, he lost all his power. His whole family were in complete shock and  this is only the beginning to his end. He lost his job which will effect the whole family because the money he was bring in from his job was the only main source of income to the whole family. However,  at the beginning his sister seemed to be beside him all the time and she is the only who fed him and made him feel safe in the house and the rest of his family were frightened by him. Shockingly later on, his sister wanted to get rid of him and his parents agreed to what his sister recommended. Not just that, Gergor’s death relived everyone in the family even his SISTER “They talked to each other, leaning back comfortably in their seats, about future prospects”. Gergor as an insect seemed to hold the family from living their lives happily, because of this, his family moved from the old apartment and made future plans as soon as he died.

How is Gregor’s family transformed in the wake of his metamorphosis?

When Gregor transformed into a bug, his family also transformed. Gregor as  a human was the breadwinner of the family and his family never thought of how they could survive financially[ without his support. However, after his metamorphosis, the family became independent and got used to the fact that he is an insect . Both of his parents and his only sister were able to get jobs to support each other. The father now works in a bank “dressed in a tight fitting blue uniform with gold buttons, like the ones servants wear in a banking company”, his sister studies and  works as salesgirl “The sister, who had taken on a job as a salesgirl, in the evening studied stenography and French”, and his mother did sewing to earn money “The mother took care of everything else in addition to her con- siderable sewing work”. I believe the metamorphosis of Gregor was only a wake up call to the whole family that only made them stronger because they were so dependent on Gergor’s income to the point that after Gregor’s transformation, they were desperately left without a  source of income.