1.Discuss the theme of food and eating. What role does it play in “The Metamorphosis”?
Throughout the player see Gregor try and stay with is normal daily life in the beginning with him already thinking about work and his regular daily routine, til he realizes it is compromised due to his transformation into a roach. Gregor says in this new state as a roach is hungrier than before and In the beginning , his sister left out his regular meal that he ate as a human. She brings him bread and milk and we can compare the way he has a distaste for milk as a roach to the way his relationship changes with his family that they care about to give him food but do are barred from seeing him by his sister due to the fact of how much it may hurt them to see him as a roach. Throughout the play his sisters care for him turns from loving and caring to mandatory and resentful which is the same way the family feels towards Gregor since the father works again and they are burdened with not having Gregor to rely on. Then towards almost the end there is a level of indifference between Gregor and his sister not speaking kicking scraps into his room , showing him they see him as nothing but a roach.
- Explain your understanding of Gregor’s death. How/why does he ultimately die?
His isolation and detachment from his family as well as his injury from his father , brought Gregory’s death closer. He was forgotten by his family and chose to starve because he felt his food was inedible. But the father and the injury he caused Gregor was why he died so suddenly.
Interestingly, food comes up in both of your responses here. When Gregor ceases to eat toward the end of the novella, what does that signal. Does the food no longer appeal to him, or is something else at work? Here you probably also want to think symbolically about the idea of “nourishment.” What kind of “nourishment” do we need to survive?
It signals his detraction from his human form and his human life and how he’s becoming more and more like a roach. The food no longer appeals to him because he’s transforming more into a roach. We need human connection, and due to his current state of being a roach, he does not have the form of connection with his family or his previous life.