I believe Gregor was more powerful before his metamorphosis. Despite the fact that he disliked his job and going to work, he did it in order to support his family. He says how he would quit his job if his parents and sister weren’t so dependent on him. After his metamorphosis, he can no longer support his family. He know longer is able to financially support his family like he once did and because of his transformation, they are now struggling. He became powerless once he turned into an insect. When he was a man, he had the power to make a positive change in his life that could also benefit his family but he never did, so I believe he was much more powerful before his metamorphosis.
In the wake of Gregor’s metamorphosis, his family becomes distant and they become less welcoming of him in the family. While this change caused a lot of issues within his family and caused his mother and father specifically to detach from him, there is some good to their transformation. The sister eventually begins to work in order to support the family, along with the father who before wouldn’t do much at all and hadn’t worked in years. There was personal growth in that sense and the family overall became more independent and realized they didn’t need to rely on Gregor to be the man of the house and be the only person financially supporting them.
Hailey, What do we make of the fact that, as you correctly note, there are some positive effects on the family from Gregor’s metamorphosis? Does that have any implications for our understanding of the family dynamic overall? Or for thinking about families in general?