Michael Rosilio
Nikketa Singh
Simone Amar
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, tells the story of Gregor Samsa, an ordinary man who one day wakes up to be an insect. This unfortunate and absurd event leads to Gregory’s alienation from humanity. His unnatural transformation creates tension in the Samsa’s household and affects those around him. Despite their terrifying reactions, Gregory’s transformation does not seem like anything out of the ordinary and majority of the characters are not surprised by this event. For our class project we’ve decided to focus on the reactions and attitudes of the characters in The Metamorphosis. We’ve selected three questions that depict the reaction of Gregor’s boss, the family’s maids and Gregor himself. In doing so, we were able to comprehend that the reactions from each character all held different significant meanings.
We’ve organized our three questions by the order that they’ve appeared in the story. Our first question, answered by Michael Rosilio focuses on the embodiment of Gregory’s boss in today’s society, along with his reaction to Gregory’s transformation.
Is Gregor’s boss an archetypal character in our society?
Gregor’s boss symbolizes the classic shrewd businessman in the working world- which also symbolizes what ties Gregor to his misery and terrible life. Gregor is always in a hurry which also contributed to the misery. Gregor’s boss may be seen by some as an archetypal character in our society and by others he may not seem so. Gregor’s boss criticizes and talks down to his employees consistently and instills fear in everyone that works for him. However, on the other hand the workplace is changing in today’s society to be more of a relaxed environment and very team oriented. Although Gregor’s boss acts all tough- once he sees Gregor transformed he runs away immediately.
Our second question, answered by Nikketa Singh analyzes specific quotes that depicts the reaction from the Samsa’s maids.
Why is the first maid on her knees and begs to leave but the second maid said she “has no fear”?
After finding out about Gregory’s transformation the family’s cook immediately begs to leave while their servant girl begs to be confined to the kitchen. On the very first day of Gregory’s transformation the family’s cook Anna gets on her knees and begs his mother to let her go. It’s not completely clear how much she knew but it becomes apparent that she’s terrified of Gregory. “When she said goodbye about fifteen minutes later, she thanked them for the dismissal with tears in her eyes” (41). It seems as if she’s extremely grateful when she is allowed to go and promises not to tell anyone about Gregor’s transformation.
After the dismissal of Anna, the family’s servant girl “begged for the privilege of being allowed to stay permanently confined to the kitchen” (46). She also wishes to open the door in answer to special summons only. It is clear that she’s terrified of Gregor’s transformation and she spends most of the time locked in the kitchen. She’s an extremely frightened young woman scared that Gregory might possibly hurt her. Eventually she’s let go of and the Samsa’s hires a cleaning woman.
The new cleaning woman is describe as “a huge bony cleaning woman with white hair flying all over her head” (55). The cleaning woman becomes the only character that isn’t afraid of Gregor’s transformation and even attempts to play with him. The text states that “This old widow, whose strong bony frame had enable her to survive the worst a long life can offer, had no real horror of Gregory” (57). Since she had experienced the worst in life, Gregory was no horror to her. This explains why she isn’t afraid of Gregor and sees him as the real Gregor, and not for what he has become. She’s also the one who disposed his body after he’s found dead and for her to do this is clear indication that she was tough. This also explains why “she has no fears”.
And finally our third question, answered by Simone Amar concentrates on Gregory’s personal perspective on his transformation.
What’s so special about Gregor’s lax attitude toward his metamorphosis?
As aforementioned, we observe the reactions of two antagonistic characters in Kafka’s the Metamorphosis, Gregor’s boss and his maids. Each character of this tale responded to his transformation in different ways. This time, we hone in on the main character of this story- Gregor. By looking at his personal perspective of this event, thus we begin to understand why he behaved the way he did, which was influenced by those who surrounded him.
As Gregor’s transformation progresses through the tale, we notice something significant about his reaction to this bizarre situation. When he wakes up to discover that he has turned into a disgusting, large insect, he is evidently in shock but instead of focusing on what he has become, he turns his attention to something as mundane as the weather.
During that scene, Gregor is attempting to prevent his metamorphosis from affecting the routine life of the people around him. He locks himself into his room, where he is shielded from the outside world to conceal the horror of his appearance. While his reaction is odd, we ask ourselves what if he had reacted as we would have expected him to (such as panic and hysteria)? Would that have resolved anything or made his situation any less incomprehensible or irresolvable? No, it wouldn’t have. Hence, his effortless reaction, or non- reaction makes sense within the context of this Kafka-esque universe.
We also learn an important lesson about Gregor’s character from his reaction. The first is that of acceptance. He obviously did not have a choice at that point and his weird metamorphosis was completely out of his control. Another thing we extract from his lax attitude is his extremely unselfish character trait. His actions were largely taken for granted by his family. Kafka was emphasizing on the common practice of selfless actions going unappreciated through his story of Gregor and his family. One way in which Gregor was unselfish was the fact that he was the breadwinner of the family. “I must make sure that I’m out of bed before it strikes a quarter past seven. Anyway, by then someone from work will have come to check on me…” (340). Most people would generally freak out and try to figure out how they woke up and why they’ve been transformed into a giant insect. However, in Gregor we only see him trying to protect his family from what has happened to him and continue to provide for them.
In conclusion, the reactions from the characters in this story all held different significant meanings. After seeing his transformation Gregory’s boss immediately leaves, one of the maid asked to be fired, while the other one is confined in the kitchen. However the cleaning lady who’ve experienced the “worst” in life is the only character who isn’t afraid of Gregory’s transformation. In terms of his family, which he provided for, his work went unappreciated. When he was going through this strange and frightening experience, his family could not comfort him, rather they killed him more on the inside. This is evident in his family’s reactions to his predicament. Gregor’s mother, who Kafka does not give much insight on, tends to ignore Gregor as if he does not exist even though we see that she is heartbroken by this travesty. His father also, although compassionate, does not want to deal with what has happened. They continue to go about their lives as if nothing is wrong. “During the first two weeks, his parents couldn’t bring themselves to see him…” (353). His sister on the other hand, with whom he had been closest to, brought him food every day. “He never would have guessed what his sister, in the goodness of her heart, actually did.” (351). By focusing on the treatment Gregor has received from these characters we’re able to further understand why Gregory himself, reacted the way he did.
Categories:
- Literary styles from the text
- What literary devices are evident in the story?
- How does the anxious dreams foreshadows Gregor’s life?
- What emotion does Kafka try to evoke from the reader- do you think he wants us to feel sympathy for Gregory or something else?
We decided to put these questions together because they all evoke some sort of literary style.
- Gregory’s household and family
- What is the significance of the view from Gregor’s room?
- What is the importance of Gregor’s family? What role do they play?
- What can be concluded about a family who celebrates a family member’s death.
We decided to put these questions together because the all pertain details concerning Gregory and his family. By putting them together we were able to further analyze Gregory’s perspective and his family decision.