Erick Cumbe
Philip Yusupov
Steven Schwartz
Zhongyu Zhang
In Franz Kafka’s story titled ‘The Metamorphosis’, the reader is introduced to a man named Gregor who works as a traveling salesman. The main focus of the story is Gregor’s transformation from a man into an insect and how he and his family deal with the rather unusual circumstances they have been plagued with. As part of our class project, we selected four questions that we thought would provide us with the opportunity to learn more about Gregor through our own interpretations of events or ideas that are not straightforward. In doing so, we are able to understand the significance of occasions and ideas as to how they relate to our own selves.
Our first question, answered by Steven Schwartz, looks into the significance behind why Gregor’s family did not attempt to find a cure for him after he turns into a bug. The answer provides a unique view into Gregor- through the abilities of his family. We see that Gregor provided his family with so much, that they became unable to take care of themselves.
Why doesn’t Gregor’s family try to find a cure for him?
After turning into an insect, Gregor’s family decides to leave him as be and shut him off from their world. They alienate him which ultimately leads Gregor to want to die. Interestingly, one does not have to put too much effort to realize that Gregor’s family does absolutely nothing in the way of curing him. While this may seem odd at first, a closer examination into the actions of Gregor’s parents and sister shows that they simply had no drive to do anything- especially not work hard and find a cure for their breadwinner.
As the start of the story, we see that Gregor’s entire family depend on him. They rely on him for the food they eat, the home they sleep in and everything in between. As a result, we can conclude that Gregor’s family simply were not capable of doing a lot on their own.
This inability can be found in certain subtleties in the story. For instance, now that Gregor is unable to work and provide for his family, they resort to renting out space in their apartment to people who need a place to stay. While this idea may seem like a good way of making ends meet, we see that the family is unable to keep their apartment in good condition- a task that should be relatively simple when compared to all the things Gregor used to do for them. We see this inability to keep the apartment clean when one of the lodgers gets angry and declares: “… considering the disgraceful conditions prevailing in this apartment and family I immediately cancel my room.” The very fact that they can’t even manage to keep a few rooms in their house clean and in good condition, shows just how incapable they actually are.
As a result of their proven incapability in doing simple things (take care of their home) the fact that they didn’t even try to help Gregor makes sense. It’s not that they didn’t want to, but rather they simply couldn’t.
Next, being that the above question allowed for us to delve into why Gregor’s family did not try to help him, we look into what Gregor’s relationship with his family is like. In his answer, Philip Yusupov discusses the relationship Gregor had with each of his family members.
What’s the relationship between Gregor and his family?
Gregor is the only one working in the family before his transformation. Dad failed to support the family. Gregor feels responsible for his family and takes his role very seriously. Dad attacks Gregor in different ways and being aggressive towards him. Mom tries to protect Gregor, but she ends up being not very successful in this. Gregor’s sister seems to be the closest relatives to him. Gregor was even trying to pay for the music classes. However, after Gregor’s change, the family completely abandoned him. To sum up, I feel that the relationships between the family and Gregor are distanced and cold.
Moving forward, now that we know a bit more about Gregor’s relationship with each of his family members, we decided to move along to the fuzzy, unclear characteristics illustrated regarding Gregor’s dead insect body. In answering this question, Zhongyu Zhang compares Gregor’s character to other characters found in books by Kafka. In doing so, we see that the ambiguity behind Gregor’s corpse is typical of Kafka.
What is the significance of the ambiguity behind Gregor’s corpse?
Gregor is a very typical character of Kafka. He was alienated in his life. He worked hard tried to feed his family but cannot get even a little respect. In this story his transformation didn’t change any of his situation. He was still worried about train schedule and struggled with his small legs. The second maid his family employed she doesn’t have any fear of this “thing”. That points that is was not his transformation put him in this tragic situation. His death might be a release. Kafka didn’t put much passage on his death. Gregor was nothing but negligible in the society. His sister who was accounting on him felt happy on his death. His parents could start a new chapter of life. But only Gregor himself knew how much he suffered which had to finished with death.
Lastly, we felt as if the final necessarily part in understanding Gregor and who he was would be appropriately executed if we talk about the reaction his family had to his death. When answering the question of the odd reaction Gregor’s family had to his death, Erick Cumbe points to the fact that his family had already started to act as if he didn’t exist since his transformation. In essence, the response his family had makes good sense.
Why do you think Gregor’s parents and sister are unfazed about his death in the end?
Gregor’s parents and sister are unfazed about Gregor’s death in the end because they didn’t really care for him at that point. They would disregard Gregor and basically make him feel that he wasn’t part of the family anymore. Which in a way makes sense because of the change that happened to him. Gregor noticing this, realizes that living doesn’t mean anything anymore. Gregor living doesn’t benefit his family, which is why he dies with no regrets because he’s no longer a burden.
By answering the questions above, we are able to obtain a better understanding and idea of who Gregor was and how he impacted his family. While our answers are based off of information found in the text, as part of the nature of the questions, we used our own analysis to find the significance in the ideas raised and questioned in each of the four questions. It is through doing this text-based answering that we were able to in a sense ‘follow’ Gregor through his life and get to know him better. The order in which we chose to ask the questions follows Gregor’s life in a way that makes sense chronologically.
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Our other two categories are as follows:
Category 2: Gregor’s Transformation
Questions:
- What does the randomness of Gregor’s transformation represent?
- Did Gregor deserve to be transformed into a bug?
- What does Gregor’s death represent?
We put these questions together mainly because they all focus on Gregor’s transformation from human being to insect. We thought that doing so would allow for us to obtain a better understanding of the situation Gregor found himself in now that he is an insect.
Category 3: Understanding the Story
Questions:
- How would the story be different if Gregor had transformed into a different animal?
- Why is Gregor so focused on time?
- Do you ever feel like you’ve suddenly woken up in the body of an ugly critter? If yes, how so?
We categorized these questions together for the purpose of understanding the story of The Metamorphosis better. These questions all cover a different aspect of the story, and can potentially be transformed into long, highly analytical answers which would really obtain a better understanding of the story.