Rong Zeng
Zachary Tashiro
Anna Christ
Stanley Chow
Franz Kafka’s novella, The Metamorphosis, portrays a traveling salesman named Gregor Samsa who supports his family financially prior to his transformation into a giant insect. The short story focuses on family and social dynamics, in other words–how the relationship between Gregor and his family, and Gregor and his manager are altered after his transformation. We decided to divide our questions up into the categories of family and social dynamics, hypothetical, and biology, and opted to delve into the category regarding family and social dynamics. In doing so, we hope to gain a better understanding of the relationships between Gregor and each member of his family to ultimately answer why it is that each relationship gradually dissolves.
Family and social dynamics
How does Gregor’s transformation alter the dynamics of his family?
What is the significance of Gregor’s regimented job?
What is the significance of the family replacing their maid with a cheaper one?
What is the significance of Gregor’s sister’s sweeping sessions?
Biology
What is the significance of the setting?
What is the significance that Gregor is completely indifferent to the fact that he’s become a cockroach?
Hypothetical
What if instead of an animal, his gender changed. How would the story be different?
What if Gregor’s race changed, how would the story be different?
How do animals play a role?
How does Gregor’s transformation alter the dynamics of his family?
Prior to Gregor’s transformation, Gregor worked as a traveling salesman to support his mother, father, and sister. Gregor wakes up one morning to see himself transformed into a giant insect, as he tries to roll over and and realizes that he cannot, he notices that he has overslept and missed his train to work. His mother, concerned that he will be late for work, knocks at his door. Gregor attempts to answer his mother, but finds that his voice has changed and this elicits worry from his sister, Grete, who begs him to open the door. However, unaccustomed to his new “form,” it takes mighty effort for Gregor to get off his bed and open the door. By then, the chief clerk has shown up to remind Gregor of the consequences of being late and notes that Gregor’s recent work has been unsatisfactory. Gregor protests and says he will open the door soon, but no one on the other side of the door can understand what he is saying. Eventually, he opens the door and his appearance causes his mother to faint, the manager to run from the apartment. Gregor takes off after his manager, however Gregor’s father chases him back into his room with a cane and a rolled up newspaper then locks the room.
We see right from the start that Gregor’s transformation alters the dynamics of his family negatively. His parents look at him with disgust, regardless of the fact that he is their son and later on we see that his sister, Grete, also begins to despise him. His father is forced to work again to support the family financially and his mother wants to see Gregor as her son, but her fear and revulsion of Gregor’s transformation is too much. Grete initially does try to take care of Gregor by feeding him and sweeping his room because they once had a close relationship, despite that she is quite disgusted by Gregor. However, Grete grows to despise Gregor because of the burden his existence places on each member of the family. She tells their parents they have to get rid of Gregor or else they will all be ruined. Their father agrees and wishes that Gregor could understand them and leave on his own. Unbeknownst to them, Gregor does understand and he dies in his bedroom.
What is the significance of Gregor’s regimented job?
The only reason Gregor took this job as a traveling salesmen was because he father’s business failed and Gregor had to support the family financially. Gregor takes this role as the money-maker for his family without complaint because he knows that’s what he must do even though he doesn’t like it. We can infer this from the story when Kafka writes, “if it weren’t for my parents’ sake, I’d have quit ages ago” and “once I’ve got together the money to pay off my parent’s debt to him…I’ll do it for sure” (p.22). Money is a big concern for the Samsa family, and Gregor is constantly thinking about it. Having such a regimented job is important for Gregor and his family, since they depend on Gregor incomes. This was the family’s only means of income, so when Gregor transforms and can no longer go to work this means the family no longer has money coming in. Kafka writes, “already during the first day his father laid out all the financial circumstances and prospects to his mother and to his sister as well” (p.41). The father and Grete have to both start working to make up for the loss of Gregor’s income, and this still isn’t enough. The family even takes in a few boarders to make some extra money, which then ends in an argument with the borders once they discover Gregor. The family depending on Gregor’s job to support them, once he transformed it put the whole family in financial trouble that they could not escape until his death, when they no longer have to pay for his living and their jobs had promising futures.
What is the significance of the family replacing their maid with a cheaper one?
In The Metamorphosis the significance of the final maid is how she is able to interact with Gregor. In the story she is an elderly woman who joins the family after the last maid quits because of Gregor. However this new maid is the only character in the novel who is able to face him without any fear. In the story the original maid was unable to stand up to Gregor and was constantly bullied by him. The original maid was someone who was constantly terrified by Gregor. By opposition with the charwoman she is someone who is brutally honest and blunt along with being able to stand up to whatever state Gregor is in without any fear. Although the charwoman isn’t a very nice person, she likes to look upon Gregor and laugh at him. As someone who does not fear his appearance as a bug she is able to talk to him without being afraid and running away, because of this, the charwoman becomes one of the few people who actually acknowledge Gregor without resenting him like his sister or family do. Her major importance is when Gregor dies. Since the Samsas cut her off while she is explaining how she got rid of the dead body, we are left with many questions as to how she was able to transport the carcass without anyone seeing.
What is the significance of Gregor’s sister’s sweeping sessions?
In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Gregor’s sister Grete acts as his final connection to his family after he is turned into a bug. After Gregor’s transformation, Grete feeds him with a bowl of milk and some bread. In addition, she removes the furniture from Gregor’s room in order to better accommodate his new insect form. Unlike the rest of the Samsa’s, Grete didn’t think that Gregor’s worth resided only in his economic benefit to the family. Instead of planning to get rid of him, Grete chose to feed and comfort him, an act showing her acknowledgement of his humanity. Grete and her sweeping sessions become a bridge between Gregor’s desire to live and his family’s need to survive. Before his transformation, Gregor’s purpose in his family was to provide for them financially. When he lost the ability to work after turning into a giant insect, he also lost his role in his family as the breadwinner. By regularly checking in on him despite his lack of purpose, Grete prevents Gregor from losing one last thing, his identity as the son of the family and as Grete’s brother. If Grete had decided not to do this, he would have died much quicker, as the rest of his family had already rejected him.
In conclusion, we divided our questions into three categories: family and social dynamics, hypothetical, and biology. We chose to label the other two categories as hypothetical and biology the questions cover a different aspect of the text. The hypothetical category covers the what-if questions and prompts us to think about how the story would be different if one aspect changes. On the other hand, the biology category makes us think about the significance of the biological aspects already in the story. All-in-all, the questions of each category give us a general perspective of The Metamorphosis and help us think deeply and understand the text.