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The Metamorphosis By Kafka

Decent Essays

Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, is the story of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who is responsible for the financial well-being of his entire family, yet experiences an unfortunate metamorphosis into a giant bug. However, while Gregor undergoes a disturbing physical transformation, the family dynamic changes drastically as well. The family’s treatment of Gregor slowly deteriorates from them regarding him as the basis for their financial success and security to regarding him as no more than an extraordinary nuisance that holds them back from a brighter future. On the morning of Gregor’s transformation, each family member noticed his absence and visited his room to inquire about his tardiness in leaving for work. Gregor’s employment was a vital aspect of their existence, so when the chief clerk from Gregor’s employer is sent to investigate the reason for Gregor’s missing the train, his entire family is quick to offer an excuse in his defense. At the sight of the chief clerk, Gregor’s mother blurts out, “He’s not feeling well” (Kafka, Franz Kafka Metamorphosis and Other Stories), and defends her son by claiming how his job is her son’s primary concern. Once Gregor’s condition is discovered, events take a turn for the worse; the chief clerk flees, and his mother, repulsed at the site of him, retreats, leaving his father to attack and drive him back into his room. Unlike a normal well-adjusted family who would attempt to discover an explanation of the events they had just

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