Ngo 1

Giang Ngo

White

AP Literature/Composition

24 August 2020

Metamorphosis Notes

Characterization

: “‘This getting up so early,’ he thought, ‘makes anyone a complete idiot. Human beings

have to have their sleep.’ . . . In fact, Gregor felt fine, with the exception of his

drowsiness, which was really unnecessary after sleeping so late, and he even had a

ravenous appetite.” (2-3/1157-1158)

After waking up and looking at his newfound body, Gregor does not seem shocked at all. He

briefly encounters obstacles due to his unfamiliar limbs but does not spend much time lingering

on them. Instead, his mind makes up excuses of bad sleep to compensate for his odd morning,

and he thinks about going to work as if nothing had happened. He values work and appears to be

a generally serious man for he did not even entertain the fact that he had turned into a bug

overnight and stated that he was fine.

: “...with their help he actually got the key moving and paid no attention to the fact that

he was undoubtedly hurting himself in some way, for a brown liquid came out of his

mouth, flowed over the key and dripped onto the floor. ‘Listen,’ said the manager in the

next room, ‘he’s turning the key.’ This was great encouragement to Gregor; but everyone

should have cheered him on, his father and mother, too. ‘Go, Gregor,’ they should have
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called, ‘keep going, at that lock, harder, harder!’ In the delusion that they were all

following his efforts with suspense, he clamped his jaws madly on the key…” (8/1163)

It seems that Gregor is very determined, at the very least in getting help from his family or

talking to his manager. Though his manager was the only one to say something, Gregor imagined

that they wanted the door open just as much as he did, and did not anticipate the terrified

reactions of everybody nor notice his own pain. Gregor was too focused on the positive rather

than the realistic negative that was to occur, whether it was due to desperation or the fact that he

failed to assess his situation properly.

: “Once, early in the morning—heavy rain, perhaps already a sign of approaching spring,

was beating on the window panes—Gregor was so exasperated when the cleaning woman

started in again with her phrases that he turned on her.” (28/1183)

When threatened with death via the cleaning lady, the window in Gregor’s room is gloomy yet

again. He was fasting during that time and overall did not do much. He was starting to become

abandoned and neglected by Grete, so the window reflects his mood and state of mind.

: “Attracted by the playing, Gregor had dared to come out a little further and already had

his head in the living room. It hardly surprised him that lately he was showing so little

consideration for the others; once such consideration had been his greatest pride.”

(30/1185)

This is the most important moment in the book where Gregor does not care for his family and

values his own feelings over theirs. However, every time he does, he always gets punished for it.

He cares less this time because his family had been neglecting him and therefore he neglected

himself by fasting. He adored Grete’s violin playing as well, and because so far she was the only
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one to take care of him, Gregor felt compelled to go to her. He prioritizes his feelings over his

family’s wishes to keep him hidden.

: “‘My dear parents,’ said his sister and by way of an introduction pounded her hand on

the table, ‘things can’t go on like this. Maybe you don’t realize it, but I do. I won’t

pronounce the name of my brother in front of this monster, and so all I say is: we have to

try to get rid of it. We’ve done everything humanly possible to take care of it and to put

up with it; I don’t think anyone can blame us in the least.’” (32/1187)

Grete, Gregor’s sister, underwent a transformation of her own. In the beginning, it was expected

of her to be on Gregor’s side as well as continue to be the one that takes care of him. She is seen

as sweet and caring when the rest of the family was too scared to care for Gregor. In the end,

however, she is tired of caring for Gregor. She turns her back on him, and even believes the

creature to not even be Gregor anymore. Gregor wanted the best for Grete, but in the end, even

she abandoned him.

: “He thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he

would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister’s. He remained in

this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three in the

morning.” (33-34,1188-1189)

Even though he heard his family blatantly choose to abandon him in favor for happiness, Gregor

does not feel spite or shame or anger. Gregor’s last thoughts before he dies seem to be of his

family. Again, Gregor’s biggest priority seems to be his family. His family was why he worked

and throughout their mistreatment of him, he still is mostly courteous of what they feel and want.

Symbolism
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: “At such moments he fixed his eyes as sharply as possible on the window, but

unfortunately there was little confidence and cheer to be gotten from the view of the

morning fog, which shrouded even the other side of the narrow street. ‘Seven o’clock

already,’ he said to himself as the alarm clock struck again, ‘seven o’clock already and

still such a fog.’” (4/1159)

The fog reflects the confusion and the unusual situation that Gregor is in. Before this quote,

Gregor reminds himself that thinking things over calmly was the best course of action. To think

things over calmly, you must see the situation clearly. However, he was thinking idealistically, as

Gregor states earlier on the page, he was hoping for his situation to disappear the moment he got

out of bed. He could not fully process his situation and could not see clearly either figuratively or

literally. Gregor also talks about the fog as if it is not normal for it to still be foggy at 7.

Similarly, his own situation is not normal.

: “In the meantime it had grown much lighter; across the street one vould see clearly a

section of the endless, grayish black building opposite—it was a hospital—with its

regular windows starkly piercing the façade; the rain was still coming down, but only in

large, separately visible drops that were also pelting the ground literally one at a time.”

(9/1164)

The sky turning lighter represents how Gregor’s family and manager’s reactions to him caused

Gregor to understand his situation a little better. Their repulsed reactions will lead him to learn

that he is repulsive. However, it is still raining and therefore it is not a happy situation.
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: “The cleaning woman shut the door and opened the window wide. Although it was early

in the morning, there was already some mildness mixed in with the fresh air. After all, it

was already the end of March.” (35/1190)

Almost immediately after Gregor dies, the weather outside the window is brought up again. This

time, it is fresh and mild in comparison to the previous descriptions of rain and darkness. This

could symbolize the family’s new start or the loss of what they felt was a burden. The sky seems

to be clear of bad weather like rain or fog that dispirits people and lessens their vision.

Language

: “Instead, he drove Gregor on, as if there were no obstacles, with exceptional loudness;

the voice behind Gregor did not sound like that of only a single father; now this was

really no joke anymore…” (12/1167)

To expand upon Mr. Samsa’s loudness, Kafka writes that his voice sounds like multiple people.

This emphasizes Mr. Samsa’s urgency in getting Gregor back into his room as well as his anger.

: “One side of his body rose up, he lay lopsided in the opening, one of his flanks was

scraped raw, ugly blotches marred the white door, soon he got stuck and could not have

budged any more by himself, his little legs on one side dangled tremblingly in midair,

those on the other were painfully crushed against the floor—when from behind his father

gave him a hard shove, which was truly his salvation, and bleeding profusely, he flew far

into his room.” (12/1167)

Kafka used imagery in this scene, to give a grotesque description of Gregor in pain due to his

father. Though Gregor is in a difficult and painful situation, his father’s kick is described as a
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salvation, which would typically be unexpected. Gregor is immensely loyal to his family, and

does not wish to burden them further or cause harm.

: “‘If he could understand us,’ said her father, half questioning; in the midst of her crying

Gregor’s sister waved her hand violently as a sign that that was out of the question.

‘If he could understand us,’ his father repeated and by closing his eyes absorbed his

daughter’s conviction of the impossibility of the idea, ‘then maybe we could come to an

agreement with him.’” (32/1187)

This is almost an ironic situation. Gregor’s father and sister claim that maybe if Gregor

understood them, it would have worked out. However, as the reader knows, Gregor does in fact

understand them. It seems as though Gregor’s family is making excuses when they never even

decided to see if Gregor could in fact understand them. It is ironic to have believed that Gregor’s

understanding may have improved his bad situation when he understood them from the first

place.