"It will be the death of both of you, I can see that coming. When one has to work as hard as we do, all of us, one can't stand this continual torment at home on top of it. At least I can't stand it any longer.' " Kafka 80) There is a clear sense that the family letting go of the idea that the beast that is living in their son's room is the son they once knew releases them from the burden, as it is only moments later that Gregor finally succumbs to self starvation and dies. (Kafka 82) After Gregor's death the true nature of each transformation is expressed through the explanations of the family as they take their first time off in a very long time.

Leaning comfortably back in their seats they canvassed their prospects for the future, and it appeared on closer inspection that these were not at all bad, for the jobs they had got, which so far they had never really discussed with each other, were all three admirable and likely to lead to better things later on.

Kafka...

Gregor's death is a freedom, which would seem excessively callous had he not been a giant dung beetle not fit for human cohabitation.
Works Cited

Bloom, Harold, ed. Franz Kafka's the Metamorphosis. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.

Bouson, J. Brooks. A Study of the Narcissistic Character and the Drama of the Self. Amherst University of Massachusetts Press, 1989.

Greenberg, Martin. The Terror of Art: Kafka and Modern Literature. New York: Basic Books, 1968.

Kafka, Franz. Selected Short Stories of Franz Kafka. Trans. Willa Muir and Edwin Muir. New York: Modern Library, 1952.