Metamorphosis Gregor, a Traveling Textile

¶ … Metamorphosis

Gregor, a traveling textile salesman living with his parents and sister, Grete, finds himself burdened by the responsibilities of providing for his family and his monotonous and tiring profession "O God," he thought, "what a demanding job I've chosen! Day in, day out, on the road... If I didn't hold back for my parents' sake, I'd have quit ages ago. (Metamorphosis: 2). One day, Gregor turns into to a giant bug; his transformation is deeply metaphorical symbolizing personal alienation from a life of hardships and unhappiness. Nonetheless, his metamorphosis also alters his middle class family's dynamics as Gregor is rendered helpless and thus useless in the eyes of his demanding family.

Metaphors are used throughout the story to illustrate the lack of communication among the members of a middle class family. Gregor's transformation is the only way he can be free from his demanding family. He is released from the responsibility of having to provide for his parents and sister but this also means that he is impaired from having a life of any kind leaving him to depend upon his family. The roles here are reversed: before the metamorphosis, his family depended on him for financial support but now, Gregor finds himself in the position to be completely dependant on his parents and sister. Communication becomes absolutely impossible as humans cannot communicate with insects; this total lack of communication between two species is, in fact, a metaphor of the difficult relationship that Gregor Samsa had always had with his father: "No request of Gregor's was of any use; no request would even be understood. No matter how willing he was to turn his head respectfully, his father just stomped all the harder with his feet" (Metamorphosis: 8). The rest of Gregor's family also rejects him. However, despite the fact that his family's initial reaction is hatred and resentment, in time they manage to adjust their lives accordingly in the sense that they are forced to learn how to provide and take care of themselves in the absence of Gregor.

Nonetheless, the metaphor of the bug can also be interpreted from a different perspective. Gregor's transformation could in fact be strictly spiritual in the sense that his physical shape might not change. His deadening job and demanding family could be the factors leading to his inner metamorphosis as one can lead the life of a bug without actually being one. We see Gregor through his family's eyes. He does not need to actually transform as his family already sees him as a bug. Communication is scarce; so is emotional connection between Gregor and his parents and sister who regard him as a mere source of income, and not as a human being. Kafka's central metaphor is thus two-sided in the sense that on one hand, Gregor could actually turn into a bug; on the other hand, he might just be made to feel like one by his family and job. This ambiguity is launched in the very beginning of the story by the narrator's words: "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."

Communication between Gregor and his parents and sister is scarce and dysfunctional long before his transformation into a bug. The idea of the communication failure between Gregor and his family is emphasized through the use of a very powerful metaphor, i.e. The doors in Gregor's room. Gregor's room is both a safe retreat and a place of complete isolation from his family, similarly to how the author himself took refuge from his father in his room. In fact, Gregor's room can be deconstructed as a symbol for Kafka's own life in his father's house; in this sense, the room becomes an escape in both cases. In Gregor's case, the room symbolizes his escape in both instances of his life; as a young man, he retreats to his room where he is at the same time hidden from and harassed by his family. Secondly, as a bug, he finds shelter in his room which also acts as his prison as he is no longer able to exit without his family's help. The author's inability to communicate and his uneasy relationship with his father are replicated in the story of Gregor's transformation. The doors of the room are a symbol of Gregor's status within his own family: he is their prisoner. His room has three doors, one for every family member to knock on; here the doors are seen as a means of controlling his life. They all order him to wake up and go to work; in fact this is the only kind of communication between Gregor and his family from which he is in fact, isolated although they all live under the same roof.