Book Report – The Metamorphosis

1. The Metamorphosis
2. By Franz Kafka
3. Novella, short story, fantasy fiction, modernist fiction

5.
The main character, Gregor Samsa — is the son of Prague townsfolk, who have purely materialistic needs. Five years ago, his father had gone broke, and Gregor had joined one of his father’s creditors, becoming a traveling salesman, a cloth merchant. Since then, the whole family — his father, his mother, who suffers from asthma, and his younger sister Greta — rely entirely on Gregor, financially completely dependent on him. Gregor is constantly on the move, but at the beginning of the story, he spends the night at home between two business trips, and then something terrible happens to him. Gregor suddenly wakes up as a bug, but it seemed to him that this is a dream, although its really not

This is the beginning of the transformation of a kind, sensitive, sacrificial person into a disgusting bug. Kafka describes the new structure of Gregor’s body, the inconveniences he experiences, new pleasures and the new tastes. The form of a bug, makes him loose his human abilities to communicate, and speak, also he looses his spiritual features, but still remains as himself as a soul – kind “human”, unlike his family members. A terrible misfortune has befallen to the family, but what is truly surprising in this novel is the reaction of the Samsa family to Gregor’s transformation. With stunning psychologism, Kafka makes philistines in whom the natural feelings and Christian impulses struggle for a while with disgust and hatred for the one who, by his transformation, destroyed their modest prosperity, forced them to look for work, rent a room to tenants, and most importantly-hide a terrible family secret. Something has happened to the Samsa family that has never happened in any family they know, so the shame of the transformation is added to the annoyance at Gregor. The novel is based on the most subtle depiction of the changing feelings within the family. As the mother and sister lose hope for Gregor’s transformation back, the father’s hatred grew bigger for Gregor increases. In one scene, Gregor’s father chases him into his room, throwing red apples at him, and one of them gets stuck in Gregor’s back and causes his death. His death is the release for the family, which in the meantime had adjusted their case: all found work, flourished sister, now they can finally change the apartment is cheaper and more convenient (while Gregor was alive as a bug, it was impossible to move anywhere) — in the last scene they all go on the tram on outings and plan their new life.
6. Gregor is a young traveling salesman who suddenly transforms into a giant cockroach. Before his transformation, his main concern is providing for his family. He resents the stresses of traveling for work, and dislikes his coworkers, but he is devoted to his work and hopes to even earn enough to pay for his sister Grete’s violin lessons at the Conservatorium, as well as the living expenses of his feeble, sedentary mother and father. When Gregor physically transforms, his personality gradually transforms as well. He becomes unable to understand his family’s behaviors or motivations, and fails to communicate or even interact with them without causing them panic. Gregor becomes much more focused on bodily concerns such as his crawling, his appetite, and his aches and pains, even as he attempts to retain a connection to his humanity, through his memories, his love of his print of the lady with the muff, and his appreciation for Grete’s music. Though he comes to resent his family for neglecting him,

Gregor continues to love them and want the best for them, all the way to his tragic demise.
Mr. Samsa
Gregor’s father, having lived a “laborious though unsuccessful life” and collapsed his business, has become exceptionally lazy, doing nothing while his son earns all the money. When misfortune strikes, Mr. Samsa puts on a uniform and goes to work. He is suspicious of the transformed Gregor from the beginning, and always assumes the worst if his son emerges from his room. He first wounds Gregor while trying to shove him into his room and then cripples him by throwing an apple into his back.
Apparently this was the character I disliked the most. He is dominating in the family, though he works less than Gregor does. He has a lack of emotions, because he struggle to understand the guilt of his son, and just punishing him by locking him in a room after Georg went from there.

7. I recommend this book to absolutely everyone, without putting it in a detached category, I recommend it even to those who are easily surprised by the simplest metaphors and absurdism of what is particularly applied in modern literature. This book is a perfect example of the Modernistic Art style, where the harsh reality oppresses the individual, and there are contradictions between them, which Kafka reveals on the example of this individual, in a metaphorical and then in a psychological form. People who suffer from depression, or simply those who are oppressed by society and the material environment, can associate themselves with the main character – Gregor Samsa, which lived his last days thinking about his miserable being, and those who “believe in all good ” will face the mental and physical death of a” little man ” inside the capitalist reality, and its beautiful, by its misery.