The Dreadful Conclusion.

Finishing up The Metamorphosis, I would like to get some comments off my chest. First of all, this book was bizarre. It was a great read - gripping plot, excellent imagery, etc., etc. But it disturbed me deeply. Gregor's plight and his family's inexcusable misconduct made this short story one of the saddest and perhaps truly unfortunate novella I have ever encountered. There are layers on top of layers of bitter humor, and reading the book was deeply uncomfortable. Not only do I despise insects, but it was Kafka's descriptions of Gregor as the hapless, helpless type of rodent that struck me as a reader. His sister treats him as a wearisome pet; after the initial excitement of caring for him faded, she turned against him. His parents are not a different story. His father is ashamed of him and his mother, while kind and perhaps maternal, is hopeless at caring for him. It was her futility and lack of effort that upset me too. Why doesn't she try harder for Gregor? Sure she's physically weak, but that doesn't mean her mental faculties have to be correspondingly weak too.

Secondly, there's the ending to consider. The way the parents sized up their daughter was definitely portending something dreadful. They were planning to marry her off, which was a normal thing to do when one's daughter comes of age. But the way they saw her stretching her young body reminded me of animal owners examining their livestock for dinner. Certainly marrying Grete off would bring connections and perhaps salvation to the withering yet managing Samsa family, but considering that their son had just died last night from their neglect and mistreatment, this immediate attention turned on their daughter made the parents seem awfully parasitic. They were desperate for comfort and not above selling off and exploiting their children to satisfy their own whims.

Family ties in The Metamorphosis.

Continuing off of class discussions about the nature of Gregor's parents, I would like to propose that they are symbols for an oppressive familial obligation. They swarm around his room, which somehow has an incredible number of doors through which his relatives can peek in. The way they hover and beg him to come out of his room is strikingly claustrophobic, both literally and figuratively. Doubtlessly, Gregor has a filial obligation to his parents and a fraternal one to his sister, but its the way that his family expects it from him shamelessly and almost condescendingly that does not resonate with me.

For it raises the question of how deep that obligation really goes. Do you still owe something to a person who has rejected you because you cannot provide for him any longer? I do not believe so, but then again my experience is limited. I love my family despite our disputes, and I'm sure Kafka appreciated his too, and he expresses it through Gregor all the while layering a mocking undertone to Gregor's family. The father is weak yet strong and can't be expected to work; the mother is always gasping under the window, and the younger sister, lovely person that she is, is still childish and naive. It seems as if Gregor is the only sensible creature - ironic there since he's actually a cockroach - and through his reflections, we perceive a caring yet overbearing family.

Poor Gregor.

There is something superficially absurd about the plot of Kafka's The Metamorphosis. The sheer idea of transforming a character, your own, into a rodent is ridiculous and fascinating. It has perhaps never been pursued before seriously and that's what makes this novella stand out. And when an author is capable to generating something so bizarre and intriguing, his story will no doubt last for generations. I am terribly, perhaps guiltily, repulsed by and attracted to this idea of a metaphor comparing the mindless worker to an equally thoughtless insect for there is so much to be argued for this point: there's a dumb work, repetitive and looked down upon, done by these office workers that is similar to the actions of rodents, and there's a secondary status that they both share as well. The insects, perhaps not cockroaches, perform a basic yet important role in our world - they pollinate our crops, give us valuable raw materials and are even nutritious. And like the workers, they labor incredibly hard, perhaps all their lives, for a seemingly unknown purpose.

Given what I already know of Kafka's own background, I would like to argue that this story is his way of bemoaning the deprecated state of workers as well as the general ineptitude and ingratitude of parents. Of course, this is hidden beneath layers after layers of bitter irony, which is the reason why I find Gregor Samsa a pathetic and sympathetic character. His excessive groveling - please, he just wants to work - is endearing, and his family's complete intolerance, except in the case of his sister, of his condition is disgusting. Kafka himself seems to be struggling between making Gregor a pitiable creature and mocking him, and himself by extension.