In part 3 of this book we read about how his family is feeling and dealing with this situation of Gregor. The family takes pity on him and leaves the bedroom door open at night so Gregor can watch them. The father dozes in his chair while the mother sews lingerie for a boutique and Grete studies French and shorthand in hopes of moving up from her job as a sales clerk. The father stops taking off his bank attendant uniform when he comes home, and the uniform becomes increasingly filthy. Grete and the mother encourage the father to go to bed early, but he stays up late every night, muttering about how sad his life has become.
Gregor learns that the family has been selling off jewelry to bring in money, and they replace their regular maid with an elderly cleaning lady. He also realizes that they feel trapped by his presence. Gregor stops sleeping and eating as he frets about the family and the past, alternating between guilt over not helping them and outrage that they have neglected him. Grete hardly takes care of him at all anymore. Despite this apparent indifference to Gregor, she becomes extremely upset when the mother cleans Gregor’s room and insists that Gregor is hers to look after. But towards the end of the chapter, his sister’s behaviour changes – from being helpful and concerned before, she is now willing to kill Gregor to save her family name. This is exactly what happened at the end – his family killed him to end everyone’s pain and sufferings.
Next we went on to discuss the metaphors that had been used in the book :
- Trauma was the main vibe of this book.
- Feelings of the family being shifted like furniture
- Gregor was isolated in his room
After this, we spoke about the theme of this book:
- The Metamorphos is is a story about one man’s obligations to his family. Before his transformation, Gregor supports his family as a traveling salesman. Once freed of that responsibility, Gregor starts to feel like a burden to his family. He thinks of his death as a kind of sacrifice that will allow them to move on with their lives.
- Isolation and alienation are major themes in The Metamorphosis. Gregor’s physical transformation makes him a creature, stripping him of his humanity in the eyes of his family. Gregor’s inability to communicate further isolates him.
- Gregor’s family often defines him by his ability to work. When he supported them financially, they treated him deferentially, giving him the big room in the center of the apartment. As soon as he’s unable to provide for them, however, he becomes a burden, and they long to be rid of him.
The conculsion –
The Metamorphosis,” then, can be seen as a punishment fantasy with Gregor Samsa feeling triply guilty of having displaced his father as leading breadwinner for the family, for his hatred of his job, and resentment of his family’s expectations of him. He turns himself into a detestable insect, thereby both rebelling against the authority of his firm and father and punishing himself for this rebellion by seeking estrangement, rejection, and death. Insofar as Gregor’s physical manifestation constitutes a translation of the interior self to the external world, “The Metamorphosis” is a stellar achievement of expressionism.
DISHA KALYANI 