Kafka used black comedy and irony to develop his tragic view of society and family. Grete is the only one in the family with whom Gregor has any relationship. At first, she takes responsibility to clean his room and feed him. However, soon she loses interest in this and leaves him alone. Grete, who first cared so much for Gregor, is also the first who wants to get rid of him. Kafka also indicates that Gregor is at times misled because he thinks that the next time the door would open he would take charge of the family affairs again, just as he had done in the past. Gregor has experienced a complete turn around. While Gregor worked and cared for his family, they were weak and miserable, however, when he needed them, they gave him only the bare necessities. Gregor made sure that his parents and sister were taken care of, but in this process he forgot his own needs and in result he still remains unloved. He was no longer thought of as a son or a brother, but as a support system. Gregor’s existence before the metamorphosis was much like after it, a life of the bug. Kafka shows how your own family can turn against you if something strange occurs.
Gregor begins remembering people from his past and thinking about the fact that they were now removed from him and would not help him or his family. Gregor’s living urge to help his family causes him to have a flash of human recollection. Instead of taking care his own fate, he is thinking of how he has let his family down. Gregor manages to escape his guilt, when he realizes that his family doesn’t care about him anymore. Grete, being the only one to clean his room, doesn't bother to pick out his food any more and cleans his room very hastily and poorly. Gregor’s mother attempts to show her love for her son and cleans his room once, but Grete yells and starts a fight. Gregor's self-sacrificing attitude is soon replaced by anger.
Through parallel construction one may notice that The Metamorphosis is an autobiographical piece of writing. Kafka had been very close to his sister, Ottla, and she usually understood him very well. However, she turned against him in insisting he stay at the office in the afternoons. Kafka felt that she had betrayed him, and less than two months later, in Kafka's writing, Gregor is betrayed by his sister.
The end of this passage is heartrending. Gregor’s family has become productive, and in the faster pace of their new life, it seems that they’ve almost forgot about Gregor. The food that was at the start served to Gregor twice a day with much consideration is now pushed into his room swiftly only once a day. Gregor observes that the favors from Grete have vanished. Through this Kafka is foreshadowing that Grete’s metamorphosis into adulthood will cause Gregor’s demise. Moreover, Gregor’s room has become a dumping place for the family, and old extras furniture is pilled everywhere, giving him little room to wander. Gregor feels that he is totally forgotten. Everyone was too busy to care much about Gregor. They hired a charwoman to come twice a day and do the thorny work. She discovers Gregor but isn’t repulsed by him at all. Gregor now gladly accepts his isolation. He has lost interest in his family. He ignores the left open door and letting his body starve to death and spending his days lying futile on the floor. When the charwoman attempts to be friendly to Gregor, this only irritates him and he attempts to run at her to scare her off. This shows the lack of interest of his family that infected him, and he can no longer be bothered to care about others or himself. His previous desire for human contact has been completely abolished, though occasionally takes an indistinct interest in events outside his door.
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