Gregor lived from one day to another, a rather tiring and dreary existence. He worked as a salesman, a job he detested in order to pay off his father’s debts and he also did not have much of a social life outside of work and domestic life, all of this adding up to his meaningless existence or rather his non-existence as existentialism is about existence and seemed to exhibit non-existential characteristics, as if he was not real or alive.
The time when the main character literally transforms into a bug, there is no questioning about this strange transformation, as Gregor had been a metaphorical bug beforehand. When he wakes up from his strange dreams as a bug, his priorities seem to be identical to the ones before his transformation: work to support his family.
Mr. Samsa, who is Gregor’s father and the antagonist in our story used to be the one supporting the family, and when he lost his business, Gregor stepped up and offered to help. When he becomes an insect, his father wants nothing to do with him; his usefulness is now past. With no patience for or understanding of the metamorphosis, Mr. Samsa pokes Gregor with a walking stick, drives him into his room, and locks the door. Later, he blames Gregor for making his wife faint and throws apples at him, wounding him seriously. He then is totally unconcerned that the insect has an apple imbedded in his back, causing it to fester. When Mr. Samsa learns that Gregor has died, he feels greatly relieved and offers a prayer of thanksgiving that the pain is over.
The father-son antagonism is presented by the converted positions in the family: Gregor was the provider and his father, with the rest of the family were the children. When the protagonist becomes a bug, the father gains more power, because he has been saving money. After the father gains more power, a power struggle is created in Gregor’s family.
One could also say that the family has also become more animalistic and primitive through this metamorphosis. Instead of being compassionate and trying to help Gregor, they lock him away, almost hoping he’ll die. At first they try to take care of him, but like an injured animal in the pack, they eventually begin to look at him as a liability and an inconvenience, and cease to protect him. As they stop thinking about him as a human being, they stop treating him like one. The same could be said about the state of the room in which he dwells. When he first wakes up as a bug, his room has all the necessities a human would need: a bed, dresser, desk, sofa, etc. But as he devolves and realizes he doesn’t need these items, and as his family realizes it, they are removed, essentially removing pieces of Gregor from the room, and from their memories.
The major theme used by Kafka in maintaining the suspension of disbelief present in our story is the modern man's sense of isolation, Driven to work long hours in meaningless jobs around people who do not care about others, just like Gregor, mankind seems to live a meaningless and ineffectual existence. Although the main character’s metamorphosis is actual and physical, implies through his change that all too often mankind is forced into an insect-like existence, no better than the bugs at the bottom of the natural order. When mankind tries to rise above their insect status and connect with humanity, as the protagonistdid when he emerged from his room to see his sister and listen to the , they are cruelly driven back into isolation and alienation. Through Gregor, Kafka presents a totally tragic view of man's existence.
by
dutenfan (student)
