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Critical Essay on "The Metamorphosis"
By Sheldon Goldfarb
Probably the two most memorable images in "The Metamorphosis" occur in its first
section: first the picture of Gregor Samsa transformed into an insect, lying on his back in
bed and unable to get up, with all his little legs fluttering helplessly in the air; and second
the picture of Gregor the giant insect stuck on his side in his bedroom doorway, injured
and bleeding and again helplessly unable to move until his father shoves him into the
bedroom.
Gregor the insect is having fun. Is it good after all to be a bug?
If this were all there were to the story, it would be easy to conclude, as some have done,
that "The Metamorphosis" is a depiction of the helplessness and disgusting nature of the
human race; here is what people really are, these two images seem to say: revolting pieces
of vermin unable to do anything.
But there are two problems with this interpretation: first, not everyone in the story becomes
a piece of revolting vermin, only Gregor Samsa does; and second, there is more to Gregor
Samsa's life as a bug than being disgusting and helpless. That may be the dominant
impression left by Part I of the story, when Gregor is first transformed, but in Part II the
situation is different.
In fact, even near the end of Part I, when Gregor begins to adjust to life as a multi-legged
insect, he has a sudden "sense of physical comfort"; once he is right side up, his legs
become "completely obedient," as he noted with joy:
they even strove to carry him forward in whatever direction he chose; and he was inclined to believe
that a final relief from all his sufferings was at hand.
In Part II, there is more of this sense of joy and escape from suffering. For "mere
recreation," Gregor begins crawling across the walls and ceiling, as only an insect could.
Moreover:
He especially enjoyed hanging suspended from the ceiling; it was much better than lying on the
floor; one could breathe more freely; one's body swung and rocked lightly; and in the almost blissful
absorption induced by this suspension it could happen to his own surprise that he let go and fell
plump on the floor. Yet he now had his body much better under control than formerly, and even such
a big fall did him no harm.
Gregor the insect is having fun. Is it good after all to be a bug?
Certainly, Gregor's life as a bug seems in some ways better than his life as a human being.
As a human being, he is stuck in a job he immensely dislikes and has the burden of
supporting a family to whom he does not even feel close. He has no friends or lovers or
social life; in the evenings he stays home, and during the day he is off to his alienating job.
As an insect, Gregor is free of his job and his family responsibilities. Instead of rushing off
to work, he can stay home and play. Instead of taking care of his family, they take care of
CA Standards: Reading 2.2, 2.4, 2.5!Ms. Tan/English 11H
him. In some ways, his life as a bug is the life of the carefree child. He even heals faster
than he used to, as a child would.
Still, there is something repulsive about being a bug. Even Gregor realizes this, and tries to
hide his repulsiveness from his mother and his sister when they enter his room. He spends
hours arranging a sheet to cover himself so they will not have to see him. And Gregor also
realizes at one point, even after he has discovered the joys of climbing the walls, that he
does not want to stay a bug forever. When his mother and sister start removing his
furniture, his mother's second thoughts provoke him to resist: he does not want to give up
his human past and the possibility of returning to it.
Now, perhaps Gregor is simply mistaken to fight for his human past; perhaps Kafka means
for the reader to see his life as a bug as something so superior to his human past that he
should want to stay a bug forever. But if Kafka were creating an ideal escape from adult
responsibilities, surely he would have created a more appealing one than becoming a giant
insect; he could have transformed Gregor into a cute little puppy or a young child instead
of a repulsive vermin.
And there are distinct disadvantages to being a bug. For one thing, Gregor's repulsive
appearance means he has to remain in his room, a prisoner, completely isolated. His
existence was always a fairly lonely one, but this is worse: as far as friendship and intimacy
are concerned, Gregor's transformation is not an escape from his past loneliness but an
intensification of it.
Moreover, for all Gregor's ability to climb walls, as an insect he is fairly helpless: he
depends on others now for food and for keeping his room clean; and his inability to talk
means he cannot express his needs clearly.
Not that Gregor seems to have expressed his needs clearly even before his transformation.
He seems to have been a classic self-sacrificer and martyr, devoting his entire life to paying
off his family's debts, worrying about wasting even an hour of his employer's time,
spending very little time developing his own life.
It is true that there are hints in the story that he feels resentment over this situation: for
instance, he allows himself to think for a moment that his father might have used some of
the money he saved to help Gregor escape sooner from his oppressive job; he also seems
to think there could have been more appreciation for his efforts to bring in the money his
family needed. Then, when he is first transformed and is struggling to open the door, he
thinks the family might be more encouraging. And when he hears his sister sobbing that
first morning, he seems irritated with her.
But these are fleeting moments. It is more typical of him to think, concerning the money his
father has held back, that his father must know best. It is also typical of him that the thing
he worries about, if he crashes out of bed, is that the noise may alarm the others. And his
laborious effort to hide himself with a sheet is done completely to serve others' needs.
Finally, when his mother makes a rare entrance into his room, to avoid upsetting her "he
CA Standards: Reading 2.2, 2.4, 2.5!Ms. Tan/English 11H
renounced the pleasure of seeing [her]." Gregor seems to have led a life of renouncing
pleasures.
Now, it is true that as a bug he is finally able to have some pleasure; he also, as a bug,
makes two attempts to fight for what he wants: first, when he resists the removal of his
furniture, and second when he seeks to obtain the mysterious nourishment associated
with his sister's violin playing. He fails in both attempts, however, and thus to a certain
extent being a bug is just like being a human being for Gregor: he cannot get his needs
met in either form.
In short, Gregor's transformation has a double meaning: it is both an escape from his
oppressive life and a representation or even an intensification of it. But even as an escape,
it is not very successful, for to maintain his life as a carefree, wall- climbing insect, he
needs others to care for him: to bring him his food and to clean his room. Eventually, his
sister, who has been doing this, loses interest; his room becomes dirty; and he becomes
despondent and angry over being neglected.
And of course he is more than neglected; he is attacked. Attacked twice by his father, the
second time seriously enough to cause a perhaps life-threatening wound. Gregor is unable
to prevent this injury and also unable to obtain treatment for it; the family does not seem to
care, and he is at their mercy.
There thus seems to be a problem with escaping as a response to an oppressive life: the
escapist idyll cannot be maintained; it is too dependent on others. And perhaps, just like
childhood, it cannot be expected to last forever.
Now, if Gregor Samsa were the only character in the story, one might still say that Kafka is
painting a gloomy picture of the whole human condition. The only options open to Gregor
Samsa seem to be life as a downtrodden martyr at work and at home or the purely
temporary escape he finds as a bug.
It is true that there are two other options he seeks to pursue. One is associated with the
music played by his sister. The music makes him think he can obtain some "unknown
nourishment"--perhaps something spiritual, though that is unclear. It also makes him
fantasize about his sister moving into his room with him and about kissing her on the neck,
indicating perhaps a closer sort of relationship as a way out of his troubles.
However, he is repulsed when he tries to follow this option involving his sister and her
music, just as he is repulsed when he pursues the option of resistance, of fighting back
when his belongings are taken from him.
Not everyone in the story is similarly repulsed, however. Gregor's father, in contrast to
Gregor, is able to succeed by pursuing the path of resistance.
Much like Gregor, Gregor's father finds himself in a downtrodden, self-sacrificing state in
Part III of the story, with the arrival of the three lodgers, who somehow seize control in the
household. Even before the arrival of the lodgers, the elder
CA Standards: Reading 2.2, 2.4, 2.5!Ms. Tan/English 11H
Samsa has seemed like a curiously weak figure, except when attacking Gregor. With
Gregor as the breadwinner, Gregor's father becomes the dependent one and spends his
days lying almost comatose in a chair, wearing his bathrobe, almost unable to walk. After
Gregor's transformation, he goes back to work and regains some of his strength, but he
and the rest of the family at first feel tired and overworked as a result of taking on jobs, and
Gregor sees in them a sense of "complete hopelessness."
When the lodgers arrive, things become even worse. Mr. Samsa and the others dote on
them, Mr. Samsa with cap in hand; they yield the best seats at the dinner table to the
lodgers, and in general are overly anxious to please, having "an exaggerated idea of the
courtesy due to lodgers."
But when Gregor dies, suddenly Mr. Samsa finds new strength and orders the lodgers out.
He is also suddenly able to stand up to the intimidating charwoman, stopping her from
talking "with a decisive hand." The result of this newfound strength is that Mr. Samsa and
his family are suddenly able to contemplate a happy and fulfilling life: their jobs will lead to
better things, and their daughter will get married.
For some people, then, there is a way out. People may be living in a hostile universe, the
story suggests, and some people are like Gregor: they cannot stand up to it; at best they
can run away for some temporary respite. But others can rise up against the universe and
seize control of their destiny.
This is perhaps a more optimistic message to take from the story than seeing it as
portraying a universally gloomy existence--or perhaps not. Throughout the story the reader
has been drawn to identify with Gregor; the story is told from his point of view, and he
seems appealing in his self-sacrificing way. But he is defeated. And who is it that
triumphs? His bullying father and the sister who betrayed him. Not everyone is doomed to
be crushed like a bug, the story is saying; not everyone, just you and I, while other people
somehow get ahead at our expense. It is a despairing conclusion.
Source Citation
Goldfarb, Sheldon. "Critical Essay on 'The Metamorphosis'." Short Stories for Students.
Ed. Jennifer Smith. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center.
Web. 17 Feb. 2011.
CA Standards: Reading 2.2, 2.4, 2.5!Ms. Tan/English 11H
