The Metamorphosis and Family Essay

Submitted By CBurns7377
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Pages: 3
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Gwen Abernathy
Mrs. Glass
AP English
October 25, 2012 “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, is a rather depressing story about a young man’s change into a bug: Literally and metaphorically. Gregor Samsa, the main character in the story, has had a truly bad life. Gregor spent most of his days working in order to provide for his family. He despised his job and he would have loved to have quit, if only his parents and sister didn’t rely on him so much. Unfortunately, his family didn’t really appreciate anything he had done for them. At some point in the story, he literally transforms into a cockroach. After this transformation his family deserts him as he can no longer provide for them. He was nothing but a breadwinner for his family in his human life, and although he was human then, to them he was no better than a bug. Gregor spent all of his human life thinking, and providing for other people. He never stopped to take the time to think about himself. Even when he transformed into the cockroach the only thing that worried him was that he had missed his train to work. What makes this story so depressing and horrifying was the way that he was seen, and treated by his family. He was, in a sense, nothing to them. All they really needed, and used him for, was the money that he made. When Gregor was unable to earn a living any longer his family forgot all about him, with the exception of his sister, Grete. She even began to forget about him later on in the story, and she felt as if he was in a sense ruining their lives. The only positive thing that came out of this story was that once he changed, his family was forced to get back on their feet and find a way to provide for themselves, without Gregor. Sadly enough Gregor had to be out of the picture in order for this to happen. Gregors life really was nothing but a disappointment. All he ever did was provide for other people. He worked constantly so as to keep his family alive even though he absolutely hated his job. He could never take the time to think about himself because he was always too busy thinking about
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