Kafka's The Metamorphosis

Apparently, the most important metamorphosis seems to be that of Gregor, but he is not the only one that changes. Most of the members of the family reach an epiphany later in the story, especially with Grete. The next three themes can be found in a symbol to be discussed later. The first of this group of themes is power. Power is both held and relinquished at different times of the short story. The reader learns that before Gregor turned into a beetle, he was the official "man of the house"; he earned the money that was used for food, clothing, and shelter. The parents had gotten into deep debt and Gregor was used to appease the boss of the company.

However, as soon as Gregor mutates, he loses complete authority in the household. Surprisingly, the child of the household, Gregor's sister, Grete, finds the strength, mentally, physically, and emotionally, to deal with her brother in his misshapen form. "When she caught sight of him under the sofa…she was so startled that without being able to help it she slammed the door shut again. But as if regretting her behavior she opened the door again immediately and came in on tiptoe" . Grete also helps her mother to try to gain the confidence and proper mentality to be in Gregor's room. Yet, that is also difficult for her. She is stereotyped as a lady and never earned any control in the family. The father, however, reclaims his position. He no longer stays at home to sleep and complete nothing; he leaves the house to find a job to erase the debt that he caused. The second of this group of themes is wisdom. Gregor is the omnipresent narrator who understands the scenes outside of his door, even though he is locked in a little room. He learns of the financial problems and feels terrible that he cannot ease the issue.

Gregor also discovers the visitors who rent a room in the apartment. Gregor is also capable of thought and reason even after he mutates. He retains his ability to think like a human, yet has a different outlook on his life to that of a beetle. He is able to decipher what type of food a beetle enjoys through a reasonable process of guessing and checking. "One after another and with tears of satisfaction in his eyes he quickly devoured the cheese, the vegetables and the sauce; the fresh food, on the other hand, had no charms for him" . It was not until the end of his life that he realized how lonesome he has always been. "In this state of vacant and peaceful meditation he remained until the tower clock struck three in the morning. The first broadening of light in the world outside the window entered his consciousness once more" . The light that he sees refers to his last thought, the last piece of humanity he had until he was dead even from the inside. The other person with a lot of wisdom is Grete. For most of her life, she has been isolated from the harsh realities of existence because her parents did not demand that she make something of herself. Instead, she accepted the responsibility of ensuring the livelihood of Gregor. She is able to detect something that could be left undetected. Gregor's "sister at once noticed, with surprise, that the basin was still full" . She is also the person in the family who realized that Gregor was not an individual, but rather a fiend.

Gregor was not disguised in a beetle; the beetle was concealed within Gregor. She deliberately killed him by locking him in his room and not letting him out. That is her last act of good judgment before she is ready to enter the harsh world. The final theme of this set is that of love. The main reason Gregor has a metamorphosis is that he feels no affection from any person. This connects with the theme of alienation. Had he been given the opportunity to love somebody and find a soul mate, he may not have been trapped in a monotonous lifestyle: a life of no friends and close family bonds. The only affection ever directed towards Gregor was from Grete. Some commentators perceive this combination as being an incestuous fantasy. When a person has no human connections and a strong sexual drive, this is a possible understanding of this brother and sister relationship . However, I must disagree and hold that their relationship is necessary; they sustain each other with intellectual and emotional needs. "Gregor's sister began to play... Gregor, attracted by the playing, ventured to move forward a little" . Grete plays as if she is playing with passion, in honor of Gregor's support and care for her. Grete's kindness to Gregor, dealing with her idea to feed Gregor and rearrange the room for his pleasure, is done solely out of love, not out of necessity. Yet the parents do not willingly help Grete. Gregor's mother wants to assist Grete in reorganizing Gregor's room for the satisfaction that she can overcome a difficult task. Gregor's own father makes his son work and not grow as an individual because of his own financial mishaps. "A certain amount of investments... had survived the wreck of the fortunes and had even increased a little... True, he could really have paid off some more of his father's debts to the chief with his extra money, and so brought much nearer the day on which he could quit his job" . He never learns how to sacrifice for his children to make them happy, only how to work them and let them make the sacrifices to help the family.

Even after Gregor's father begins his life anew, no consideration is taken by him to help the situation. The parents view their son as a lost cause. All family decisions are affected by the problem of money, the fifth important theme in "The Metamorphosis." The Samsa family wants money, needs money, and is in debt because of money. It is the reason Gregor is working at a job he dislikes. It is the reason Gregor's father has lost all hope of working again because he led the family into such territory. And it is the reason for Gregor's transforming into a beetle. Throughout the short story, it is referred to as a necessary component so survive, illustrating the physical relationship with one another and the lack of the senses in the family unit. The event that brings most joy to Gregor is when he finds out that his father has saved some extra money, to which the response is "Gregor nodded his head eagerly, rejoiced at this evidence of unexpected thrift and foresight" . When there is money, the family has the ability to live in a somewhat luxurious lifestyle with few worries. Yet Gregor's mutation causes the household to fall apart because they cannot raise enough money to live in the same extravagance as earlier. "The Metamorphosis" is also filled with many symbols.

The first and most apparent of all the symbols is that of the mutation; this can be interpreted in two different methods: the physical change from human to insect, or the metaphorical transformation from a regular person to a being no longer accepted as part of society. First, let us examine the literal interpretation of this bizarre occurrence. Kafka's vivid descriptions given to Gregor allow the reader to visualize an enormous beetle that physically replaces a member of the family with "his little legs struggling against each other more wildly than ever" . Yet, it is not until the maid gives Gregor's physical appearance a name that the reader begins to decide whether this insect is reality or a metaphor. This woman may also not understand that there is a human inside of this dung beetle . Furthermore, she may only be making a statement that Gregor is acting like a beetle, not like an insect.