The Metamorphosis of the Samsa Family

When Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a verminous bug, his family members initially react with shock and horror. But as the novella progresses, Gregor’s “metamorphosis” begins to transform his family as well as they adjust to life with a giant bug. Gregor previously was responsible for providing a source of income for his family. Since he obviously cannot work as a bug, the family adapts, and in a sense I believe his absence eventually transforms each family member into a more complete human being. Meanwhile, Gregor has transformed from provider to pariah.

            I did not find Gregor’s father to be a particularly likeable character. While Gregor is a human, he is the chief provider for his family. His father takes advantage of this and does not work, sitting around the house all day. But when Gregor transforms, his father must also transform.  Faced with no other choice, he goes back to work. Gregor notices a marked change in his father soon after his transformation, as his father begins wearing a suit and in general behaving with more energy than before. But his father is cruel to Gregor, wounding him and not acknowledging that he is his son.

            Gregor’s mother is less defined and therefore her transformation is less distinct, but I would argue that the shock of Gregor’s transformation causes an emotional shutdown for his mother that begins after her collapse and subsequent terror upon seeing him for the first time on that fateful morning (p. 74 and 77).  We know that Gregor loved his mother (“that gentle voice,” p.68) and he looks at her several times in the course of the novel, only to see her fatigued or even, in the last look before his death, asleep. She tries to clean his room once, but this only causes Grete to scold her.  She frets about the lodgers and worries about Grete and her husband, but she has ceased to react emotionally to her son.  After a while, it is as if he is already dead to her and she is in mourning and depressed.

            Gregor’s sister, Grete, is the kindest to Gregor at the beginning of the story. Early in the book, Gregor talks about his love for Grete and how he has been secretly saving for her to attend the conservatory.  Grete shows her love, too by taking care of him, bringing food and water, cleaning the room, etc.  But after she gets a job, she grows tired of it.  As she becomes more independent, she resents Gregor’s presence more and as the novel progresses, Grete’s disgust for Gregor grows. By the end of the novel, Grete advocates “getting rid of” Gregor (page 104).

            At the end of the novel, Gregor dies and there is closure and relief for all of them. The family instantly feels as if a great weight has been lifted from them.  But they have changed.  They are all more fully aware of who they are and what they can (and must) do in the world.  They take the day off and go out on a family excursion, and their future seems limitless.  Are they unfeeling?  Have they forgotten Gregor?  No, but each of them has become something they were not while Gregor lived—either as son and provider or as bug in the bedroom.  They have been transformed and life will go on, perhaps better than before Gregor’s transformation.