Metamorphosis Part II

How does the story reflect the Kafka household? How do you think his family reacted to the tale? Did they see themselves clearly or miss the obvious?”

Kafka tried to express himself through writing Metamorphosis. He was trying to show that he thought himself disgusting and imperfect. In Kafka’s life, he lived with his parents throughout his entire life, just as Gregor does, although Kafka was a lawyer and had no reason to remain in his parents’ home. Just as Gregor’s father shows violence against him when he becomes a beetle, Kafka’s father was also abusive. Both Kafka and Gregor preferred to be secluded and desired only women they would never come into contact with. I doubt that Kafka’s family saw the obvious portrayal of themselves in Kafka’s writing because they were not a family that cared for one another or really listened to what the others were saying.



Do you think Gregor’s alienation from his family and from himself is a common malady of modern life? Why or why not? Feel free to recount a story you have heard that supports your answer.

I think that Gregor’s alienation from his family and himself is a common malady of modern life because many times people feel like they have nothing in common with their families. Also, many people deal with internal conflicts that they feel they cannot talk to anyone about or feel like they have no one to talk to about it with. Gregor’s alienation is probably because he does not know how to communicate, and because his family does not care to investigate his troubles.



A lot has been made about Gregor’s transformation from human to animal in Kafka’s Metamorphosis. There is a physical transformation and an emotional one. When do you think these transformations occur? Does Gregor ever really transform into an insect? What would his family think about this?

Gregor wakes up from a bad dream to realize he is actually living it. Gregor is tired of getting up early to travel all over doing a job her hates to support his ungrateful family. He has a family who is lazy and each member secluded from the others. Gregor’s family cannot accept that he is different from them, and they do not ask him about his problems. Gregor realizes that his family will never understand that emotionally he feels like dirt, like a common bug.