Changing Times

Change is universal and non-stop. We experience it on a daily basis, but probably not to the length that Gregor Samsa did one morning. In Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis, there is a lot of change going on, both physically and mentally. Of course, Gregor changes from a human into a bug, but there is much more change than just that. Gregor’s family, which consists of Gregor, father, mother, and his sister Grete, goes through a change as a whole and as individuals. As a result of Gregor’s physical metamorphosis, his sister and father both go through physical and mental metamorphoses.

Gregor’s sister Grete goes through a metamorphosis because of the “loss” of her brother. We see her change her attitude toward her brother and we also see her adjust her role in society and in her family. We see an immediate change in her opinion of her brother that gets stronger and stronger throughout the story. She begins to see her brother no longer as her brother. It starts when she gets angry that Gregor came out from under the couch. If she still considered him her brother she would be willing to see him. She began to treat him as merely a pet, but not even that. She began to treat him as something that she has to take care of but doesn’t like anymore. In fact, she doesn’t even want him to be there. By the end of the story, Grete officially no longer considers him a living being. She expresses this to her father, who begins to have difficulty coping with Gregor’s situation. “It has to go,’ the sister cried, ‘that is the only way, Father” (Kafka 53). She tells him that the bug isn’t Gregor, that Gregor is dead. We also see Grete go through a role change. Now that Gregor is no longer responsible for the family’s finances, the other three f...

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...e boarders and charwoman’s behavior around Gregor. He tells them to leave immediately, which stuns them. This symbolizes a transformation in the dad. He becomes more accepting of people – and bugs – that are different. The metamorphosis that the father goes through because of Gregor’s own changes is great, both mentally and physically.

In conclusion, changes we go through as individuals often force others to change their roles and personalities to adjust to our changes. For instance, if there is a family that only the father works, and he gets fired, the mother may have to find a small job until the father can get back into a major company. In the Samsa’s case, the son, who was the major source of money for the family, tuned into a bug. This changed the father and sister’s roles in the family, as well as their personalities and attitudes toward Gregor and society.