The Metamorphosis Analysis

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka follows the bizarre and uncanny tale of Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman who awoke one morning to find himself turned into a bug. Instead of questioning his transformation, Gregor becomes accustomed to his new form, while coping with the isolation from his indifferent family members. In The Metamorphosis, Kafka raises questions by exploring the ambiguous meaning of humanity through what determines Gregor Samsa’s humanity. He does this through methods such as humanlike characterization of post-metamorphosis Gregor, the significance of communication, and highlighting the importance of usefulness. Though it’s obvious that Gregor isn’t a human any longer in the biological sense, he expressed human emotions,

To the Samsa’s, because Gregor has lost his ability to provide for them, and now requires caretaking on top of this, he has lost his spot as a member of their family. They increasingly see him as a burden when they have to find income through other means, and begin to neglect him because he has lost all his humanity to them. There is a link between humanity and usefulness also seen with Grete’s story at the end, when Mr. and Mrs. Samsa begin to fully value their “beautiful and well-built girl” (52) once they realize they can marry her off and make money off of her. Gregor and Grete had contrasting transformations in this sense: Gregor quickly losing his role as a member of the family when he lost his ability to provide, while Grete becomes essential to the family, when she proves to be beneficial. Other characters are only present because of their usefulness, such as the lodgers, only there for the income they provide. When they were necessary, the Samsa’s went out of their way to be as accommodating as possible, but the minute they weren’t, the Samsa’s kicked them out, watching them go down the stairs thinking “the lower they got, the more the Samsa family lost interest in them” (51). This highlights the idea that one’s essence is determined by the impact they have in society, or in this case, the Samsa family. Kafka’s writing of the Samsa family and their relationships with Gregor, Grete, and the lodgers highlights how humanity can be determined by some by the usefulness of a