Theme Of Guilt In The Metamorphosis

The Forever Guilt In the short story, The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, Gregor worked as a traveling salesman -a job he hated- in order to help his family. Unexpectedly overnight, he had turned into a bug. Although he had gone through a physical metamorphosis, his mind and thoughts had remained the same, keeping his hardworking mentality intact. Since his transformation, Gregor’s parents wanted nothing to do with him and his sister had was having a hard time adjusting to his new form. Gregor’s sister eventually stopped acknowledging him. Throughout Gregor’s life he had been the main support for his family, but his transformation into a bug compromised his role and left Gregor feeling guilty about his inability to support his family, missing important days of work, and relying on others to help him. …show more content…
Gregor’s father could not was unable to take control of the house, resulting in no motivation to provide for his family. Gregor held a lot of guilt over his inability to now support the family, especially the loans his parents owed. Gregor took the responsibility for them, even though they were not his. After his transformation he thought, ‘“what a quiet life our family has been leading,’ ...and as he sat there motionless staring into the darkness he felt great pride in the fact that he had been able to provide such a life for his parents and sister in such a fine flat. But what if all the quiet, the comfort, the contentment were not to end in horror?” (Kafka- *page number*). As Gregor reflected on his past accomplishments, the one that stood out the most was his dream to send his sister to school. Gregor wanted her to have the life that he never