The Theme Of Transformation In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

In The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, a young man named Gregor struggles to support his lower class family of four. They reside in a small apartment clearly blocked out, centering around Gregor’s room. Everyone has access to his room, reflecting on his importance and the dependence everyone has on him. As the only breadwinner of the family, his financial earnings become the basis of their survival. His desire to set up his sister, Grete to chase her dreams as a musician, is the fuel to his drive of success. However, one morning the supernatural change that Gregor undergoes into becoming a large insect throws off the balance of the household. The transformation does not alarm Gregor, he stays rather calm despite the fact he now has numerous …show more content…
Gregor is trapped not only by his duty to his family but also in his room. He dreams of the day when his family’s debt is paid off and he will be able to quit his miserable job. He is incapable of balancing the duties of work with freedom and allows for work to take over his life. In some ways, the change into a bug becomes an escape from the restrictive demands of work. However, as he escapes one constraint, he encounters a new one through incarceration brought by his family in his room. At the end of the novel, Gregor comes to conclude that the only way to escape his fate is death.The time spent in solitude, the countless hours of overhearing conversations tallied up to his emotional conclusion of neglection. Grete expresses her frustration through her want for Gregor to disappear; she believes “that’s the only solution, [Father].You must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor. The fact that we’ve believed it for so long is the root of all our trouble,” (Kafka 48). The family concludes that Gregor 's humanity is no longer since he cannot verbally express his emotions. His family abandons him as soon as he is not capable of supporting them. His search for his identity thus becomes a waste of time because there was never a identity to start with. As his last hours unravel, he is able to die happy through his sister’s musical talents. He reflects on his actions and “on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister 's,” (Kafka 51). He grows a strong desire to “disappear” in order to prevent his family from feeling hassled. This love accompanied with the freedom he desires would’ve served as the establishing factors towards the creation of his