"The Metamorphosis" (1912) Franz Kafka
Towards an interpretation of "The Metamorphosis": Biographical notes: During the previous year, Kafka had become a silent partner in his father's manufacturing business, an asbestos factory. Despite Kafka's objections, his father was pressuring him to spend more time at the factory overseeing the operation (and preventing theft!) Kafka, meanwhile, was holding down his regular job as a 'writer' for an insurance company and staying up late into the evening composing his own fiction in the upstairs room of his crowded family apartment. Kafka had recently gotten his first big break in the publishing business. His close friend, Max Brod, had submitted some of Kafka's shorter stories to a German publishing firm (without Kafka's permission). The firm had responded positively, and their representatives were encouraging Kafka to put together enough material for a collection of short stories. Kafka was excited by the opportunity, but he did not believe that any of his stories measured up to his exacting standards of literary quality. During 1911, Kafka had also been active as a producer for a Yiddish theatre company which had arrived in Prague (and promptly run out of funds). Kafka became close friends with the troupe's leader, and tried to arrange a benefit performance at a local community hall. (The evening was a fiasco!) Kafka identified closely with the unabashed ethnicity and uninhibited sensuality of this brand of theatre. He enjoyed the acerbic irony and wild humor of the troupe's use of the Yiddish language. His father, though, was an assimilated Jew who resented his son's association with these ghetto clowns. He openly insulted Kafka's friends during one visit of the troupe to Kafka's home. In September of 1912, Kafka was invited to Max Brod's home to put the finishing touches on the portfolio of stories to be sent to the German publishing house. That night he met Felice Bauer, the daughter of a Berlin businessman, who had at the age of twenty-five had earned an executive position in a company selling Dictaphones. That first night Kafka invited Felice to accompany him and his friends on a planned trip to Palestine the next summer. A few weeks later, Kafka summoned the courage to write a letter to Felice in Berlin. That night, Kafka stayed up all night and wrote "The Judgment". He wrote nearly a hundred letters to Felice over the next few months, their correspondence becoming increasingly passionate. At the same time Kafka began work on a novel, Amerika, that would never be finished (or published in Kafka's lifetime). In November, after receiving a letter from Felice that he interpreted as indicating her interest in another man, Kafka wrote "The Metamorphosis" over a three week span. Narrative Point of View: Kafka locates his narrative perspective deep within Gregor Samsa's disturbed psyche. Gregor clearly does not fully grasp what is happening to him. The reader, however, can glimpse Kafka's true perspective by paying close attention to incongruous details in the story and by persistently questioning assumptions that Gregor would have us accept at face value. To interpret this story, the reader must translate Gregor's reality into our own. The truth is disclosed in snatches inferred from Gregor's radically dislocated perspective. Of Bugs and Vermin: Virulent anti-Semitic propaganda in Central Europe frequently depicted Jews as vermin which must be exterminated to protect the health of humanity.
Humor: Take careful note of the humor Kafka uses to balance the ghastliness of this horror story. Remember that Gogol believed that ridicule was the one weapon that the Devil could not resist in his on-going struggle for possession of our souls. The Metamorphosis: Part One (pp. 11-23)
(11) What has caused Gregor's transformation into 'an enormous bug'? (What kind of bug is he?) How is Gregor's response to his predicament strange? What incongruous details does Kafka emphasize? (the cut out from a magazine picturing a woman dressed in a fur hat, a fur boa, with her arm encased in a fur muff, framed and hanging above a table strewn with the fabric swatches of a traveling salesman) How does Gregor react to the strange alienation he feels from his own body? : "My God, what a strenuous profession I have chosen."
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What are those 'little white spots' on his lower body which cause such bizarre sensations? "Getting up early like this makes you totally idiotic." "Other traveling salesmen live like harem women.".... What is Gregor’s job like? Why does he feel obligated to continue doing it? Why hasn’t he quit? (Gregor dreams of telling off his boss.… in five years, after his father's debt to the man has been paid off!) What’s wrong with Gregor’s voice? Gregor's voice has been altered to 'an irrepressible painful peeping sound' as he tries to respond to his mother's persistent questions at the door. What is weird about the way Gregor responds to his situation (ie, BEING A BUG!!!)? Gregor explains that he must be suffering from the beginnings of a nasty cold, a professional hazard for traveling salesmen.
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Gregor responds without panic to his uncoordinated unfamiliarity with his body and he calmly considers ways to rock himself out of bed. Gregor cannot suppress a smile at the idea of calling for help because he knows that the door is locked and would have to be broken down for his parents to get in.
(15-16) Who comes to Gregor’s home at 7:00 a.m. to inquire why he is still in bed? The chief clerk himself makes the trip to Gregor's neighborhood to admonish him for missing the early train to work. What does Gregor do with his free time? Father says, "He has no head for anything but business... he never goes out." Gregor's only hobby: 'fret-saw work'. Gregor refuses to open the door, even at the chief clerk's insistence. Even so, he never considers the idea of stopping his financial support for the family! Why does Gregor’s sister start crying? (18) What does the chief clerk threaten to do? The chief clerk warns Gregor that he will be reported to the boss!
How does Gregor respond? Gregor responds with a fervent apology, but all the clerk and Gregor's family can hear is incomprehensible clicking and squeaking. (19) How does Gregor finally succeed in opening the door? Heroically, Gregor opens the door by turning the lock key with his mouth, cutting himself badly in the process. All are aghast at Gregor's appearance. Mother faints. Father weeps. What do they see? What does Gregor think they see? What might be worse?
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(21-22) What the strange details does Gregor notice as he looks around the room? Why does Kakfka include them? Gregor notices the remnants of breakfast, his father's many newspapers, and a photograph of himself jauntily posing in a military uniform. Describe the scene of pandemonium that erupts as Gregor tries to apologize to the chief clerk for being late to work. While slowly backing the aghast chief clerk across the room, Gregor calmly explains that there is nothing to worry about. He asks for the clerk's understanding and loyalty while anxiously lamenting the vulnerability of traveling salesmen to vicious, groundless gossip. Gregor is aware of the terrible consequences of allowing this man to leave unaccomodated, and he is frustrated with his parents' obliviousness to the menacing nuances of office politics. Gregor realizes that he must act on his behalf and 'finds his legs'. He rushes the clerk who stumbles howling down the stairs. His mother upsets the table, and Gregor rushes 'to comfort her'- snapping his jaws at the hot coffee spilling on to the floor. (23) What happens to Gregor when his Father forces him back into his bedroom? Father drives Gregor back into his room wielding a rolled newspaper and a walking stick. Gregor tries to comply, but his physical condition does not allow him to back up quickly. He does not 'fit through the door' neatly, and he is only forced into the room after being severely injured.
"The Metamorphosis" (Part Two) (pp. 24- 38)
(24) Gregor awakens, sore and hungry, at twilight. What is wrong with the milk and bread that have been left in a bucket for him? Gregor frets fearfully about the consequence of his metamorphosis on his family's security. What will happen to his family’s quiet, happy life without him? Where in his room does Gregor spend the night? Why? Gregor finds himself able to relax only hidden halfway beneath the couch (his backside exposed). There Gregor finds refuge from thinking seriously about how to reorganize his life. The only idea that comes to him is to continue to exercise patience and consideration towards his family and to recognize how unpleasant he must now appear to them.
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(26-27) Gregor's younger sister 'compassionately' tries to play the game with Gregor- offering him various foods to choose from. Normal food no longer attracts him. He only has a taste for foods that have begun to rot. Why?
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What daily routine develops? While Gregor cowers beneath his couch, his sister comes into his room, gags while rushing to open the window, sweeps away the uneaten food, and leaves. Why does the room smell so badly?
(29-30) How does his family adjust to their new circumstances? Gregor's sister does the cooking and cleaning (the grateful servant having been granted her discharge). His father opens the small safe and reveals that he still has a small nest egg saved from the financial disaster of five years ago. How does Gregor feel about the changes
that his family must make in order to support themselves? Gregor still dreams of his plan to send his sister to a music conservatory after Christmas. (31) What does Gregor do to spare his sister the sight of his buggy body? Gregor creates a small tent with his sheet to spare his sister the sight of him when she enters his room. Is Gregor’s sister right to humor him in his delusion? What would have been the best way to treat his condition? Gregor's sister starts to remove the furniture from the room to allow Gregor more room to crawl. Gregor experiments with climbing the walls and hanging upside down from the ceiling. He likes it.
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(33-34) What does Gregor’s mother think should be done? After two months, Gregor's mother braves her first visit into the room. She thinks that removing the final pieces of furniture is a bad idea. She still believes that Gregor will come back to them. Gregor also pauses. Does he want the room turned into a cave which totally suits his new life as a bug? Gregor's sister insists. He judges her pessimism as 'willful'. She has cast herself as the „special expert‟ on his condition and is 'childishly defiant' whenever her opinion is questioned. Gregor names her as „Grete‟ for the first time in the story. Significance? (35-38) What catastrophe concludes the second section of the story? How was it caused? To prevent the women from removing his writing desk, Gregor scurries out from beneath his 'tent'. He climbs the wall and plasters himself against the framed picture of the woman in fur. His mother faints. Grete brandishes her fist. Gregor runs from the room, and in his consternation crawls all over the living room. How does Gregor’s father deal with the situation? His father walks in the door, dressed in his new blue uniform with shiny brass buttons. (He is working as a messenger.) Gregor's father has long anticipated this confrontation. He bombards Gregor with fruit. An apple is imbedded in Gregor's side. Gregor's mother prevents his father from delivering the coup de grace. What habits drove Gregor to this terrible choice? Does the metamorphosis essentially change his pattern of behavior? How does his dysfunctional family still continue to behave neurotically even after the crisis of Gregor’s transformation? Is there a way of they could have helped him become human again?
“The Metamorphosis” Part Three (pp. 39-52)
Sum up the major sequence of events in Part Three. What causes Gregor’s death? Why has Gregor’s radical strategy failed? What was his original goal? Why did it go so terribly awry? How has the family adjusted financially to the loss of Gregor’s income? How has the family adjusted emotionally to Gregor’s strange transformation? In particular, how has Gregor’s sister changed? Who is the only family member still on his side? (39-41) The imbedded apple remains in Gregor's side. His family adjusts to the new realities of their life. Mother has taken in sewing work form a linen company. Grete works as a salesgirl in a department store and is studying stenography. The Father petulantly refuses to clean his soiled uniform or go to bed even though he is exhausted. “Is this the reward for my old age?” The family has begun to sell their heirlooms. (41) Grete no longer cleans Gregor's room, but she becomes furious when she learns that her mother tried to clean the room on her own. What does the new cleaning woman think of Gregor? (42) The new cleaning woman, with the wild shock of white hair, assumes the responsibility for dealing with Gregor. She has no fear nor compassion for Gregor. “Just look at the old dung beetle.” Gregor stops eating. What does Gregor do as a last ditch attempt to recover his control over his family?
(43) The family has taken in three gentlemen with beards as paying borders. Gregor's room has been converted into a trash room. The cleaning woman just tosses garbage in there. The family waits on the borders at dinner, and Gregor watches through a crack in the door. He is consumed with jealousy. “How they pack it away, and I am starving.” (44) Grete beautifully plays the violin for the borders, and Gregor, who has let his appearance slip completely (even on bug terms), sneaks into the parlor to hear the performance. Gregor hopes to scare the lodgers away and keep Grete for himself. “.... his horrifying shape was to be beneficial to him for the first time.” What is the response of the lodgers to the sight of Gregor? (45-46) Gregor is discovered by a lodger who refers to him with contemptuous humor not horror. “He seemed to entertain the lodgers more than the violin playing.” The lodgers quit the apartment outraged that such filth could be harbored in their premises. They refuse top pay back rent and threaten to sue. Who is it that makes the final decision that Gregor must go? (47-48) Grete tells her parents that they must end this charade. She says, “That is no longer my brother.” If he was really her brother, he would have died and allowed the family to mourn his passing. What is Gregor’s last thought before he expires? What does the cleaning woman do when she finds him? (49) Gregor expires. His last thought is of how much he still loves his family. The cleaning woman discovers him. "Come take a look, it's croaked; it's lying there, a total goner." How does Gregor’s family respond to the news? (50) Gregor's father throws the lodgers out. (51) The family takes a day off and goes for a walk together. The cleaning woman: "You don't have to worry your heads about how to clear out that trash next door. It's all taken care of." (52) Grete recognizes her beauty. "...she stretched her young body."