When I read The Metamorphosis for the first time, I was confused and prompted to read the first paragraph multiple times…I thought that there was no way the author could be so straightforward in telling us that the main character was now a giant insect…I thought Gregor was dreaming or having some sort of nightmare.
What’s going on?
and I recalled Peter L. Berger’s Invitation To Sociology …
“Let us take a man who wakes up at night from one of those nightmares in which one loses all sense of identity and location. Even in the moment of waking, the reality of one’s own being and of one’s world appears as a dreamlike phantasmagorion that could vanish or be metamorphosed in the twinkling of an eye. One lies in bed in a sort of metaphysical paralysis, feeling oneself but one step removed from the annihilation that had loomed over one in the nightmare just passed.” (Berger 147)
Then, when the first thing Gregor thought of was getting to work on time, I thought back to my over-achieving high school self who wanted to go to school even in the worst of conditions. Though, if I was a giant insect, that admittedly wouldn’t be the first thing to cross my mind.
Must Go To School
When I started to reach the pages of the family’s reaction to Gregor’s metamorphosis, I asked my mother what she would do if I woke up one morning as a bug…I guess I kind of asked for that one didn’t I?
I read most of The Metamorphosis while on the go (either in a car or on the train) and this actually had an effect on what the text made me feel. I felt more in tune with Gregor’s “daily grind” per se.
This plays into another reaction that I had while reading the text. When I was in my junior year in high school, we were required to read The Metamorphosis. Our final assignment for this reading was to come up with an alternate ending to the story. Being that I wasn’t a total fan of Kafka’s ending, my group and I (in line with my discontent that Kafka chose to leave out Grete’s musical aspiration) decided to fabricate a Metamorphosis in which Gregor had been putting aside a small sum of money for Grete while he was still working and human for that matter. He had saved this money in an envelope with her name on it planning to give it to her when the time was right. He thoroughly enjoyed Grete’s playing for him and that what was ultimately keeping him alive. When the family all got jobs and chose to ignore Gregor, Grete included, Gregor lost his will to live. When they found Gregor dead one morning, they cleaned out his room, and Grete found the envelope. However, she was enveloped with guilt over how she treated Gregor towards the end of his life. She took the money and went to a conservatory, but always remembered her brother. Something also happened with the guy that Grete winds up marrying, but I’ll have to find the story I wrote to recall that. This is all copyrighted, so keep in mind Baruch’s Academic Integrity Pledge (It’s not, but still)
Feel free to comment on this alternate ending, and if you really want to know more about what happened, I’ll attempt to find the copy of it and share it with you.
The funny thing is, while reading The Metamorphosis the second time around, I was half-expecting to read my ending to the story and was pretty disappointed when that was not so.
As the violinist here plays us out, once again, please feel free to comment with your own reactions to the text and/or my post.
-Ralph signing off!
I have never read this novel before but I also thought the beginning was a dream. I thought Gregor would awaken and lead some life that was affected by an absurd dream he had that left him utterly shaken. Berger’s philosophy was exactly what I thought what was happening. I guess I really believed it was a dream because I have experienced crazy dreams where I have awoken and just sat in bed thinking making sure it was just a dream.
For some reason I have always enjoyed reading endings where all is resolved on a tonic note. Therefore I subconsciously expected your ending Ralph. While reading the last few pages I kept waiting for some positive spin to happen, but guess what. It never did. What is strange is I admire Kafka for writing this ending. I find I don’t emotionally connect to movies unless some perverse sad ending happens where the protagonists dies or is dumped. Kafka wrote in my opinion a perfect movie ending but since this is a novel I prefer your junior year version better. It would have been perfect for Grete to regret her attitude toward her brother bug and live in debt to him for the rest of her life. To have a family and fondly speak to her kids about her brother who paid for her conservatory training and always believed in her no matter what.
Thank you for you comment, Jessamyn. And yeah, it just so happened that I was reading that book for sociology and it was completely applicable. I also think that it was interesting of Kafka to write a sort of cliff-hanger type ending in which not all is resolved, but I am personally more fond of the all-encompassing endings that teaches you a lesson simply because of what I’ve been used to reading in the past. Thank you for liking my ending.
I really like how you pointed out that Kafka didn’t expand a lot of Grete’s musical path. I also like your alternate ending! It adds a sense of positivity to the depressed scene.
Thank you Hanna, I’m glad you liked it
Just another thought, it might have been the translation, but did anyone else notice the long, convoluted, almost run-on sentences that really set the tone for the writing? It seemed to dominate the pages of the text.
I prefer your alternate ending over the original. I really dislike how the family just forgets about Gregor as if he’d never existed. Your version gives him the respect he deserves. The twist on the musical aspect is also very interesting.
I did notice the convoluted sentences of the writing, but I just thought it was the translation or the author’s style of writing. I think it just adds to the matter-of-fact way of writing and how the family disregards Gregor with almost no emotion.
I really like your version of ending the story. I felt like compared to the original, your ending contains some guilt of Gregor’s family towards him. Even though that would not change the death of poor Gregor, he is understood by his family and that sort of will make Gregor feel consoled that his hard work before metamorphosis is recognized. For me, your version ends the story happily whereas the original one kind of makes feel that Grete would also be a breadwinner for the family just like Gregor and her relationship with her family is still based on money and something bad just happened to her, will she also be disregarded? I am a little cynical about life..:)
I like the way you connected Berger’s book to Kafka’s. I think that just took my reading of both books to a whole new level. I was actually also thinking that Gregor was dreaming, hallucinating, or possibly just losing his mind. Actually after you introduced the quote from Berger’s book, I am more drawn to my initial thoughts. I think the “losing sense of identity and location” and the world appearing as a “dreamlike phantasmagoria” is definitley apparent in the novel through gregor’s nonchalantness through severe transformation.
Honestly, I don’t think my reaction would’ve been very different from Gregor’s in the way he didn’t dwell on his metamorphosis. In a way, I think he was in a prolonged state of denial. He wasn’t denying the fact that he changed into a bug, but he was denying the seriousness of the situation. Maybe the shock was too great. It’s interesting how your alternate ending pivoted around Grete. I’ve completely given up on Grete by the latter half of the story. So it’s uplifting to think that she could possibly turn back around after finding the money. I’m not sure if she would’ve changed her conclusion about Gregor not being the bug though.