Franz Kafka’s novel “Metamorphosis” is not the first of its kind. The story of a man transforming into an animal/ insect has been around for centuries. (I.e. Harry Potter, Twilight, Shrek)
What is remarkable about this novel is the idea that there is no hysteria to the alteration from his soft fragile skin to having an exoskeleton. He doesn’t seem to worry much at all about being a cockroach, only that he is missing work and will not be able to support the family. In some ways it is a smart coping mechanism. If he weren’t a travel agent, as he was, I would say he should have gone into therapy. He knew to focus on work rather than his transformation in order not to go mad. Although, maybe not therapy because he was doing this subconsciously and thought if he went back to sleep all would be okay.
Another astounding idea in this novel would be to discuss the size of Gregor after the transformation. When he awoke the first morning I believed him to be this life size cockroach that took up the entire bed. In the first chapter Kafka wrote many details to Gregor’s waking up that led me to believe his size was life size. When Gregor fell off the bed (page 94) it said that there was “a loud impact, though not a crash as such.” That could be justified as in Gregor’s hearing, it seemed loud, but wasn’t actually as loud as a human would have been falling off a bed, but it isn’t justified. A paragraph later on the same page the chief clerk takes notice to it and says to Gregor’s father that “something’s going down in there.” This proved that it wasn’t only Gregor that felt it was a loud noise but his boss heard it too. Later on in the novel though I believed Gregor to be a regular sized cockroach. When Grete decided to clear the furniture out of his room and he “saw the picture of the fur-clad woman all the more prominent now, because the wall on which it hung had been now cleared, [he] crawled hurriedly up to it and pressed himself against the glass, which stuck to him and imparted a pleasant coolness to his hot belly.” [122] How could a human sized cockroach crawl onto a picture on a wall and fit on the glass of it? It could not; therefore Gregor must be a regular size and not life-size. How could this be though if there is proof from the beginning of his life-size form?
This led me to the conclusion that Gregor’s size deteriorated with time while his humanity deteriorated. Although Kafka did not write this novel through emotions or let us see deep into his protagonist’s transformation I found I was able to see Gregor’s humanity dissipate throughout the novel by little actions. Like when he found out the delectable smell of the “dish full of sweetened milk, with little slices of white bread floating in it…he disliked the taste of milk, which otherwise was a favorite drink.” [106-107]
What was the hardest part of the book for me to read were the last few pages. The idea that Gregor’s family didn’t mourn the death of him and were fine with it hurt me tremendously. I understand he was a cockroach towards the end of his life and was only a burden to them but still they should have put themselves in his situation. Not that they could relate, but they should have tried. He was all alone, he didn’t enjoy what he used to enjoy, No one wanted to communicate with him. Mourn who he was at least and not what he became. This just made me think of the song from Les Miserable “on my own.”
I’m not entirely sure whether the fact that he kept focusing on his work could be viewed positively. To me, the fact that he focused so much on his work seemed unnatural, as if he were fixated on his work. It’s as if his life depended on his work, and as if nothing mattered to him as long as he could work. The fact that his work meant so much to him could be additional proof of a bad family life- no one with proper company is that fixated on work. Perhaps his family didn’t acknowledge him before work, and it was to prove himself that he worked so hard. Maybe turning into a bug was his therapy session- because it certainly opened up his eyes to the way the world truly was around him.
I agree that Gregor’s obsessiveness with his work was a coping mechanism. By solely thinking of work, he was able to not even ponder the fact that he was a bug and how in his cockroach form he was going to even go to work.
Personally when I read, I like to imagine the book playing out in my head; therefore, I also had trouble deciding whether Gregor was a life-sized bug or regular sized bug. In the end, I chose to picture Gregor as a life-sized bug. When Gregor goes under the couch, he had to have another piece of fabric to cover himself up in order for Grete and Mrs. Samsa to not see him. Also, it is hard to spot a regular sized cockroach in a room like Gregor’s. Nonetheless, I like your creative thinking when you said that his size was deteriorating as the book progressed.
I thought your theory that Gregor’s size has a direct correlation to his humanity was really unique and debatable. While there’s no true measurable and physical description of Gregor, I think that there can be different ways to look at it. When I read the short story at first, I did think that Gregor was an enormous life-sized roach. But your point about his crawling up to the photograph showing his diminished size does make sense. I think, though, I would argue that Gregor isn’t physically growing smaller but that he, rather, continues to grow more at ease with his body. Upon first waking up, Gregor isn’t even sure how to turn himself around and use his legs. By the end, as you point out, he is nimbly crawling “hurriedly up to [the picture]”. I think as he loses humanity, Gregor begins to feel more comfortable with his new fate as a cockroach, which in turn makes him less self-conscious about his huge size. Readers also have to take into account that the narration is in limited-omniscient perspective so everything we are told are biased views from Gregor. Furthermore, by the time the three boarders see Gregor they are extremely shocked by him. If he were regular size by then, there would have been no need for alarm.
I agree your idea is plausible. I thought though that the three boarders were alarmed because the only thing they really specified was cleanliness, and to find a cockroach in the place you are residing would alarm any normal person.