Author Bio:As a young man Franz Kafka felt plagued by a sense of inferiority caused by his constant problems with his family. Later on in life, he continued to feel distanced away from people and thought that he would never get out of the life of a social outcast. This behavior is reflected in the brutal treatment of Gregor Samsa by most of the characters in the book. Because Kafka could never get along with his family and was always mistreated by them, he went on satirizing the idea of the cruelty of family and to prove his point he turns his amin character Gregor into a bug to show his worthlessness to everyone just as any insect is to a person. Kafka's no sense of belonging in his family and the despair of not being able to interact with them in a pleasant manner is widely portrayed in The Metamorphosis through the character of Gregor Samsa.
Plot Summary: Kafka shows a cynical image of a family in which the evil part of it flourishes and the good part withers to its death. Gregor was exploited by his family for their convinience: he worked tirelessly to get his family an income that was high enough to support their supposed needs. However, when Gregor turned into a vermin, he no longer proved to be useful but rather a heavy burden and that caused his whole family to turn on him. Even Grete could not continue on caring for Gregor knowing that he would just cause more trouble. Gregor soon realizes his family's heightening resentment towards him and is so pitiful that he actually blames himself causing all of this to happen, all the while his father tries to kick him out and because he is such a dead weight to the family.Gregor is neglected by his family with no one feeding him or cleaning up his messes and soon he starts to rot and deteriorate and eventually dies. His death comes as a relief for the family as they decide to head out to the countryside and enjoy life again. This ridiculous response to Gregor's death is simple that RIDICULOUS. They didn't even care if Gregor died even after all that he did for them, the family's reactions show that they are very cruel and Kafka does this with satirization to clearly show the cruelty of family.
Character Analysis: Gregor struggles in his daily life but never complains. He makes uncommon sacrifices to provide for his family and so much so that he practically turns into a bug to literally show how he has been treated as. Even though this physical transformation came later on, he was already reduced to the status of a vermin when he would work day in and day out to support his family. Gregor's feelings of alienation and unspoken needs spurred his transformation because he allowed himself to a state at par with the insects, and was incapable of having a voice and exercising his choices as a human being. Gregor's whole transformation into a bug was Kafka's way of satirizing the amazingly cruel treatment family can incur on a person.
Elements of Story: The use of allegory for the entire story greatly satirizing the cruel sides of family and self-worthlessness. Gregor is treated as someone who is insignificant and therefore he is created as a bug to exaggereate his sad circumstances. It creates a funny and yet sad interpretation of the cruelty of family.
