Grace Pizo Martinez Daira 29/11/2023

Metamorphisis Essay.
“You are who you percieved yourself to be”This is an interesting quote that can be
expemplified in various forms such as novels. Franz Kafka exemplifes and exaggerates
this quote in his most famous book Metamorphisis. In Metamorphisis we are
introduced to Gregor Samsa a man who wakes up literally turned into a coackroach. It
is possible to argue that Gregor did not really transform into one, but Franz Kafka is an
author well known for his way of mixing realism and fantasy. Besides, in the book itself
there is evidencie that supports that Gregor literally turned into a roach.

As previously stated, Gregor physically turns into a roach. When he first wakes up he
sees a lot of tiny little legs dancing around around. while the story goes by he notices
more about his new body such as: his loss of vocal chords to communicate, and the
loss of his teeth, he has some white spots on his body, his lower back becomes
extremely sensible, but his back got turned into a strong Shell, and he gained
antennas. Gregor’s blood is also described as of a brown color instead of red as human
blood. The wounds of his body heal faster than before, when he was not a roach. The
wound he got when opening the doorknob and the wound his father caused him by
pushing him inside his room healed just the morning after. Gregor's sight also changes,
his eyes became only able to see grey and sees less precisely from afar. Along with his
physical changes, his behaviour is also affected to suit his new form.

To adapt his behaviour to his body, he first starts eating spoiled food. He prefers that
food above all the fresh food. He even can not stand the smell of the fresh food. If
Gregor was still a human he would have fallen sick and died soon, but that is not the
case. Crawling becomes an enjoyable habit he grows as the days pass. Gregor likes to
crawl up on the roof and walls. It is also stated that he prefers to crawl instead of
trying to stand up and walk, he even feels more free crawling. When he sees some
entering his room he inmediatly runs to hide. This could be because he feels like a
burden, but it does not stop being a bug-like behaviour. His mind has also been
affected, too, by his metamorphisis. Even though he still has human feelings and
thoughts it is important to mention that sometimes he forgets about his humanity.
There comes a points where he actually wants Grete and his mother to empty his
room so he can go around the walls more freely. At that point he forgets about all the
emotional atachement he had with his furniture. He loses his humanity for one
moment until the words from his mother remind him to try to fight for what is his.
Gregor himself aknowledges that sometimes he forgets about his humanity.
All of this is alredy strong evidence that Gregor Samsa really turned into a coackroach,
but it would not be complete without analysing the reaction from the other characters
to Gregor. When the family and the chiefclerk first see Gregor, they all react shocked.
The mother and the chief even try to escape, the father keeps some composture. The
father then pushes Gregor inside his room with the chief clerks’s stick on his right hand
and on his left a newspaper to avoid direct contact with that creature. The family lock
Gregor inside his room. The family maiden begs to quit her job and promises to not say
anything to anyone. The family is afraid of leaving the house alone with Gregor or be
alone with him. The cooker also begs to remain on the kitchen. Grete is the first to get
used to this new form of her brother and she becomes the one to take care of him. At
first she also reacts scared but then emphasizes with him. Still Grete has some disgust
for Gregor, she doesnt touch anything Gregor may have touched, see him directly, or
clean his room with no windows open. When Gregor gets out of his room because his
mother and sister tried to empty his room he is seen by his father who is not happy to
see him and thinks that Gregor was attacking the family, or intended to do so. So Mr.
Samsa bombarded Gregor with apples, but after hurting him deeply and being asked to
spare his son’s life, Mr. Samsa sees his son again in that monstrous coackroach.
After this incident the family becomes more open with Gregor in a way. The family
leaves the door of his room so he could be part of the family talk. Then, the
charwoman is intruduced. An old woman that because of her long life, is not scared of
Gregor and even annoys him. Grete becomes more apathetic with her brother, and
skeptical. It is like she does not see her brother on that insect anymore. The three
gentleman react entertained by Gregor big roach appearance and not scared. This
could be because they are not easy to impress and were simply too bored by Grete’s
playing. At the end when the family gives up on Gregor and he dies for them they feel
relieved.

Metamorphisis tells us about Gregor Samsa, a man that has turned physically into a
roach. His body changes with his behaviour and his family’s perception of him changes
since his metamorphisis until his death. Metamorphisis is a book that talks about how
dangerous our perception of ourselves is and how others affect your own life. It is a
call out to the people who live a mediocre life and try to forcefully make others love
him truly. Gregor does not have bad intentions but the path he took to gain some love
and affection were not practial or good to the people he cared for.