The Metamorphosis Writing Prompt

Nicole Fujita
1st hour
12/12/08

The Metamorphosis Writing Prompt

In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa is the main character who is morphed into a bug, but other characters throughout the novella go through a type of “morphing” as well. In the novella, Gregor’s sister morphs from a teenage girl to a young woman. Kafka demonstrates this with all of the changes and responsibilities Grete takes on. Gregor and Grete both morph, relating into the overall meaning of the book: Live life to the fullest by taking all opportunities and living for yourself, or consequences may occur.

Gregor spends his whole live providing for his family in order to get them out of debt, yet he doesn’t get any type of appreciation for it. He lives the same miserable, boring life everyday and never experiences anything. To his surprise, one day Gregor wakes up as a giant insect. Since Gregor cannot function as a bug, he becomes useless to his family. Although the situation is totally out of Gregor’s hands, he feels as if the circumstances are his fault and still wants to provide for his family. It is ironic that Gregor feels this way because as a bug he gets to see what his family is really like and how they really treat him poorly.

Since Gregor cannot function, his younger sister Grete decides to take care of him. Grete is a young seventeen year old girl who has never had any responsibility or a job and has never been recognized for any accomplishments. As Grete takes on the responsibility of looking after her older brother, her parents notice. Grete is favored by her parents now because they see her taking care of her brother as a sign of being responsible and growing up.

As a human, Gregor has the job of providing money for his family to live off of. His family does not even appreciate it and once he is turned into a bug, they feel he is a burden because he can no longer provide for them. Gregor lived this horrible, boring life as a human and never did anything for himself, since he did not; he is paying for it by being a bug that is useless. Gregor transformed from a human only useful for money to a bug that is completely useless. Once Gregor dies, he doesn’t matter at all anymore.

It almost seems as if Grete is reborn as Gregor dies. Grete transforms from an unaware young girl to a young responsible woman. She went from having no responsibility, to taking care of Gregor, getting a job as a salesgirl and being more mature. If it were not for Gregor’s transformation into a bug, this would have never happened. Grete decides to live for herself and make decisions to live life to the fullest.

Kafka demonstrates throughout the novella that Gregor transforms as well as Grete. Though the two characters transform in different ways, they both go through changes. Gregor’s change is physical while Grete’s change is mental. Kafka shows that in order to be happy, one must live for oneself and make decisions for oneself.