The Metamorphosis

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect (67).” Immediately, we readers are engaged in a surprising story of a man who has morphed into some kind of unwanted creature. In this instant we crave for more information about this poor man. A moment later we are informed that his transformation was not a dream. Instantaneously, there is uncertainty as to why someone would have such a drastic transformation. Could it be a magical spell put on him or maybe a strange disease he contracted? Well, it happens to be that Gregor Samsa has not been infected with any unknown mysteries but rather his unconscious self has taken over his outward appearance as an attempt to satisfy his repressed desires. Gregor’s continual repression of his true feelings about his job and his family leads to his uncontrolled and unstoppable metamorphosis.

Gregor had a lot on his shoulders. He, unlike his father, was the bread-winner of the family. He was the one that had to go out and earn a living sufficient enough to satisfy the needs of his mother, his sister, his father, and of course, himself. Without Gregor’s persistent work they would not have had enough money for every day matters, despite the small amount of funds left over after his father’s business collapse, which Gregor did not know about until after he became an insect. Their dependence on him was a constant pressure that eventually caused Gregor’s unconscious self to take over his physical self.

The only part of Gregor that stayed the same was his conscious mind. Surprisingly, instead of questioning his new state, Gregor focused on the one thing that may have caused it—his work. The moment he awakes from his somber sleep, he forcefully tries to get out of bed but is not able to at first because of the constrictions his new body has created and because he is still unaccustomed and unfamiliar to them. Gregor could not stop thinking about what would happen if he could not get out of bed and get to work that day. There would be so many new troubles presented to his family and it worried him. At the same time Gregor thought about how terrible his job was and how much he disliked it. Kafka shows us these feelings when he remarks, “Oh God, he thought, what an exhausting job I’ve picked on (68)!” Although Gregor hated his job he continued to ignore these unacceptable feelings when he thought about them because in his conscious mind he felt as though he would be letting his family down were he to quit his job. In order to suppress these thoughts, Gregor assures himself, “Well, there’s still hope; once I’ve saved enough money to pay back my parents’ debts to him—that should take another five or six years—I’ll do it without fail. I’ll cut myself completely loose from them then (69).” By falsely reassuring himself that if he continues to work for six more years he will be able to fulfill his own life, Gregor is further repressing his desires and in turn, allowing a build-up of repressed desires that have no way out other than through a full-body transformation from human to insect. An insect cannot work. It cannot carry out simple human tasks and because of these restrictions, being an insect is the perfect escape for Gregor from the many burdens placed on him and it is the perfect way for him to realize what he really wants—to be loved and to be accepted.
(601)