The Metamorphosis | Franz Kafka | full Summary

Metamorphosis 

by  Franz Kafka

Metamorphosis is a very unique novel and is written by Franz Kafka. It is about Gregor Samsa’s transformation into an insect. Gregor has no idea why this has happened to him.

He discovers his transformation after waking up late for work one day. He finds his back is now armored and his belly is brown, both characteristics of an insect. Gregor is a traveling salesman and thinks that this can't be real. At first, he figures he's simply overworked. Unfortunately, it’s not a dream. He figures he has even bigger problems ashe’s late for his train ride! He was supposed to take the 5 o’clock train,but it’s already 6:30 and the last train leaves at 7.

At that point, he’ll be late and his boss will come pounding on his door with a doctor. His mother comes to the door and Gregor realized his voice has changed, but is determined to get up and get ready. Gregor has to do this because his co-workers will show up at his house soon asking why he didn’t make his train. Sure enough, the maid lets in the chief clerk and he, along with Gregor’s parents come knocking at his door. The chief clerk is annoying.

All he thinks about is ways that Gregor is trying to scam him or get out of work. Yet in reality, Gregor works tirelessly at his job. Gregor responds to the clerk and says that he will get ready now and make the 8 o’clock train. Meanwhile, Gregor’s parents are acting completely hysterical.

 The mother is calling for a doctor, and the father is calling for a locksmith to break open the door. Gregor finally unlocks the door and shocks everyone. From Gregor’s apology, we learn that his parents are in serious debt to his employers. 

He works to support his entire family. The chief clerk is so scared he leaves immediately. Gregor tries to stop him, and falls on his stomach which is actually perfect and he’s able to move a little better. Gregor’s father becomes aggressive towards Gregor. The father grabs the chief clerk's stick anda newspaper and beats Gregor back into his room.

 In the process, he gashes Gregor's side by scraping the door. He wakes up many hours later and finds a dish of milk and white bread. To his surprise, he finds the milk disgusting. After many hours, his sister comes in and seeing the uneaten milk brings some other food.

In particular, he ate cheese, half rotten vegetables and bones covered in white sauce. He's fed twice a day from this point on. Also, he discovered that his wounds have healed. 5 years ago Gregor’s father’s business collapsed. When this happened, Gregor became determined to provide for his family. He even wanted to send his sister to a musical college as she loved to play the violin. Gregor’s father is in the main room and Gregor listens.

His father has saved a few years worth of money that they can use to support himself. Gregor thinks out-loud that this money could have freed him from his job much sooner. But, he figures that it's good that his father did save it and is happy to hear about it. A month had now passed since Gregor’s transformation and he finds his room boring. To entertain himself, he would crawl up on the ceiling and hang there.

To help out, his sister removed all the furniture from the room. But, his mother doesn’t want to remove the furniture. She thinks by removing it they are removing a piece Gregor's ability to recover. Even Gregor acknowledges this, and is a little shocked that he was trying creating a warm, dark, cave for himself. After changing his mind about the furniture, Gregor tries to save a piece of art by covering it. When his mother comes back into the room she faints at the sight of him. Gregor wants to help so he goes into the main room where his mother is at.

At this point, Gregor’s father returns. He’s dressed in a work uniform, and is violent towards Gregor. He immediately begins throwing apples at hisson and one lodges in his back. This causes excruciating pain and almost entirely paralyzes him. Then, Gregor's father and sister throw him back into his room. With the apple still lodged in his back, Gregor’s wounds fester for over a month. Meanwhile, his mother was sewing for a fashion store and his sister got a sales job. 

To make more money, the family sold their jewelry. They also wanted to downsize from this apartment but couldn’t hope to move Gregor. Gregor’s sisters cleaning deteriorates. She would leave the room in a filthy state. When his mother tried to clean it, the sister goes ballistic.The family eventually hires a new cleaning lady and she is also irritating. 

She randomly opened Gregor’s door one dayand noticed him. Then, every day after that she would disturb him at least once. Later, the family got 3 tenants who livedin one room of the apartment. They demanded extreme tidiness and so all the random junk of the apartment ended up in Gregor’s room. After dinner one evening, Gregor’s sisteris playing the violin. Gregor enjoys the playing, and moves intothe main room. The door to his room was accidentally left open by the new cleaning lady. When the tenants saw Gregor, they immediately gave notice that they were moving, and refused to pay for the time they had already stayed.

Then, Gregor’s sister stated that they hadto get rid of Gregor. They all agreed with the father when he pathetically whaled “if he could just understand us”. This is a bit comedic since the father isthe one who didn’t understand Gregor. Gregor understood them perfectly. Gregor felt his pain subsiding and breathed his last breath. When the cleaning lady came the next morning she found Gregor’s lifeless carcass and informed the household. The three tenants came out of their room tosee what the commotion was.

Angry, Mr. Samsa tells them to get out ofhis house and they leave. Then, the family takes a tram ride and feel quite happy with themselves. Their jobs are good, and they’re excited to find a new apartment. 

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