Gregor's Isolation: Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis tells the story of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who lives with his family. Gregor is burdened with paying off his parents' debt while they do no work and don't help pay off the debt. This devotion to his family's problems is holding Gregor back from his dreams. "Once I’ve got together the money to pay off my parents’ debt to him—that should take another five or six years—I’ll do it for sure" (Kafka 2). Gregor's parents are holding him back from his one ambition. To take this one step further, Gregor is holding himself back from this ambition. He chooses to spend his life working long hours for years, and he uses his parents as an excuse to justify his lonely, miserable life. His life is also exemplified by the picture of a stranger in his room. "Above the table ...  hung the

picture which he had cut out of an illustrated magazine a little while ago and set in a pretty gilt frame. It was a picture of a woman with a fur hat and a fur boa" (Kafka 1). Usually, people place pictures of loved ones in their homes, and framed photos are almost never of strangers, as frames require more work than just paper. This tells the reader that he has no true loved ones, even his family, to frame. A life with no loved ones cannot be a very happy or fulfilling one, and Gregor's is no different.

Moving on to the central piece of plot in the story, Gregor gets turned into a bug, and yet does not react in any sort of hysterical or surprised manner. His reaction is subdued and lackadaisical, which is very different from a normal reaction to this situation. "'What’s happened to me,' he thought. It was no dream ... Gregor’s glance then turned to the window. The dreary weather—the rain drops were falling audibly down on the metal window ledge—made him quite melancholy"(Kafka 1). He acknowledges his change and then moves his attention to the weather and then later  his work, as if that's the more pressing matter at the time. This mundane response is strange, and must mean that he cares more about his obligations than himself. He constantly thinks about how his family will be worried about him and how his boss will inquire on his whereabouts, showing how many people or dependent on him. His entire family knocks on his doors at different times to check in on him and his manager eventually comes as well to see why he isn't working (Kafka 3-4, 7). This can be interpreted multiple ways. The first is that many people rely on him to do his work and take care of them. Gregor is then seen as selfless and noble. Contrastingly, this dependence can also be seen as his family and employer taking advantage of him. Then Gregor is seen as pitiable and a servant to his loved ones. Either way he cares more about his duty than his livelihood.