Metamorphosis Reflective Paragraphs

Throughout Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gregor seems very conflicted on the inside. He is very indecisive at the beginning and then as the story progresses he thinks either loves or complains about his family. "...he told himself again that he could not possibly remain in bed and that it might be the most reasonable thing to sacrifice everything if there was even the slightest hope of getting himself out of bed in the process. At the same moment, however, he did not forget to remind himself from time to time of the fact that calm—indeed the calmest—reflection might be much better than confused decisions" (Kafka 3). This indecisiveness shows that he makes small decisions much larger then necessary, and alludes to the fact that he is not really a go-getter. This is extended when he thinks to himself how he wants to quit and tell off his boss, but he probably won't because he will talk himself out of it. This, though, shows that Gregor is still thinking like himself, at a human level. This will change later on, as his condition progresses. Another example of his early internal conflictions is near the same time, when he is trying to rock himself off his bed. "...and very soon he would finally have to make a final decision, for in five minutes it would be a quarter past seven. Then there was a ring at the door of the apartment. 'That’s someone from the office,' he told himself..." (Kafka 3). He is constantly coming up with excuses not to make decisions, like the one to get himself off the bed. Earlier, he wasted time thinking about how two people could make the task a lot easier, when he knew his family could not help him at all. He spends much time rocking back and forth, and uses his manager from showing up as another excuse. He stops himself from progressing in life, is his own worst enemy. Near the end of the story, his internal conflictions are still present, but in a less sophisticated way. "Gregor hissed at all this, angry that no one thought about shutting the door and sparing him the sight of this commotion" (Kafka 20). "He remembered his family with deep feelings of love" (Kafka 24). Gregor 'flip-flops' multiple times in the later stages of his ailment, and is complaining about some grievance his family has caused, or contemplating his true love for them. This shows that the brain function has diminished significantly from a human's cognitive system. A coherent human could recognize that they really love their family, and get over the small afronts. But he is a bug and so lives in the moment, for his life is short. The battles Gregor has with himself is a very enlightened way to express the states of mind Gregor goes through during the story, and Kafka is an expert at using this.

A theme that is prevalent especially in Part II of The Metamorphosis is how Gregor wants to cling to his human past, but can't resist falling into bug-like habits. He even went through the arduous task of moving a chair to the window so he can look out at the world. "Then he crept up on the window sill and, braced on the chair, leaned against the window to look out, obviously with some memory or other of the liberating sense which looking out the window used to bring him in earlier times" (Kafka 13). He wants to reconnect with his human ways. Looking out the window is a very human thing to do, and Gregor wants to be human more than anything, so he makes himself feel more human by looking out the window. He also recognizes that his new habits are gross, and so wants something to prevent him from being like a bug. "And if the furniture prevented him from carrying out his senseless crawling about all over the place, then there was no harm in that, but rather a great benefit" (Kafka 15). His sister is pushing for Gregor to be more like a bug by giving him more space to creep around. But, Gregor wants to be human and, like his mother, wants the furniture there to remind him of his past and to restrict the bug from taking over completely. An important idea that could be added here is that the total bug nature of Gregor at the end is what makes the family want to "get rid of it." Grete endorsed the bug in Gregor, though, and so indirectly led herself to hate him. Probably Gregor's most radical attempt to hold onto his human life is when he covered the picture of the stranger to prevent it from being taken away by his mother and sister. "He quickly scurried up over it and pressed himself against the glass which held it in place and which made his hot abdomen feel good. At least this picture, which Gregor at the moment completely concealed, surely no one would now take away" (Kafka 16). This is radical for Gregor because he is very considerate most of the time to his family by covering himself up whenever they come in. The act of showing himself, and showing his ability to crawl on walls, is very surprising to the mother and sister, and overall terrifying. This act brings her mother to an asthma attack and starts the altercation with his father. And this was all for the picture of a stranger he cut out of a magazine. Kafka imbeds themes throughout the story and hints at them often. It is very interesting (for me) to seek these themes out and then recognize the hints as they come up, and this one, Gregor trying to hold onto humanity, is huge.