Family in the Metamorphosis

Ah, family, the bunch of people you are eternally related to. Their problems become your problems and your life is constantly being influenced by them. Sometimes you’re glad you have them and in short bursts of anger you are resentful that you cannot choose your family (ahem ahem siblings). However, in the Metamorphosis we never see Gregor display any strong resentment as a result of events that would have riled up any other normal human being. Gregor somehow manages to take outright thievery and attempts on his life and spin it in a positive manner.

Gregor is fittingly turned into an insect because that is exactly how his family sees him: expendable and insignificant. His father, mother, and sister, who we all see are perfectly capable of working later in the story decide to bankroll a lavish lifestyle off of Gregor’s labor. Gregor’s family is completely unmotivated to resolve the debt and are content in letting Gregor’s misery last an additional five years. Indeed, it’s quite ironic that the family breathes a collective sigh of relief when they quit their own miserable jobs while they had forced Gregor to work for years. However, Gregor never demonstrates anything but sympathy to his family and even patient understanding for the looks of disgust the family gives him, indicating that the rest of the family has a willing victim. Gregor refuses to explicitly connect the dots to conclude that his family is killing him, to the contrary he paints his family, especially his sister, as generous in their treatment of him. He is never quite cognizant that a truly devoted family would lift heaven and earth for him no matter his shape or form.

As mentioned in class the Metamorphosis is full of dream logic and I think Gregor’s family is a great example. Many dreams are related to what we are thinking in our subconscious and I think Gregor has been harboring some subconscious hatred and resentment towards them. Dreams are often worst-case scenarios, i.e., nightmares, and I think that Gregor’s dream switch his situation making him the one in need and his family the one with the means to take care of him. Gregor’s subconscious understanding of his family’s true nature dictates how his family reacts to his insect transformation, revealing that his family members always put their interests first.  The Metamorphosis is a tragic story of a hard-working son who is willing to give up his life for an ungrateful and selfish family who is ultimately willing to indirectly murder him.