10/21/22

Kounosuke Tsuchiya
Prompt #3

Metamorphosis Essay

It’s natural for human beings to want what they can’t have. In the novel

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregory Samsa, a diligent salesman, turns into a bug

one morning and is taken care of by his sister, Grete Samsa. While Grete desires for the

happiness of both her family and Gregory, she comes to the realization that the success

and happiness of one party heavily undermines the success of the other party. The

conflicting emotions between her deep-seated love for Gregory and desire to get rid of

Gregory’s burden on the family crafts Frank Kapfka’s work.

At the inception of the story, Grete’s deep affection for her brother is made

extremely clear. Despite her extreme fear of bugs, Grete decides to become the primary

caretaker of Gregory. Grete would continue to treat Gregory as humanely as possible.

When she saw that Gregory “had left the milk standing, not indeed from any lack of

hunger” (Kafka 14), Grete realizes that Gregory’s taste in food has changed and brings

out a selection of different foods to decipher Gregory’s likings. These acts of kindness

clearly highlight the care that Grete has for Gregory despite his transformation. Grete

would continue to bring food out for Gregory throughout the story and reacted differently

based on her observation of the quantity of the food that her brother would eat. The

remarks she makes to her family about Gregory’s appetite indicate her love for her

brother. When Gregory finishes what Grete provides, she would comment, “Gregor had

really cleaned up what he had to eat” (Kafka 15), and is happy that her brother is eating
well. On the contrary, when Gregory didn’t eat what she provided, she would almost

sadly say, “Now everything has been left again” (Kafka 15). Grete’s reactions to the

amount of food Gregory eats highlights her emotional connection with Gregory and her

desire to continue to take care of him.

As the story progresses, Grete begins to see Gregory’s presence as a burden to

the family. Without Gregory’s income, the family begins to struggle financially and they

scramble to find a source of income. Therefore, Grete puts her focus on helping the

family and begins to find that she “had grown tired of caring for Gregor” (Kafka 27) as

she did in the beginning of the novel which signals that Grete is becoming irritated and

emotionally distant towards her brother. In order to raise money, the Samsa family

decided to rent out room to 3 lodgers. One day, when Grete plays the violin for the

lodgers, Gregory makes his presence known causing the lodgers to withdraw their

payments for their stay. After the incident, Grete’s desire to get rid of Gregory’s burden

on the family becomes clear when she states to her parents that Gregory “is killing you

both” (Kafka 32) and “it needs to go” (Kafka 32). By blaming Gregory for the misfortune

and troubles of the family, Grete feels that she needs to choose between Gregory and

her family and ultimately chooses to let Gregory die in order for the success and

happiness of her family. When the family discovers Gregory’s corpse inside of the room,

they decide to move out. This is when Grete “stood up first and stretched her young

body” (Kafka 37) showing her relief that Gregory is finally dead.

The conflicting emotions of Grete’s love for her brother and her love for her family

craft the psychological development of the characters in the novel. In the beginning of

the story, Grete’s love for Gregor is powerful and despite his transformation, it is clear
that she desires to take care of him. However, As the family begins to struggle

financially from the loss of Gregor’s income, Grete begins to blame their misfortunes on

Gregory until finally, she is convinced that in order for her family to thrive, Gregory’s

burden on them must be eradicated.