The opening sentence of the novella was an eye-catcher to me. It immediately captured me. I finished reading the first part very quickly, and enjoyed it a lot. Gregor's first day of his vermin life was described in detail, one-by-one, and with in a very interesting manner. The readers can understand the difficulty of Gregor's position very well.
Gregor himself, however, did not quite understand the seriousness of his problem much in the beginning. He tried to convince his family and the Chief Clerk that he was not in a bad health, and would get to work as fast as he can. But he somehow managed to open the doors of his room and come out, his family and the Clerk were horrified at Gregor's changed appearance; no, they were acutally horrified to see a monstrous bug in front of them! Gregor - still not understanding their concern - tried to assure the Clerk that he would go to work by the next train. However, he did not realize that his words were inaudible by them, since a vermin did not have the capacity of speaking like humans. Scared, the Clerk escapes, and Gregor's father manages to get Gregor back into the latter's room, where he was to be locked up.
In the second part, we see the compassionate Grete (Gregor's sister), and her kindness towards her brother. She cleans up his room and brings him various types of food to test his choice. But she cannot look directly at the ugly Gregor. Gregor, on the other hand, listens through the cracks of his door that his lively family had fallen silent since his transformation. He feels proud for having been able to supply his family with his earnings, but feels ashamed when he realizes that his family had no other earning member at present. Grete tries to do everything possible to make the life of her brother more comfortable, and her mother and she together take out furnitures from Gregor's room, so that the latter can move about freely. When they were doing so, Gregor accidentaly came out of his room. Upon seeing him, his mother passed out momentarily, and his father arrived just then. Without understanding much, Gregor's father started showering apples on Gregor, who is injured badly, and faints.
In the final part of the novella, Gregor's health deteriorates. He feels very neglected by his family. Every member of his family had taken up jobs and worked really hard to survive. They even rented off a room to three gentlemen, who actually meke the family's life more painful than it already was. One day, Gregor accidentally shows up infront of the lodgers, and they insult Gregor's father and notify him of their leave very soon. After they exit, everybody turns to Gregor, and it is Grete - the one who loved Gregor the most - who speaks up against him. She accuses him of having ruined their lives, and says that if the bug was really her brother, it would have left them instead of troubling them more and more. Her parents quickly agree with her. Gregor goes off to his room, where he dies in the night - guilty, hungry, weak.
Once they discover Gregor's verminous corpse, the family mourns for just a moment, but recovers soon and rejoice. They feel free from a burden. They are now ready to shift to a new house. And they don't waste another minute thinking about Gregor; nor do they recall the memories of his human form. The family takes a walk in a park - unconcerned of Gregor's deadbody - and soon the Samsa parents realize that it was time to look for a good groom for Grete.
That is how the story ended - with no mention of Gregor whatsoever. It was as if Gregor had never existed in his family.
However, in Grete's sudden change in character, I can see a bit of her pragamatism. She had understood that her brother would never return to his human form, and hence she urged her family to put the past behind and move forward. She was the only one who could bear Gregor's proximity. But slowly over time, she matured and changed. She slowly convinced her parents to remove Gregor's furnitures from his room, thus gradually omitting any of their hopes regarding Gregor's return.
Gregor's mother loved Gregor at first. When Gregor had not been opening up his door in the beginning, his mother was the most worried and concerned. She had tried to explain to the Clerk that Gregor was really ill. But later when she knew the facts, she could not stand Gregor's unpleasant sight, and would often faint.
Gregor's father - a retired man - started dislinking his son when he understood that Gregor was no longer of any use to the family. I believe, he even despised Gregor for having abandoned the family in such a state. He had to look for jobs and satarted working all over again, and he blamed Gregor for bringing all the trouble to the family. His attack on Gregor only proved his dislike for Gregor.
I think this novella is a perfect example of what actually happens in capitalist society - relationships are effected by the economy of the country and by the earning capacity of individuals. Even though Gregor hated his job, he still went on with it because he had his family responsibilities. He loved his family - no doubt. But his family didn't keep on loving him till the end, when he was nothing but a burden to them. Since his idle state didn't make him of any use, he couln't earn, and hence his family's attitude towards him changed completely over time.
I believe Kafka wanted to escape from this society; so he made Gregor Samsa a vermin to show his own wish to escape. On the contrary, Kafka had an illness -which he knew about - and died young. So I wont be completely wrong in saying that Kafka had imagined the dusk of his life to be like that, and thought that he would also soon be forgotten by his family and the society, where he was no longer of any use.
Many have said that the insect itself symbolizes the isolation of Samsa (or Kafka). Others say that the insect represents how Kafka used to feel about himself due to his bad relationship with his father - he felt isolated, disliked and unwanted just like a bug. Gregor also used to feel the guilt for not being able to help his family in their despairity, and I believe it only shows Kafka's own guilt of being unhelpful and useless to his family. The Chief Clerk and Gregor's boss at work symbolizes the capitalist society, with the perfect capitalist attitude and no humane sentiments.
I liked the novella - both as a story, and as an allegory. If the novella did me any help, it was in that the novella opened my eyes wider to the flaws of a capitalist society.
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