Preview

Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis: Chapter Summary

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
153 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis: Chapter Summary
Name
Date
Class
Teacher
Title For a while now Gregor has been in a coma, his family did not know this. His family carried on not knowing this for a time, until one day Gregor’s sister sees a bug. She didn’t think much of it, at first. She started thinking after remembering that Gregor hasn’t been seen in the house for a while that the bug she saw could be him. Just in case she left a serving of sweet milk and pieces of bread out for him in case he got hungry. Gregor moves to the living room, where his father would sometimes read the paper aloud to Gregor’s mother and sometimes to his sister.

Gregor’s sister would often write and tell him of the reading but now things were quiet even though people were most likely present. All the while Gregor’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” is a nightmarish tale with a very straightforward, matter-of-fact style, and this style enhances its nightmarish quality. An example of this is found in paragraph, which states, “His many legs, pitifully thin when compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.” When describing this scene, the narrator definitely uses illustrative words, but does not have the disgusted tone one would expect from a story like this. The narrator speaks in an emptier way, which helps magnify the eerie feeling of the work. Both it and Gregor act very removed from the events, not how a normal human would react. Another instance of this is, “So then he tried to get the top part of his body out of bed…

    • 239 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The nightmarish quality of “The Metamorphosis,” by Franz Kafka, is enhanced by the straight forward -almost academic- nature of the writing. One such example of this occurs on page 93, reading, ““What’s happened to me?” [Gregor] thought. It wasn’t a dream. His room, a proper human room, although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls.”(Kafka) From thereon, he abandons the description of his transformation to describe the room and previous night. As the audience reads this, they are thrown by the sudden shift of topic, still wondering what has happened. The fact that most works put an emphasis on the “why?” makes the reader expect an answer, developing their panic as it becomes less and less likely that there will…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As with any great literary work, there must be a purpose behind the story. Kafka’s short story was written for a few main reasons. He wanted to exemplify the absurdity of life, show that there is often a disconnect between the mind and body, and that there are limits to society’s affection for its servants. I found that all points appeared to be both relevant and accurate while maintaining the fantastical appeal of the strangeness of Gregor’s sudden transformation. I believe this contributes to why “The Metamorphosis” has made a lasting impact across the globe.…

    • 95 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Metamorphasis, Kafka’s treatment of Gregor’s transformation demonstrates how beyond human control the natural world is. The human turning back into nature demonstrates a relationship between man and the environment. Throughout the novel there is, however, much talk of the cure and of acceptance, yet nature goes on unrelated to all talk of ways to change the situation.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A compare and contrast Analysis of Frank Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis and The Things They Carried.…

    • 1069 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Towards the end of the novel, Gregor’s room became as a storage closet in a way, because the maid put things the family didn’t use anymore more shows how she the isolation between Gregor and his family became more clear. If the family cared about Gregor, even though he is now a bug, they would have told the made to find a new place for the items they did not use…

    • 71 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    He is often worried how his family would take him in his hideous state, he often wondered, would they accept him? “They were cleaning out his room, taking away from him everything he cherished; they had already dragged out the chest of drawers in which the fret saw and other tools were kept, and they were now loosening the writing desk which was fixed tight to the floor, the desk on which he, as a business student, a school student, indeed even as an elementary school student, had written out his assignments… He squatted on his picture and did not hand it over.” (Kafka 57, 58) As a result, even though he knows he would feel more physically comfortable if his room were emptied of furniture, allowing him to crawl anywhere he pleased, Gregor panics when Grete and his mother are taking out the furniture, such as the writing desk he remembers doing all his assignments at as a boy. In a desperate attempt to hold onto the few reminders he has of his humanity, he clings to the picture of the woman muffled in fur so that no one will take it away.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The family's initial reaction towards Gregor is largely extremely negative. When the family and the chief clerk, Gregor's boss, see him for the first time they panic. Gregor is promptly shoved back into his room and he is locked there. "No one came any longer, and, in addition, the keys were now on the outside" (page 25). This represents the family's immediate hostility towards Gregor where as before Gregor's…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first person to encounter Gregor as a bug is boss whose response is fear. Gregor tries to assure his boss that he should not worry because '"a man might find for a moment that he is unable to work, but that's exactly the right time to remember his past accomplishments'"(15). Gregor's desire to be remembered as he was, instead of as he is, reveals his, and Kafka's, discomfort with their new conditions. The security of Gregor's family is threatened by his inability to work; this factor motivates his family's members reactions to him. Throughout the novel, each time Gregor's father encounters him, he responds with hostile actions. For example, when his father first sees him out of his room, he is eager to push him back in, shoving Gregor so hard that he "[bleeds profusely and flies in]"(19). In another scene, Gregor's father becomes enraged to the point that he throws an apple at Gregor and it stays lodged in his back. Gregor's father's hostility signifies his unwillingness to accept Gregor as a bug and the changes brought with it. Gregor's father's characteristics are shared with Kafka's father, who was insistent on controlling him. Gregor's sister, contrastingly, is initially compassionate towards her brother. It is worth noting that Gregor's sister, Grete, is the only other character in the novel who receives a name; the other…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The last paragraph of Kafka’s reading metamorphosis discreetly suggests that the family’s emotions aren’t as they read, but they will travel to the edge to find a successful prospect to lead for the future. The opening sentence reads “then the three of them altogether left the flat,” pg. 241 this section of the sentence has a deeper meaning than the Samsa’s just taking off from their home and going to the park as the sentence follows up . As I read this opening sentence the word “flat” stands out to me. Flat stands out in sentence because it is used in a very untraditional way that makes me believe it has another meaning besides the description of the flat land they are on. When defining the word flat I think of a smooth, even surface without any lumps or indentations. When defining flat in an emotional context, I would define it as a lacking of interest or emotion, perhaps dull and lifeless. The context of “flat” in this first sentence of the last paragraph I would say speaks to Gregory family’s emotions after him not being present. I envision an insect or a cockroach, I always see them crawling up a wall perhaps a flat surface. Which becomes ironic to this situation as Gregor is an insect and has struggle being mobile on the flat surface which they refer to as home. In this opening sentence flat may speak of the family's emotions not just a state of the land. This word…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gregor’s sister begins by taking care of Gregor. In the second chapter it says, “In order to test his taste, she brought him a whole selection of things, all spread out on an old newspaper” (Kafka 21). His sister shows she cares for him by feeding him and giving him foods he likes. However, later in the book, she changes and betrays him. She says, “We can’t carry on like this. Maybe you can’t see it, but I don’t want to call this monster my brother, all I can say is: we have to try and get rid of it” (Kafka 39). She has changed her views on her brother and her role in the family has changed. At first, she was the caretaker and now she does not pay attention to Gregor and wants him dead.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Once Grete begins to realize that Gregor is not going to become human again and gets a job she becomes too preoccupied to take care of Gregor in the same manner she previously had. She feeds him less and she cleans quickly. The family put their extra stuff in Gregor’s room.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Franz kafka

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The sight of Gregor seems to cause a change in Grete's behavior toward her brother. This may be evident when Gregor covers himself with a sheet, and he "even fancied that he caught a thankful glance from her eye" (382). Before this incident, Grete views Gregor…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The first of these characters is the charwoman, whose matter-of-factness in dealing with his needs and presence convey greater acceptance of Gregorʼs infirmity than his family could ever muster. In fact, her attitude is one of disgust, but not at his appearance; rather, it is Gregorʼs allowance of his loss of humanity that mildly disgusts her, as if she has contempt that he could not gather the will to regain himself. He is pitiable to her in his inability to keep his humanity and his nearly complete acceptance of his present state. The other character, the three boarders who function as a single entity, unknowingly reside alongside the pitiful wreck for some time before that evening, when Gregor scuttles out to hear his sister play the violin. This scene reveals something of the nature of Gregorʼs true need and hunger, as he jealously regards the three boarders who take for granted the family in which they participate, and for which he has had greater and greater need, though without fully realizing that need. When they catch sight of him, they are angered, and regard him as pitiful. He is to them a monstrous family secret, but they react to him like another boarder would react to find out that prostitution was occurring in the same house, or the family were hiding an alcoholic or derelict. Gregor himself rapidly diminishes. At the beginning he finds himself in this insect-like condition because of his inability to connect with the family to which he is devoted, but who have taken him for granted. His persistent condition and fading human self serve to further isolate him by repulsing his family members one by one, as first his father shuts him out, then gradually his mother and even the sister that he once adored. It could be argued that on some level, Gregor has intentionally shut himself away within this new armor and purposely cut himself…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    To separate themselves, his family lock Gregor in his room and only his sister, Grete, is allowed in to clean and feed Gregor. Gregor is physically and literally isolated from mankind, as he is imprisoned and is in fact, no longer human. Gregor’s new life as a repulsive insect is immediately and heavily induced with isolation and alienation. However, as Gregor reflects on his life as traveling salesman, he notices how superficial his relationships with others have become.…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays