Gregor's Duty in The Metamorphosis
Voisin 1
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Dayne Voisin
Professor Cherish Tenney
English 1010 F
20 November, 2013
Gregor 's Duty
Why is Gregor so consumed by his duty to his family? Why must he drag out his life paying out his father 's debt to a company and almost ruin his life in the process? Why does he do all the things that he does for his family and enable them to be fat, lazy slobs? Maybe he feels he has to do this in order to gain their love and affection. Maybe his family just wont accept him unless he provides for them. The duty Gregor has to his family has been dragging him down all of his life. In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor Samsa has a constant struggle throughout his life, as a human and as a bug, to fulfill his duty as a son to his family, even when that duty seemed outrageous in terms of dedicating his entire life to them.
From the beginning of the story, people can see that Gregor is very dedicated to his job and his family. When he is thinking about how he transformed as a bug after he wakes up the next morning, the most prominent thought that runs through his mind is that he is late for work and not that he 's transformed into some horrible bug. The story states in the opening pages,
"Once I 've got the money to pay my parents debt [...], I 'll make the big change [into a job I really want]. First of all though, I 've got to get up, my train leaves at five" (Kafka 6). Gregor is partially worried about his new transformation, but his big concern is getting to work to pay off his parent 's debt. This shows his strong duty to his family. He wants to get them back on their feet without debt so they can live a better life.
Voisin 2
!
Gregor feels this sense of duty for a few reasons. His family puts pressure on him to go to work for them since they are much too lazy to do so themselves. His father is described as a lazy slob who just sits around all day reading the newspaper for long periods of time in the morning and can barely even walk
!
Dayne Voisin
Professor Cherish Tenney
English 1010 F
20 November, 2013
Gregor 's Duty
Why is Gregor so consumed by his duty to his family? Why must he drag out his life paying out his father 's debt to a company and almost ruin his life in the process? Why does he do all the things that he does for his family and enable them to be fat, lazy slobs? Maybe he feels he has to do this in order to gain their love and affection. Maybe his family just wont accept him unless he provides for them. The duty Gregor has to his family has been dragging him down all of his life. In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor Samsa has a constant struggle throughout his life, as a human and as a bug, to fulfill his duty as a son to his family, even when that duty seemed outrageous in terms of dedicating his entire life to them.
From the beginning of the story, people can see that Gregor is very dedicated to his job and his family. When he is thinking about how he transformed as a bug after he wakes up the next morning, the most prominent thought that runs through his mind is that he is late for work and not that he 's transformed into some horrible bug. The story states in the opening pages,
"Once I 've got the money to pay my parents debt [...], I 'll make the big change [into a job I really want]. First of all though, I 've got to get up, my train leaves at five" (Kafka 6). Gregor is partially worried about his new transformation, but his big concern is getting to work to pay off his parent 's debt. This shows his strong duty to his family. He wants to get them back on their feet without debt so they can live a better life.
Voisin 2
!
Gregor feels this sense of duty for a few reasons. His family puts pressure on him to go to work for them since they are much too lazy to do so themselves. His father is described as a lazy slob who just sits around all day reading the newspaper for long periods of time in the morning and can barely even walk
Cited: Kafka, Franz, and A. L. Lloyd. Metamorphosis. New York: Vanguard, 1946. IBook.