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1-Page Summary of The Metamorphosis

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The Metamorphosis was first published in 1915. It is a surrealist novella by Franz Kafka, who is well known for his exploration of the fantastic and isolation. He uses realism to depict bizarre situations. In The Metamorphosis, he incorporates themes like alienation and absurdity to convey narratives about isolated and anxious protagonists.

The story does not mention the time period, but it’s probably early 20th century. The whole narrative takes place in Gregor’s apartment with his family and sister. It’s written in limited third person point of view, focusing on Gregor who is a traveling salesman.

When Gregor awakens one morning, he discovers that he has transformed into a giant insect. He is unable to get out of bed and goes to work late. His boss stops by the house unexpectedly, and Gregor tries his best to communicate with him. The manager leaves in fright because of what has happened to Gregor, and Mr. Samsa locks up his son in his room so the family can deal with it later. They are all afraid of what has become of their son and want nothing more than for him to continue working as they have always done because they cannot afford anything else financially.

Gregor overhears his family discussing their finances and realizes that he is still in danger of ending up homeless. However, he is relieved to find out that there’s enough money left from the last job for Gregor to live on. His sister Grete brings him food, but she can’t stand being around him because of how repulsive he looks now. She removes all furniture from his room so that he can climb the walls like a spider instead (which also makes it easier for her to clean). When Gregor exposes himself in order to save the painting on his wall, his mother faints because she saw what happened and thinks her son has been killed by Mr. Samsa (her husband).

When Gregor recovers from his transformation, he discovers that the state of his family’s apartment has changed. His parents have let go of their live-in maid and hired a brash cleaning woman who comes in part time. Now that Grete is busy working, she no longer cleans Gregor’s quarters or shows him any consideration. She hurls the food scraps into his room which has now become unkempt and offensive much like Gregor himself. The burly new cleaning woman refers to him as an “old dung beetle”. Neglected by his family, Gregor rarely eats. When his door is left ajar, he notices that three lodgers have taken up residence in the apartment. Grete plays her violin for them and they invite her to join them for dinner but she declines saying that she cannot leave her brother alone at home because he can’t take care of himself anymore since he was transformed into an insect. When one lodger sees Gregor through the open door, he threatens to leave if something isn’t done about this situation immediately because it will ruin everyone’s business dealings with each other. Another lodger says they should get rid of him because no one can understand what kind of language insects speak anyway so why bother keeping him around? He also adds on how revolting it is when people don’t clean up after themselves (implying that all people are disgusting). Grete tells them not to worry about it anymore because there’s nothing more they can do for poor old Gregor except try their best to ignore him like everyone else does.

Gregor returns back inside where everything starts looking bleak again after hearing what happened outside with regards to how others perceive him; even though these are just strangers passing by who probably never knew anything about the old “Gregory Samsa” before becoming a bug, but still…it hurts nonetheless! After all those years being treated kindly by everyone including strangers…this must be what death feels like…a feeling of complete abandonment even though you were once loved dearly ! And thus…poor ol’ Gregory Samsa dies from starvation…