Gregor Existentialism

The Philosophy of existentialism is that any given man or woman not only decides their fate but also their choices has got them to where they are, wether that is good or bad. What this Through the recent stories we have read our class we have seen examples of both heroes and victims of the philosophy of existentialism. We were first introduced to a victim of this way of thinking. The victim's name was Gregor, from the novel (sometimes considered a short story) Metamorphism. In this novel Gregor is transformed into a cockroach randomly and overnight. Gregor is presented with a choice a lot of people are as well, find meaning in the one life he is given or give up on the fact that it doesn't really matter because in the end everything he does

The victim, Gregor, starts the story with plenty of what he believes to be purpose. He takes care of his family and even has a plan to send his sister to music school “He felt very proud that he had been able to provide such a life in so nice an apartment for his parents and his sister. But what now if all the peace, the comfort, the contentment were to come to a horrible end?”(Pg7). This is explained to us to be his said purpose, but what would happen in the event that Gregor is no longer needed for his family to survive? That question is answered when Gregor miraculously turns into a abnormally large cockroach. Gregor quickly finds that no one wants anything to do with him and that crawling all over his walls is not a very redeeming task. As we see Gregor continually pushed away from his loved ones we also see his morall and will to move on slowly fade away. Gregor is completely unable to find anything to give him meaning and because of this takes on the victim mentality. When his sister that he thought was the one member of the family that truly cared for him says “He must go,” cried Gregor’s sister, “that’s the only solution, Father. You must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor. The fact that we’ve believed it for so long is the root of all our trouble”(pg48) it is the final blow in making Gregor feel completely worthless and he eventually dies