Metamorphosis: Whom Does Kafka Want the Reader to Sympathize With?

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The story, Metamorphosis, is an unusual story to say the least. The very first sentence one meets the main character, Gregor Samsa. This sentence really shows how different this story is when compared to other books in this class. Throughout the story the author, Franz Kafka, wants the reader to sympathize with Gregor. ‘When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach in his bed’ (87), is the first sentence, and already the author wants the reader to feel sympathy for Gregor. This is no dream either, he is really a bug, and Kafka makes sure there is no confusion. This is just one of many examples that I will discuss where Kafka wants the reader to sympathize with Gregor. Kafka wants us to sympathize with Gregor because he has a very difficult profession which takes a lot out of him. ‘If only I didn’t have to follow such an exhausting profession! On the road, day in, day out. The work is so much more strenuous than it would be in the head office,’ ‘There’s the additional ordeal of travelling worries about train connections, the irregular, bad meals, new people all the time, no continuity, no affection,’ (88). Gregor’s profession contains bad travel, unhealthy meals, and the lack of the connection between people. Gregor dislikes his job very much, but he sees it as his only option, as a way to provide for his family. That is why he hasn’t missed a day of work in five years. When Gregor does miss his first day, his boss comes looking for him. Kafka wants the readers to feel sympathy for Gregor because of the reactions of the parents and the chief clerk. He wants the readers to pity Gregor because no one else will. Gregor hears ‘the chief clerk em... ... middle of paper ... ...haracter, Gregor, transforms into a cockroach in the beginning. Throughout the story, Gregor is portrayed as a “helpless bug” and is treated unfairly and poorly by his own family. His parents are more astonished than pitiful when they first see Gregor. Later on, his mother faints at the sight of him. His father throws apples at him because his mother fainted from the way he looks. Grete, in the beginning of the transformation, is nice and takes care of him. Later, she changes her mind about Gregor, quits taking care of him, and comes up with the idea to get rid of it. ‘If it was Gregor, he would have long ago seen that it’s impossible for human beings to live together with an animal like that,’ (139). Kafka, throughout the story, tries to get the reader to feel sympathy towards Gregor in many scenes, and it works because his family doesn’t show sympathy towards him.

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