Kafka's choice of transformation

We have already discussed Kafka's reasoning for turning Gregor into a bug in class, but I'd just like to share my opinion on the matter. I think that the main reason Kafka turned Gregor into an insect was to serve as a metaphor for Gregor's lifestyle. We know from all kinds of insects, especially ants and bees, that they live a very systematic lifestyle, mindlessly working until they die. Sounds pretty familiar doesn't it? This description portrays Gregor's life as we know so far very accurately. He wakes up, goes to work, gets his money for his family, similarly to insects working for the greater good of the colony, and then goes to sleep only to repeat the same thing the next day and so on. The day he wakes up as a bug, he doesn't even think about the other millions of complications it will bring him, he just thinks about how he's going to be late to work. Even when something completely supernatural happens to him, he only has work in his mind.

As I said previously, these insects work until they die. Following the metaphor exactly, as soon as Gregor hears his call to leave because he can't work anymore and he's preventing the wellbeing of his family, he just stops breathing. I think this is also a big part of the metaphor, the meaninglessness of insects. When an insects dies no one bats an eye, there are millions more waiting to replace it. Although they do definitely acknowledge that the cockroach has something to do with Gregor, as there is no other reason to keep it as a pet according to most natural human reactions to cockroaches, this could explain why the family seems to be able to accept the fact that Gregor is gone so quickly.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 13, 2018 at 12:33 PM

    Kafka's use of gregor as an insect also extends to the family. The dad grabs a newspaper which is fitting to hit a bug with, and throughout the book gregor feels like he is actively the family back. When he dies it is almost like the family reacts more like they were freed from the disgusting insect qualities than grief.

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  2. AlexOctober 13, 2018 at 2:06 PM

    The ambiguity of "insect" is interesting. If he was explicitly transformed into an ant or a bee or a termite, I would be inclined to agree with you. However, the general label of insect combined with the depiction of strongly negative reactions from his parents lead me to believe that the choice of insect was the choice of an alienating and disgusting creature.

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  3. GrantOctober 13, 2018 at 6:47 PM

    I don't really know that much about cockroaches tbh but i'm not sure if cockroaches are structured as much as ants or a bee. I think that a cockroach or beetle is meant to evoke feelings of powerlessness like how low to the ground and disgusting they are.

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  4. Nic RamkumarOctober 13, 2018 at 9:34 PM

    Your point about Gregor turning into an insect being a metaphor for his work is really interesting. Maybe there's another aspect to this where Gregor sees his work as so mundane, repetitive and useless that even a bug could do it.

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  5. KevinNovember 2, 2018 at 4:53 PM

    I like the metaphor, particularly in you relate it to his family's reaction and his life's meaning. I agree that there is likely a parallel being drawn between his non-stop working and how bugs work for the rest of the bugs and then die. It seems to suggest that his life is meaningless apart from his working for the family, which is quite insightful.

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  6. Robert NagelNovember 2, 2018 at 6:28 PM

    I think the comparison of Gregor's transformation to the workaholic behaviors or certain insects is quite interesting and definitely agree that his status as despised insect is very thoroughly connected to how he can no longer work. However, until some time after Gregor is transformed, the rest of the family makes absolutely no effort to benefit the "hive", so I'm not quite sure how apt the metaphor is. (Maybe it is apt after all, because the hive removes its unproductive member, and the rest flourish)

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