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The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka

Part I: Summary

Gregor Samsa wakes in his bed and discovers he has transformed into a giant bug. Wondering what

has happened, he looks around his small room, where everything appears normal. He sees the fabric

samples that he uses in his job as a traveling salesman, a picture of a woman in furs that he tore out of a

magazine and framed, and the rain dripping down outside his window. He tries to roll over and go back

to sleep in order to forget about what has happened, but because of the shape of his back, he can only

rock from side to side.

Feeling sore from his effort, Gregor thinks about what a difficult job he has and the fact that his

constant traveling prevents him from making any lasting friendships. He thinks that he would leave his

overbearing employer but he has to work off a debt that his parents incurred. He suddenly realizes that

he has overslept and does not have a good excuse to give his boss.

Gregor’s mother reminds him that he has to catch his train to work. When Gregor responds, he finds

his voice has changed. His father and Grete, his sister, join his mother at the door, urging him to get up

and unlock it. Gregor twists and rocks, managing to turn sideways and dangle off the bed. Then the

doorbell rings. It is the office manager, come to check on Gregor. Gregor rocks his body violently and

finally tumbles to the floor. His family and the office manager come to the door to inquire if he is all

right.

Gregor’s mother pleads with the office manager, telling him what a devoted worker Gregor is, while

Grete cries in the next room. The office manager calls through the door and demands an explanation. He

hints that Gregor’s recent work has not been satisfactory and that Gregor’s current behavior looks very

bad, especially in light of rumors that Gregor may have stolen money from the company. Gregor claims

that he had a dizzy spell and asks the office manager to spare his parents any undue concern. While

Gregor tries to lift himself off the floor, the office manager and his family discuss the strange change in

his voice, and his sister leaves to fetch a doctor and a locksmith.

Gregor reaches the door, turns the lock with his mouth, and slowly pulls open the door. Seeing that

Gregor is now a giant insect, the terrified office manager backs away, the mother passes out, and the

father cries. Gregor delivers a long speech asking the office manager to put in a good word for him at

work, since traveling salesmen often become the subjects of negative gossip, but the office manager

continues to back out of the apartment. Gregor unsuccessfully tries to catch him as he flees and

discovers how easily he can crawl on his new legs. The father then picks up a newspaper and the office

manager’s cane and drives Gregor back into his bedroom. Gregor injures himself when he becomes

stuck in the doorway, but the father shoves him through and slams the door.

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Part I: Analysis

The opening line of The Metamorphosis, which reports Gregor’s discovery that he has become a giant

insect, sets the tone for the rest of the story. The line recounts the bizarre event of Gregor’s

transformation in a sober, straightforward manner, and this contrast between an extraordinary situation

and the ordinary terms used to describe it creates the sense that the narrator expects the world in the

story to be absurd and chaotic, rather than rational and orderly. Gregor embodies this absurdist tone

from the very beginning. When he first recognizes his transformation, he doesn’t appear significantly

bothered by it, and treats it almost like any ordinary disturbance to his sleep, as if it were not entirely

out of the ordinary. As the story progresses, he remains focused on largely ordinary concerns, such as

losing his job, his physical comfort, and his family’s financial situation, thus maintaining the story’s

absurdist overtone throughout.

In this section, we also begin to learn the details of Gregor’s human life, and we get the first glimpses

into his feeling of alienation from those around him. As Gregor lies in bed, unable to get himself up, he

begins thinking of his job as a traveling salesman, and we learn that he only continues at it because of

his parents’ debt. In fact, he greatly dislikes the office manager, who has come to the house to check on

him. Furthermore, the friendships he makes because of his work are only casual and never intimate,

since he must always be traveling. The mother hints at Gregor’s lack of friends when she tries to explain

to the office manager what a good employee Gregor is. She says Gregor never goes out in the evenings,

but sits home reading a newspaper or checking the train timetables, suggesting that Gregor already lives

predominantly in isolation. Now, Gregor is no longer even physically human. In his new form, he is

unable to go to work, and his voice is so altered that he can’t even communicate with those around him.

In addition, when he opens the door and the office manager and his family members see him, they are

horrified, and together these details foreshadow that Gregor’s isolation from other people will only

continue to grow.

The section also establishes the motif of money in the story, and hints at the major role money plays

in the Samsa family. Gregor’s greatest concern after discovering his metamorphosis is that he will lose

his job, which we quickly learn he only continues at so he can pay off his parents’ debt. (We also know

that debt is substantial since he says it will take him five or six years to pay it off.) As the section

continues, we receive indications that, of the members of the Samsa family, only Gregor works, and that

the father stays at home. Though it remains unclear at this point why the family is in so much debt, it is

evident that they are not wealthy and that their debts hamper them. Because he is responsible for

paying these debts, Gregor feels trapped in his job. Finally, the office manager also brings up money

when he tells Gregor that the chief suspects him of stealing from the company.