The Metamorphosis in The Classics

Jun 08, 2014 Florin Andrei rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

I will come back and re-write this soon. Mainly, I need to do some more thinking about the book, because at the moment, I don't know what to think.

I added this to my to-read list because my high school English teacher recommended it (in 2007). He said it was great, he also said that it was a take on homosexuality. I might not have given this much importance because to him everything was a take on some sort of sexuality, but I definitely read it trying to see Gregor as different.

I choose not to r I will come back and re-write this soon. Mainly, I need to do some more thinking about the book, because at the moment, I don't know what to think.

I added this to my to-read list because my high school English teacher recommended it (in 2007). He said it was great, he also said that it was a take on homosexuality. I might not have given this much importance because to him everything was a take on some sort of sexuality, but I definitely read it trying to see Gregor as different.

I choose not to read too much into this aspect. The treatment Gregor is receiving is not because of what he has always been, but of what he has become. There is a sudden transformation there. Is it real, or does he just see himself like that? In either case, it scares most people.

The other take, conflicting, is that Gregor has turned into a monstrous insect for some reason, and actually frightens those around him, as any human sized crawly would. I prefer this view, but I am not sure what could have caused this transformation.

There is little suggestion that this is physical manifestation of the immorality of his job (travelling salesman seemed to be quite a good position in context). His personality does not warrant comparison with 'vermin' either.

Maybe the transformation was a slow one to start with. It started with everyone looking down on him and being inconsiderate of him (as is the case with the family's egg nest, while he was planning to toil in a job he hated for 6 more years to pay his father's debt).

It probably continued with his failure to appreciate his human qualities. There is more than a suggestion that he did not enjoy company, or music very much. In fact, apart from his being generous, nothing transpires of Gregor Samsa's personality as he was before the transformation, which was just the final step of the metamorphosis. He had been vermin (I prefer this to the translator's 'monstrous insect') for a long time, he just didn't look the part.

As for the change in attitude? It comes with the realization of what Gregor has become. He was no longer human, he wasn't treated as such and he didn't feel as such, so why pretend?

At the end, Grete explains as much. Whatever the creature in the bedroom was, it wasn't Gregor. It hadn't been Gregor for long before he woke up from troubled dreams. ...more

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Aug 11, 2008 theduckthief rated it it was ok

"When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin." - page 1

Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman with a problem. He hates his job, he has to support his ungrateful family and he's recently devolved into a bug. This story isn't just about Gregor though, it's also a study into family dynamics and how people can turn on one another when pushed to the limit. His family has a hard time accepting his "condition" and that's when t ...more

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Apr 13, 2010 Jessie rated it it was ok

Shelves: classic

read in grade 11 for my own World Lit "enjoyment".

Well...definitely one of the stranger stories out there. The theme, as near as it is to everyone, was, in my opinion, expounded a little extremely. The style of writing was definitely not one that I enjoyed. Neither was the "black humour" my type of thing. But...overall I suppose I get why it's such a classic and all. ...more

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