The Metamorphosis' analysis.

Ambre Schneider

ENC 1101- Professor Hettich

The Metamorphosis’ Analysis: Gregory’s desire to the escape from social expectations

Gregor suffers from his job, which consists of a salesman who needs to travel a lot.  Gregor is the model son, since he is the only one who provides for the family, with a job that allows his family to live quite comfortably, in a nice apartment. Thus, Gregor draws satisfaction and pride in knowing how important he is in the eyes of his family, even though he still has the potential of losing his job, due to the recent transformation, as expressed when the narrator says: “Gregor’s future and that of his family depended on it!”. However, he suffers at work, with his professional relationships, and is unhappy with the large amount of train travels, indefinite authority, as followed with the contempt shown by his boss. He expresses his pain by saying: “what a hard job I picked for myself! Traveling day in and day out. Much more stressful than working in the home office… no real human contact, no one who ever becomes friend.” Gregor shows the unfairness of his boss, by comparing himself to other salesmen, who “live like women in harem.”, meaning that they have sufficient time to eat their breakfast calmly in their hotel, while Gregor has to be next to his boss right on time, with no exceptions to be late. Gregor hopes that in five years at the latest, he will be free from his obligations and will be able to say what he really thinks about his job to his boss, in order to finally devote some time for himself. He feels both at the same time essential, but also stuck in a narrow and barren life, as he says: “If it weren’t for my parents, I would have quit long ago, I would have gone to the boss and told him off.” His need for freedom from the prohibitive requests of work is expressed throughout his transformation, by which Gregor tries to escape. But this escape actually fails as he is now detained by his family in his room, as “now the door was not opened anymore…the keys were stuck in the locks on the outside”. Gregor finally realizes that his family only cared for him, because he would give them the money they needed. He is enslaved by his work, and when he doesn’t work, he is oppressed by his family. To conclude, Gregor has no chance in balancing out his freedom with his commitment to his family. The only escape for Gregor at that point is when he finally dies, and let his family cope by themselves.

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