What’s in it for me? Experience the alienation and absurdity that comes with life as a bug.
The supernatural event that drives The Metamorphosis may feel overly simple in 2023. There aren’t any multiverses, zombie apocalypses, or reincarnated dinosaurs. There’s just Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, turning into a bug.
But as the feelings Gregor experiences as a bug become clear, a modern audience will certainly relate. He feels alienated – something many of us can understand. Maybe we’re isolated because of race, religion, or sexuality. Or maybe it’s because we aren’t popular or understood. Whatever the cause, many studies show that people today are lonelier than ever, and there’s little doubt these people will sympathize with Gregor’s feelings of alienation.
The modern audience might also relate to the absurdity running through The Metamorphosis, as they experience in the first part of this Blink.
If you need more proof that the story is still relevant today though, just look at all the adaptations and references to The Metamorphosis in the last 35+ years of television, film, and books.
Kafka’s masterpiece has been made into a feature film, short film, and television film at least eight times, including a 1987 television film of a stage adaptation that featured actor Tim Roth, and as recently as 2022 with the critically-acclaimed Indian Tamil-language film Kuthiraivaal. American cartoonist Robert Crumb created a comic version of the story in his 1993 book, Introducing Kafka. Japanese writer Haruki Murakami wrote a sequel to The Metamorphosis entitled, “Samsa in Love,” a short story that was published in Murakami’s 2017 book, Men Without Women.
Yes, The Metamorphosis was first published more than 100 years ago, but it still strikes a chord today. In this Blink, we’ll guide you through a brief summary of all the major plot points of this classic tale and we’ll end each section with a brief analysis of some of the main themes.
By the way, if you’d like to listen to a very short summary right away, you can also skip to the very last section.
Part I
After a night of troubled dreams, Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed into a bug. He recognizes his bedroom and some of the things in it, like the textile samples from his job as a traveling salesman and a picture of a lady in furs. It’s still his room in the Samsa family flat but his body has definitely changed.
He decides to sleep a little more and forget this bug nonsense. His mind wanders to his job and all of its stress. So much travel means he doesn’t sleep enough, doesn’t eat well, and doesn’t have any meaningful work relationships. If it wasn’t for his parents’ debt that he has to pay off, Gregor would have left this lousy job long ago.
He tells himself he’ll quit in five or six years when the debt is paid, but for now, he has to get out of bed and catch the train to the office. That’s when he realizes he’s late to work and begins to panic.
A knock on the door adds to Gregor’s dread, but it’s just his mother asking if he’s okay. He can’t answer because his voice has changed and he thinks it’s probably the first sign of a bad cold. Just another hazard for a traveling salesman.
His mother, father, and sister are all worried that he’s late. They want him to come out of his bedroom but Gregor isn’t ready to be seen just yet. Plus, he’s not really sure how he’ll even turn the key or the knob to open his door.
Then the doorbell to the family flat rings. The sound of rigid footsteps follows and Gregor knows it’s his boss, the chief clerk, checking up on him. The clerk tells Gregor’s mother business considerations must come before personal troubles and that Gregor needs to get to the office. He then reprimands Gregor through the closed bedroom door. The entire Samsa family listens in dismay as the clerk questions Gregor’s honesty and work ethic.
No one can understand him but Gregor pleads with his boss to remember his past good work and to be gentle with his parents. He promises to get dressed, get on a train and get to the office. He even manages to roll his bulbous, armor-like body out of the bed and somehow open the door.
The sight of transformed Gregor makes Mrs. Samsa faint. The chief clerk backs slowly to the door, trembling, and bolts from the flat. Gregor wants to chase his boss down and explain everything but Mr. Samsa has other ideas. He beats Gregor with a stick and newspaper, driving him back into his room. Gregor gets stuck in the doorway but his father pushes him through. The shove badly injures Gregor and he lies on the floor bleeding heavily as his father slams the door.
ANALYSIS
From the very first line of The Metamorphosis, the reader is immediately slapped in the face with the absurdity of this story, which reveals that Gregor has turned into a bug. What’s even more absurd, is that Gregor doesn’t react to the slap in the face. A supernatural event has occurred and he just wants to go back to sleep. Or think about his job. Or worry about money.
This theme of absurdity runs throughout The Metamorphosis as the Samsa family focuses on the everyday details of their life rather than Gregor’s inexplicable transformation. This particularly resonated with early twentieth-century readers when the story was initially published. They’d just witnessed the horrors of modern warfare for the first time with the millions of dead in World War I, but they had to continue on with their lives as if the world around them wasn’t a bloody, smoking mess.
Today, life in the early twenty-first century has taken on a similar feeling of absurdity at times as we try to lead ordinary lives during extraordinary challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, a climate crisis, a mass migration of refugees, police and school shootings, and political unrest all over the world.
Part I also introduces us to the theme of alienation, which many critics consider the most important theme of the story. Gregor is clearly alienated after he turns into a bug – his mother faints at the sight of him, his boss runs away, and his father violently forces him back into the room. But we also learn that Gregor was alienated before his transformation. His job as a traveling salesman means he’s always alone on the road and his relationships are transitory. And his mother comments that he never goes out at night.
Alienation was a major theme for many late nineteenth and early twentieth-century writers, like Fyodor Dostoevsky, H. G. Wells, and T. S. Eliot. They were responding to the soul-crushing march of the Industrial Revolution that drove people from rural farms and family businesses and into urban factories and sweatshops, leaving them alienated from nature and the people they loved. We see this kind of unhealthy obsession with industry and commerce in Gregor’s desire to work despite being a bug and the chief clerk’s insistence that business considerations should come before personal concerns.
Now, 100 years later, similar feelings of alienation are still common. The average worker is underpaid and underappreciated. The only thing keeping many at their job is debt – just like Gregor – thanks to cost-of-living increases that far surpass wage increases.
We’ve also developed an ironic way to feel alienated – the internet. This thing that was supposed to bring us together has, instead, left many feeling more isolated than ever as they long for online likes and friends, and feel like their lives are less than the glamorized, filtered lives that some present through social media.
Part II
Gregor comes to as the sun is going down. He’s still in pain from getting shoved through the door by his father, but he sees that someone has left a bowl of milk and bread in his room. It used to be his favorite food, but he takes a sip now and can’t stand the taste.
Someone cracks his bedroom door but closes it quickly. Feeling uncomfortable and ashamed, Gregor scurries under a sofa. As he’s falling asleep in his hiding place, he vows to himself that he will bear the weight of his condition and spare his family as much as he can.
In the morning, Grete comes into Gregor’s room and takes away the bowl of milk. She replaces it with a variety of food from the kitchen, including leftover scraps and rotting vegetables, which Gregor likes best. When Grete returns to clean up, Gregor hides under the sofa so she doesn’t have to see him. This begins Grete’s role as Gregor’s primary caregiver.
As for Gregor, he begins adapting to life as a bug. He spends much of his time listening to his family through the closed door. He shifts between pride and shame as he hears his parents talk about money. They’re okay for now because they’ve saved most of what he’s given them in recent years, but they’re still considering getting jobs, even though his father is old and his mother is asthmatic.
Gregor finds joy scurrying up the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Grete notices and she decides to move the furniture out of his room to give him more space. As Grete and her mother are clearing out the room, Mrs. Samsa worries aloud that Gregor might need his possessions to remember who he is if he ever turns back into a human. Gregor, who’s hiding under the sofa as usual, hears her and agrees. He realizes he’s already forgetting his old self, and it’s only his mother’s voice that brings him back. But Grete declares she is Gregor’s keeper and that she knows what’s best for him, and they’re going to move the furniture.
Panicked once again, Gregor comes out from his hiding place to save the only possession he can – the picture of the lady in furs. He climbs on the wall and hides the picture with his body. When his mother sees him there, she faints again. Grete runs to fetch smelling salts for her mother and Gregor follows, hoping to help. But Grete ignores him, rushes back to her mother, and slams Gregor’s bedroom door in his face.
Gregor is still stuck in the living room when his father comes home. Grete comes out to explain what happened, but her father misunderstands and thinks Gregor attacked Mrs. Samsa. Gregor barely recognizes his father – he’s standing straighter and taller, and he looks sharp in his new work uniform, a smart blue suit with gold buttons. But Mr. Samsa’s anger is all too familiar. He chases Gregor around the room and throws apples at him until one lodges in his back. Gregor can only escape when his mother finally emerges and begs her husband to stop.
ANALYSIS
We witness Gregor slowly lose his humanity in Part II, and we see the other members of the Samsa family begin to change as well. As the title makes clear, change is an integral part of The Metamorphosis, but that’s true of most great works of literature.
There’s an intriguing tension in characters that transform over the course of a story, and that’s certainly true of Gregor. He still has human thoughts and emotions, mostly centered around his family. But his new body, which he’s learning to enjoy, makes it impossible for him to satisfy his human desire to support his family. This tension reaches a climax when Grete and Mrs. Samsa are clearing out his room. Gregor realizes he’s losing his former self along with his possessions, so he clings to the only thing that’s left – the picture of the lady in the furs. That framed photograph symbolizes Gregor’s humanity, not because of the subject but because he cut the photo out and made the frame and hung it on his wall when he was still a man. It’s the last remnant of his old self.
We also see a transformation in Grete start to take place in Part II. The compassion she had for Gregor in Part I is replaced by an attitude of resignation that borders on disgust. She protects her role as Gregor’s caretaker and asserts her authority over her mother when it comes to emptying Gregor’s room. This demonstrates Grete’s maturation into an adult, and it shows us the family’s wavering feelings toward Gregor and his humanity. Is he a bug, or their Gregor? The question lingers in Part III, but eventually, the Samsa family comes to a conclusion.
Part III
With the apple lodged in his back, Gregor can barely move. The family takes pity on him and they leave his bedroom door open at night so he can watch them. He learns Grete is studying French and shorthand in the hope of advancing in her job, and that his mother is sewing lingerie to make extra money.
Despite the added work, the Samsa family still feels the need to sell off jewelry and hire a cheaper cleaning lady, cost-saving measures that make Gregor feel guilty. He feels even worse when he realizes they want to move into a smaller, cheaper apartment, but they can’t because of him. Distraught, he stops eating and sleeping.
The Samsas have also taken in three boarders as a way to earn some extra income. The boarders are all in the living room one night listening to Grete play the violin when Gregor wanders into their midst. He’s entranced by the violin and longs to send Grete to music school. That was his plan when he was still a man, and he wants to see it through. He’s determined to express these feelings to Grete. Consumed with this thought, he crawls out of his bedroom – the new cleaning lady accidentally left the door open – and into the crowded living room.
The boarders are shocked. They declare they’ll not pay any of the rent they owe, or will owe in the future. This is the final straw for Grete. She tells her parents they have to see the truth – the bug isn’t Gregor and they must get rid of it. Mr. Samsa shows some uncharacteristic sympathy and wishes there was some way they could communicate with Gregor and come to an understanding. Grete counters by saying that if the bug was Gregor, he’d have already left to spare them all the trouble.
Heartbroken, Gregor crawls back to his room. Grete quickly locks the door behind him. He lies awake all night feeling horrible and making plans to leave. As the morning light appears, Gregor Samsa dies.
The cleaning lady finds his body, but the Samsa family isn’t interested in what she does with it. Instead, they plan a day of much-needed and well-earned rest. They ride a train to the countryside and they have a sunshine-filled car all to themselves. They feel optimistic about their future now that they can move into a smaller apartment and don’t have to worry about a giant bug.
Best of all, Mr. and Mrs. Samsa both notice what a beautiful young lady Grete has become. Without even speaking it, they know it’s time to find a good husband for her. Grete seems to confirm their dreams when she stands and stretches her young body as they reach their destination.
ANALYSIS
Gregor is still fighting against alienation as Part III begins. We see him clutching to his humanity as he watches and listens to his family. He still has human feelings for them and wants to remain part of the group, despite the apple lodged in his back.
Gregor’s feelings of alienation grow so deep he can’t eat or sleep. And he’s so desperate to connect with Grete that he forgets his place and wanders into the living room in sight of the boarders. It’s a sad irony that this action leads to the exact opposite of its intention – connecting with Grete. Instead, she finally decides enough is enough and completes Gregor’s alienation.
That kind of painful irony brings us back to the theme of absurdity. Once again we see that Gregor has good intentions and wants to help his family, but does he get rewarded for that? No, he gets punished. Absurd.
Not only have Grete’s feelings for Gregor changed throughout the story, but Grete herself has also changed. Her transformation is illuminated by the sunshine-filled train car in the story’s conclusion. Her act of standing and stretching her “young body” is reminiscent of a sprout unfurling from the soil, or a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. And it’s in stark contrast with the destructive transformation and decay of Gregor’s body.
Final summary
Here’s a very short summary of The Metamorphosis.
Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find he’s turned into a bug. He worries how this might impact his job as a traveling salesman, which he doesn’t really like. He goes back to sleep hoping to forget the whole bug thing but that only makes him late for work. When Gregor finally opens his bedroom door and reveals himself to his family and his boss – who was suspiciously checking up on him – his mother feints, his boss runs in terror, and his father beats Gregor back into his bedroom with a stick.
Gregor’s sister, Grete, becomes his keeper. She feeds him and cleans his room, but caring for Gregor becomes too much. There’s another altercation with his father, and then Gregor reveals himself to the renters the Samsa family has taken in for extra income. The renters refuse to pay rent, and that’s the last straw for Grete. She tells her parents they must get rid of the bug. Heartbroken, Gregor dies in his sleep that night. The family, on the other hand, are relieved. They take a train to the countryside. They feel optimistic about their future now that the bug is gone and Grete has turned into a beautiful young lady.