Billy Leinemann
Dr. Leasure
ENGL 102-002
15 November 2004
Why?
Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" is a story about Gregor Samsa, the protagonist in the story, and his metamorphosis from a human being to an insect. The reason(s) for Samsa's change have been widely debated. There have been books entirely devoted to those reasons. Despite the variation in the explanations for Gregor Samsa's mutation, there is one explanation that works best. The transformation of Gregor Samsa into an insect is a result of his uneasy dreams and uninteresting life. Samsa led a very dull life and this is the main reason for his transformation, and the uneasy dreams he had the night before were just the triggers for his change.
Gregor Samsa was the epitome of the saying, "all work and no play". He thought of nothing but repaying his parents' debts and the schedule for the train he had to take every morning at 5 a.m.
Gregor Robertson, Founder of Happy Planet
27:36
Rest (album)Gregor, despite still being a young man, had the responsibility of providing for his family (father, mother, and sister). In order to withstand the financial burden placed upon him, he got a job in the high-stress, low paying field of traveling cloth sales. Naturally, Samsa had an exhilarating social life. As exhilarating as his mother describes it in this passage "'it makes me almost cross the way he never goes out in the evenings; he's been here the last eight days and has stayed at home every single evening. He just sits there quietly at the table reading a newspaper or looking through railway timetables. The only amusement he gets is doing fretwork'" (Kafka 106). Gregor is so accustomed to working he takes no time for himself to do anything entertaining nor exciting. It is absurd to think of a young man...