Part 2
Gregor has vowed that he will do everything he can so that his new condition does not become a burden to his family. He begins to adapt to his new condition and yet still worries about his family’s financial problem. Gregor slowly adapts to his new life. He begins to enjoy scurrying around his room and climbing on a chair to look out the window. Though Grete continues to look after Gregor, he notices that she cannot stand the sight of him, and he hides behind a sheet draped over the sofa when she enters the room. The parents avoid coming in, though they seem curious about his state. The mother in particular is eager to see him, but Grete and the father urge her not to.
Grete sees that Gregor enjoys climbing up the walls and across the ceiling, so she decides to remove the furniture from the room to give him more space. While the father is out, Grete and the mother start taking out furniture. Gregor hides as usual, but he grows anxious as he hears his mother worry that she and Grete might be doing him a disservice by stripping the room of his possessions. Grete, however, considers herself the expert on Gregor and overrules the mother’s objections. While Grete and the mother talk in the living room, Gregor panicked at the thought of losing all the remnants of his human life, climbs the wall and covers the picture of the woman in furs to prevent it from being taken away.
The mother spots Gregor on the wall, goes into a panic, and passes out. Grete yells at Gregor as he lets go of the picture and scurries into the living room. Grete rushes out, grabs medicine, and returns to Gregor’s room, shutting the door behind her. The father returns and Grete tells him that Gregor broke out. He misunderstands Grete and thinks Gregor attacked the mother, so he starts chasing Gregor around the room. Gregor notices that his father has become a new man since getting a job as a bank attendant—he stands straighter and looks cleaner and healthier. The father throws fruit at Gregor, and eventually hits him with an apple that becomes lodged in Gregor’s back. The mother bursts from the bedroom and Gregor rushes for the door, hearing his mother beg his father to stop.
Part 3
After the incident with his father, the apple left Gregor injured in his back. He stops eating as he worries about his family who at this time of their lives find him to be a bondage to them. Grete does not take care of Gregor as she usually does and gets angry when her mother decides that it is the mother’s duty to take care of Gregor. A new maid has been hired to clean the room, and she tends to disturb Gregor a lot, once he almost attacked her, but he resisted after she almost hit him with a chair. The family takes three boarders into the apartment. They moved most of their furniture into Gregor room because the borders hate disorder. Meanwhile Gregor enjoys crawling through the clutter, though doing so leaves him exhausted.
While Grete was playing her violin for the borders, they became bored with the song, but Gregor was moved by the song and came out of his room. The 3 borders saw him and screamed. Grete tells her parents that they have to stop believing that the bug is Gregor and says they must find a way to get rid of it. The father wishes they could explain to Gregor why they need him to leave, but Grete says that if he could understand them, he would have left long ago to spare them any more pain. Gregor, feeling terrible, He remains motionless through the night, thinking to himself all the while that he must go away to relieve them of their suffering. As dawn breaks, he stabs himself.
The maid tell the family that Gregor is dead, but they show no regards, instead they talk about Grete’s body and the fact that she is maturing and they want to start to search for a husband for her.
Themes
The main theme in the book is existentialism which is a philosophy about one’s self. Gregor wakes up one day and he is a bug, instead of trying to figure out a way to solve his problem and what the society will think of him, he was worried about his family and their financial problem and the family does not even want him anymore. They only needed him for money and now he is no longer useful to them. Evens when he died they did not seem to care at all.
Metamorphosis is also a theme. Gregor transforms into a bug, his sister matures into an adult. The family, who at the beginning of the book appeared hopeless and static, owing to the difficulties resulting from Gregor’s transformation became reinvigorated. They are now able to provide for themselves.
Quote
“He must go,” cried Gregor’s sister, “that’s the only solution, Father. You must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor. The fact that we’ve believed it for so long is the root of all our trouble.” (Kafka 62).
Reaction
This quote is very important because it shows that the family is fed up with Gregor’s transformation. They see his as a burden and they want to move on. Grete has gradually lost faith that any humanity remains in the bug at all, and she indicates that she no longer thinks of it as Gregor. The family has lost sympathy for the bug as they have become less certain that anything of Gregor remains and as the bug has become a greater burden to them. Shows the idea of existentialism, instead of Gregor to find a solution to his problem, he accepts it and is worried about his family that does not want him any more.
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