Integrated Analysis on Kafka

Franz Kafka, in his novella, "The Metamorphosis," shows Gregor's changing mentality and physical reality. As Gregor's physical characteristics degrade, his link with the human world does as well. Kafka focuses on Gregor's physical change, but it is fundamentally the mental breakdown that Kafka demonstrates through the situation. Part of him still feels human as he attempts to explain his condition to the head clerk. As the story progresses, Gregor is less and less human, and more insect-like. He begins to accept that he can no longer provide for his family, something he obsessed about before the transformation. Gregor's family also goes through a transformation. They each change their attitudes toward money, each other, and life. They switch roles as Gregor becomes dependant on his family and they become the provider. The Article Myriad writes, "As this character analysis of Gregor in "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka suggests, his mother, father, and his sister have not changed form, but their metamorphoses are the most profound because they demonstrate how easily one’s beliefs, values, and basic treatment of others can be compromised because of a failure to adapt psychologically." Gregor becomes more and more of a burden as their transformations become more complete. Grete, Gregor's sister, was kindest to him before he changed, but is the first to want to dispose of him. Gregor's metamorphosis is a physical representation of the mental isolation he had before he transformed, and his death shows the psychological corruption of his family: the effect of their transformation.