Everyone's Got a Sob Story and the Sigh is Always the Same.

I am a crier. I don’t hide it, or shall I say, I can’t hide it, because frankly, I cry all the time. I cry during the previews for episodes of Extreme Makeover Home Edition, I cry when I read the Pet Place section of the classifieds, I cry when I see an elderly couple holding hands, I cry about nothing at all and everything at the same time. While reading “The Metamorphosis” the other night, I found myself sitting in a plush chair at Starbucks with tears rolling down my cheeks, wondering why on Earth I was crying. Not only was this embarrassing in itself, it didn’t help that the man sitting across from me, another ‘regular’ at this particular Starbucks, felt the need to butt in and inquire about what was wrong. So there I was trying to explain to Brian, the pharmacist, that I was reading a story for school about a man who morphs into a bug, and that I had begun to cry because the bug spent four hours covering himself with a sheet so that his sister didn’t have to see him when she came in to bring him his food. This explanation was followed with a smile and a nod, and then Brian went back to work. But that is beside the point. After this humiliating episode, I couldn’t help but wonder what it was that triggered my tears.

Franz Kafka’s story, although peculiar and seemingly trivial, holds some very deep ideas. Gregor’s character represents something far more profound than just some man morphing into a bug, which seems almost humorous because of how far-fetched it is. Gregor’s metamorphosis represents his escape from the expectations of his family. For numerous years, Gregor was the money maker in the family. He worked hard at a job that he didn’t enjoy, just so that he could provide money for a family that didn’t even appreciate his hard work. Soon after Gregor wakes up to find himself as a bug, his family realizes that in order to keep their comfortable lifestyle without Gregor working, they have to take responsibility, lifting the burden off of Gregor. The story upsets me because instead of realizing how important Gregor’s contribution was to the family, instead they are disappointed in their loss of disposable income and annoyed by the fact that they have to work. It shows how greed can take the place of family values, and it is just one example of how families do not appreciate what it means to have each other around and have no understanding of the enormous contributions that each individual makes to each other's happiness.

So why did Gregor cover himself with a sheet, disrespecting himself, in order to save his sister the humiliation and disgust of seeing him as a bug? I can not be sure exactly, but I do know that Gregor’s family made him feel as though it was his responsibility to make them all happy. So when Grete was upset by the sight of Gregor, he took it upon himself to make sure that she would not have to be upset on his account in the future. I only wish that Gregor’s family would have taken the time to realize that the reason Gregor’s metamorphosis affected them as much as it did was not because they lost his income, but because they lost a caring son and brother, who was a vital part of the family and a fantastic role model.