Indi NatarajanMr. M.
HarveyEnglish 2, Pre-IB16 March 2004 IsolationIn Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, the main character Gregor Samsa wakesup tofind himself transformed into an enormous bug. This sudden change, however,is not thebeginning of his isolation from his family. The book starts out in asetting most wouldconsider the starting point of seclusion, yet they will find later on thatis not so. There aremany events leading up to his physical change, but in reality the way he isemotionallytreated changes in no drastic way whatsoever. The harsh conditions of hisever-travelingjob and his family’s dwindling appreciation for the money he provides themare mainissues that precede Gregor’s actual transformation.
One form of isolation during the years advancing Gregor’s physicalchange washis life at home. Gregor loved his family and desperately wanted to keepthem happy,healthy, and safe; yet to accomplish all of this with only his providing ofmoney took alot of work. Slowly he drowned himself in work, for the good of the family;but at thesame time they slowly drowned him out of their affairs. His father hadalways givenGregor the idea that they were in desperate need of money, but it wasn’tuntil he was abug that he realized he was wrong in thinking “his father had not been ableto save apenny”.
Strangely, however, Gregor was not upset at the thought of beingmisled by hisfather to work even more strenuously when the family didn’t gravely needmoney. HeNatarajan 2thought of it as “the first pleasant news he had heard since hisimprisonment”. As hisfamily began isolating him from their life, Gregor began to have plenty oftime on hishands to think of issues concerning him, often reminiscing of the old days. At times hewould recall the “special up rush of warm feelings” that used to surroundhim whendelivering the hard earned cash to his family. He thought of how theirappreciation haddwindled.
Not that they weren’t grateful, but that they had simply acceptedthe fact thatGregor now took care of them. Although he was never upset at the subsidingreverencefor his work, he did resent that his family had “simply gotten used to it”. They eventuallystarted regarding him as just being there. He was now neither their son norbrother;instead he became the Gregor who pays for food and lives upstairs. Gregor’s job as a traveling salesman, “day in, day out – on theroad”, left himwith no time for himself, his friends, or his family.
On a normal day,Gregor wouldawaken around 4 o’clock, catch a train at 5 o’clock and return for lunchjust in time to seeother salesmen just awakening. He was completely devoted to his job; infact “during thefive years with the firm Gregor had not been sick even once”. His boss,however, stillkept a messenger boy waiting at the train stop to assure him of Gregor’sarrival. Thisshows that throughout all the years Gregor had worked with the firm, theyhave yet totreat him human and perhaps to trust his coming to work.
He often wonderedwhy hepicked such a “grueling job”, but deep down he knew he had to pay off hisparents’ sixyear debt. Gregor vowed that after he “got the money together to pay offhis parents’ debtto his boss” he would no longer stand for any of the heartless qualitiesassociated with thejob and would quit. The inhumanness of his job really became apparent whenheNatarajan 3recounted the terrible things he’s forced to do every day: “torture oftraveling, worryingabout changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantlyseeing new faces, norelationships that last or get more intimate”. Obviously during work thesethings weremajor contributors to Gregor’s isolation, and the conditions under whichGregor issupposed to work leave him with no time outside of his job.
Gregor’s life revolved completely around his family, and he tried ashard as hecould to provide them with a care-free life. In all the ways he couldimagine he createdexactly what he wanted: his sister’s life “consisted of wearing prettyclothes, sleepinglate, helping in the house, enjoying a few modest amusements, and above allplaying theviolin”. Gregor had also gone a step further and stored some money away,planning tosend his sister to the Conservatory where she could study music. Besidesall thewonderful things he tried to do; Gregor had gone over the top in trying toohard to supplyto his family a perfect life where they didn’t have to do any work. Becausehe tried tocarry the whole burden of his family on his shoulders, he became over-worked at his joband his family began taking advantage of him. Gregor became isolated farearlier thanwhen his physical appearance changed, he was outcast when he buried himselfin hiswork and lost contact with his family and society.
