In Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa awakes one morning and "[finds] himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect." During the past five years, all Gregor has done is wake up, get on a train, and go to work, every single day. This routine has made his life quite monotonous, similar to a bug's life. Gregor doesn't do anything out of the ordinary and all his family cares about is the money he brings home. When he transforms into a bug, Gregor's routine finally comes to a stop. Now that he can no longer go to work, his family believes that Gregor is now useless and has become a liability.
The descriptions of Gregor's appearance after his transformation are so unique to a bug's appearance that it had to have actually happened. The description of "his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments" and "his numerous legs" that "waved helplessly before his eyes" are things that describe a bug and nothing else. Gregor felt comfortable hiding under the couch and crawling on the walls and ceiling where he was unable to be squashed. Also, the fact that Gregor's father had the instinct to "lift his feet uncommonly high" as if to try to step on him like anyone would try to kill a bug on the floor. The charwoman even referred to Gregor as an "old dung beetle" whenever she went into his room.
The fact that Gregor's life was so monotonous caused him to transform into a bug. Kafka tries to inform people to have variety in their lives, or else their routines will end in a miserable life. All of the descriptions and Gregor's new habits allow the reader to believe that Gregor has indeed turned into a bug.
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I think that Gregor's transformation was genuine as well. Like you, I looked to the reactions of the family to prove that Gregor had really been turned into an insect. Metamorphosis is a magical realism story, with the transformation and Gregor's reaction as the magical part, and the family's reaction as the realism part.
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