Life as a Bug
In Franz Kafka's fanciful novel The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find that he as been transformed into a beetle. As the story progresses, we can see that Gregor's life as a beetle is not all that different from Gregor's life while in human form. Because of this we have to ask ourselves "Does Gregor Samsa qualify as a human being?" I believe that Gregor does not qualify as a human being and had stopped being truly human long before his metamorphosis. Writers and philosophers throughout history have pondered on what it means to be human. One of the most famous, Rene Descartes, declared "Cogito, ergo sum" - I think therefore I am. But does Gregor meet this criterion; does he think? From the very beginning of the story Gregor emits a certain perpetual calm, his emotions never straying from a composed tranquility. Instead of being astonished or troubled by his transformation, Gregor wants to "sleep again for a while and forget all this stupidity" (Kafka p.201), as though suddenly turning into a bug doesn't disturb him at all. He only begins to worry when he realizes he is late for work. Gregor truly hates his job, even admitting that it is
241) And the Samsa family, now rid of the horrible stain that was Gregor, gaily goes off for a picnic in the countryside. We can see, then, that the metaphor of Gregor's transformation into a dung beetle expresses his lack of humanness. 202), yet he stays in his miserable position in order to support his whole family and to get them out of debt. 219) as though the family expects and even demands Gregor's selflessness. Kafka creates this outrageous story in order to clearly portray what a dehumanizing life Gregor has, and how it ultimately leads to his sorrowful death. When he hears of Gregor's death, Gregor's father, who has long since stopped treating Gregor like a human being, let alone his son, proclaims "We can thank god for that!" (Kafka p. Under the pretext of helping him, Gregor's sister Grete, brings him rotten food to eat and removes the furniture from his room, further dehumanizing him. So we can say that Gregor's metamorphosis seems just like a logical metaphorical progression in Gregor's life. And by the end of the story Gregor lives in perpetual dust and grime, for no one in the Samsa family has the time or the patience to clean the room of the person they once called brother and son. To most human beings this situation would be close to intolerable, yet Gregor seems to have relatively little to say about it.
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Acceptance Essays
