Lone Breadwinner

Gregor's family is incredibly rude and insensitive. Their son has been turned into a massive bug and all they do about it is keep him in a small room and barely feed him. His father, the most evil of all, went as far as to throw stuff at him and hurt him. “Gregor stood still in fright. Further running away was useless, for his father had decided to bombard him[With Fruit]” (Kafka 18) merely because Gregor  prevented them from taking a picture he wanted to keep, his father chased him around a living room throwing apples at him, and injured him with one lodged in his back. Kafka cleverly refers to his family as 'the father' and 'the mother' and so on for most of the essay in a very impersonal tone. The only time he uses proper nouns such as 'Grete' and 'Mr. Samsa' are when Gregor was dead or when Grete is being somewhat nice to Gregor. It just exemplifies that his family is rude and takes Gregor seriously for granted. “For his father breakfast was the most important meal time in the day, which he prolonged for hours by reading various newspapers”(Kafka 7),The father is so uncaring that even though his poor son is being kind enough to pay off his debt from his failed business, he does absolutely nothing and spends hours reading the news and eating breakfast. Gregor being the only breadwinner, his father gets out of practice in work and sleeping schedule. So when Gregor becomes indisposed, "With a sort of stubbornness the father refused to take off his servants uniform even at home, and while keeping his sleeping gown unused on the coat hook, the father dozed completely dressed in his place[the armchair],”(Kafka 19) He is so dramatic about it too, he lets the mother and Grete coddle him and flatter him for half an hour in order to get him to go to bed. Like a toddler.

           The time setting plays a huge part in the story as well. The Metamorphosis takes place in the same era that Kafka lived, around WWI and the Great depression. This 'modernist' era is one where unlimited capitalism is rampant and, for the average citizen, work is all there is. People would live short lives in which they worked only to subsist. Gregor, surprisingly optimistic, has to pay off his parents debt on top of his living expenses. Even when he is turned into a bug, he feels the urge to work, “Anyway, I haven’t completely given up that hope yet. Once I've got together the money to pay off my parents debt to him--- that should take another five or six years- ill do it for sure. Then Ill make the big break[quitting his job]. In any case, right now I have to get up. My train leaves at five o’clock”(Kafka 1). Five or six years is one eighth of the average life in that time period,  Gregor spends most of his life paying off his parents debt. And he is forced to work in an awful job with awful hours with a family that takes him for granted, yet he is still optimistic. He hasn't taken a sick day or a day off in all the years he has worked, and yet when he is an hour late to work the manager comes to his house and says “However, now I see your unimaginable pig headedness, and I am totally losing desire to speak up for you in the slightest. And your position is not at all the most secure” (Kafka 5). He threatens a minor traveling salesman with his job because he has turned into a bug and can get out of bed. With no laws protecting working conditions and hours, companies can expect extreme things from employees. And yet, Gregor takes every bit of it without objecting in the slightest. “’I’m opening the door immediately, this very moment. A slight indisposition, a dizzy spell, has prevented me form getting up. I’m still lying in bed right now. But I’m quite refreshed once again.’” (Kafka 5) He makes excuses for himself and apologizes intensely rather that simply telling the manager that he is a bug. Because he know that his family, friends, and coworkers would be upset and embarrassed that he had been turned into a bug. If you are worried your friends will be embarrassed that they know you, because you've been turned into a bug, there is something wrong with society. A mere sickness or indisposition causing shame is sad.