What If You Became A Cockroach?

I already knew how the story went before I started reading it because I had watched a YouTube video explaining Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. It is the story of Gregor Samsa, who had transformed into a bug of sorts in his sleep. Whether he had a spell cast on him or ate something that triggered it, I didn’t know; it wasn't revealed in the story.

The oddity of the book pulled me to read it.

Gregor was the breadwinner of his family. He had been heavily bearing the weight of getting his parents out of debt and setting up his younger sister. His transition to a bug was a highly unexpected and inconvenient event for him and his family because he could neither work nor help around the house. How he was going to get to work was his main concern when he realised he had been transformed after he woke up.

One would think that his transition would be tolerated by his family, even if mildly, considering how he had been providing for them. However, that was not the case, as he was only tolerated for a while before being ignored, uncared for and made known to be a pest and a source of grief to both his parents.

On a lighter note, his transition forced everyone in the family to pick up jobs again to keep their roof over their head and food on their table. They eventually got around to leasing out a room in their home to three gentlemen to make more money

Gregor reached a breaking point. He was displeased at not being able to convey his thoughts to his family, as well as knew how much of a burden he appeared to be. Even in his sorry state, he wished he could send his sister to the conservatory as he intended to before Christmas, to help his father pay off the debt he had been working on, and to relieve his mother of stress for the sake of her health. Gregor was driven by a noble cause, but in his bug-like state, he could only remain depressed.

He caused a lot of issues for his sister, who initially cared for him but eventually started despising him. Unfortunately for him, one day, he made his mother faint, which made his sister panic, which made his father hurl an apple at him, which got wedged in his back and caused him intense pain until it rotted.

The months went on, and his appearance in the living room one evening while his sister played the violin was met harshly. All he wanted to do was tell her how much he loved how she sounded on the instrument. Instead, his father chased him back to his room, his sister screamed at his parents to chase him out of the house, and his mother was rendered immobile. He knew that his good intention was taken with contempt, as everyone had had it with his useless presence in the home. Bear in mind that this was the same person who was the family’s breadwinner for many years while his father didn’t work.

That night, after getting chased back and locked in his room, Gregor’s heart was burdened heavily with grief, pain, and regret. He got weaker and weaker; he couldn’t feel the pain that once tormented him so strongly anymore, and eventually, Gregor breathed his last, and once again relieved his family of a burden.

What shocked me the most was how quickly his family moved on from his death. That’s one thing that always baffles me about classics; the portrayal of family life in those days was always peculiar, and on a spectrum; you either have a family that is overbearingly loving or one that is aloof about everything. I am yet to read a classic that portrays family life between this spectrum.

Metamorphosis made me wonder how — even in present times — the breadwinner of a family will be treated once they become indisposed, tired, or fed up. Will they be cared for temporarily like Gregor, or for a long time? Will they be instantly cut off or tolerated? Or will they suffer the same fate as Gregor Samsa, and be left to die after being neglected because of how everyone’s schedules and routines had to switch from them taking a step back? I wonder.

Honest Takeaways

I wonder how Gregor changed into a bug overnight. The book did not explain; he just woke up that way. Aside from that, I’m going to pick up reading more classics; I fully intend to read more Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Franz Kafka, Emily Brontë, and so so many more. I fell in love with Kafka’s writing; I could feel my brain expanding as I took in his well-structured and detailed sentences, and how well the messages were conveyed using simple, yet mature words.

Now, I need to find money to buy said authors and more.

Over to you; what will you do if you became a cockroach overnight?