Gregor's Father


     While the primary focus of the metamorphosis is on Gregor's change there are many other changes that take place. Gregor’s role as the primary breadwinner of the house is vacated and it ends up being filled by most of his family. The most interesting, in my opinion at least, is the transformation of Gregor’s father. He moves from being the super lazy person who doesn’t work and lounges around all day and leaches off he sun to the breadwinner who is leached of off by his insect son.
            Gregor’s father spends his days focused on breakfast before the transition. After words he becomes the diligent worker who doesn’t take his uniform off. This transition is the opposite of the transition of Gregor who goes from the super dedicated employee to someone focused on garbage, which is his food, all day.
            The main difference is that Gregor’s father’s sessile nature is brought on by his choice, but Gregor’s change is forced on him by circumstances outside of his control. This could be a comment on some people’s greatest fear, turning into their fathers. Considering Kafka’s relationship with his father, I think that this could be a very real fear. Gregor’s transformation into in insect is portrayed as disgusting and vile, literally in German, vermin, I think for Kafka the transformation into his father is equally as disgusting.


Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 13, 2018 at 12:57 PM

    That's a great connection considering Gregors possibly masked anger at his father for staying at home, which like you pointed out is exactly what gregor must do. Gregor even views himself as holding his family back and purposely dies to "help" his family. It's interesting to particularly view his relationship with his father, since the mother and sister also undergo complete transformations. I think gregor feels particularly strong about his father just like kafka, and doesn't seem to be as focused on the mom despite her being described as sitting and wheezing all day, to now working for the family.

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  2. AlexOctober 13, 2018 at 2:15 PM

    You make a really good point. I can believe that Gregor's transformation into an insect is a metaphor for him transforming into his father, and that Gregor himself is analogous to Kafka. Post-transformation Gregor and per-transformation Gregor's father certainly have a lot in common and given Kafka's poor relationship with his father it stands to reason that he would be afraid of transforming into him.

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  3. AdamOctober 13, 2018 at 2:44 PM

    It seems like it isn't just Gregor who undergoes a transformation in The Metamorphosis. As you point out in your blog post, there is clear change in Gregor's father, especially when looking at his image after Gregor's transformation (from an obese, lazy, old man who sits in his chair eating and reading newspapers all day to a confident and tidy working man). In my blog post, I talked about Gregor's sister, Grete, and it seems there is also a transformation for her as well. I am though having a bit of trouble seeing a defining characteristic change for Gregor's mother, but I'm sure there is one for her too.

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    Replies
    1. AnnaOctober 13, 2018 at 4:31 PM

      It's like everyone is Gregor's family undergoes a metamorphosis. Except ironically Gregor who stays spineless throughout the whole book. His family goes from leaching off of him to being depressed and constantly working. Then at the end of the book they became happy (although they still have to work) and carefree as Gregor dies. It really seems like the metamorphosis is about everyone's change except Gregor. So although he has a physical transformation his mind stays the same. This is the exact opposite for what happens to Gregor's family who undergo a mental transformation.

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  4. Eli GarrettOctober 13, 2018 at 8:43 PM

    I think the idea that Kafka wrote The Metamorphosis and called out his father in it is the greatest thing a book can do. Also, the idea that it portrayed one of Kafka's greatest fears is very interesting, and perhaps explains why so much of the book is creepy family relationships and actions.

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  5. Nic RamkumarOctober 13, 2018 at 9:20 PM

    If Gregor really does have an Oedipus complex like we talked about in class, them maybe something similar is happening with Grete and her mother. At the end of the book it talks about how hot Grete became and if Gregor really did have sexual feelings for his mother then maybe there's a link between the two things.

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  6. MartinOctober 13, 2018 at 9:36 PM

    Overall a very good idea and points that I hadn't considered before, but I'm not so sure Gregor's father had that much of a choice. He knows it's the right thing to do, but he basically has to do it because his wife loses her breath after 3 steps and his sister is not really in the best position to get a good job.

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  7. Sophia SchmitzNovember 2, 2018 at 9:21 AM

    I agree the physical transformation of Gregor was not the only transformation in the story. We saw the whole family transform. The father took on a job, the mother did some small work at home, and event he sister started working. I do not think it was their choice to start working but it was the only way that the family could have survived.

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