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If you could no longer be useful…would people still see you as fully human? Franz Kafka confronts this uncomfortable truth in his classic that you were probably forced to read in high school. My underdeveloped 17 year old brain at the time couldn’t expand beyond girls, Call of Duty and Family Guy. Now as a middle age male with more maturity and life experience, the sophistication and profound ideas in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis have given me appreciation for his literary work. In fact, I’d argue that this book is one of the best metaphors depicting raw and ugly human behavior. If someone becomes useless, how will that impact how they’re treated? Let’s put a pin in that question and set the stage. 

Feeling Kafkaesque? 

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was born in Prague to a German-speaking Jewish family. He trained as a lawyer and like most of us worked a monotonous and unexciting day job. Not surprising to hear that the man whose name is is used in Kafkaesque (defined as: a situation or experience that is bizarre, disorienting, and menacingly complex, often involving an oppressive, baffling bureaucracy) worked a white collar job in an insurance institute. 

During the day Kafkas work at an insurance institute and by night he would write fiction. He didn’t publish much in his lifetime. In fact, he instructed his friend Max Brod to burn his unfinished books after he died. His writing was influenced by his life experiences. Like grapes in an a vineyard getting through local flavor from factors in their environment (this process is known as teror), we can almost taste the bitterness and emotions that Kafka felt at the time of his writing. These influences ranged from his family tensions, intellectual circles, poor health, and his love for Eastern European literary giants. Let’s unpack these starting with family tensions. 

His family tensions stemmed from a domineering father, Hermann Kafka. In Kafka’s Letter to His Father he lays out a lifetime of feeling inadequate and small. Which sounds a lot like a the beetle in The Metamorphosis. Kafka participated in many intellectual circles. He was immersed in Yiddish theater, Jewish mysticism, and politics. Whether it was from these groups or his own interest, he sought out books written by Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Kleist, and Goethe. I mentioned before that Kafka died at an early age of 40. He suffered from chronic illness and insomnia.

Why Write The Metamorphosis 📝

Kafka in 1912 wrote The Metamorphosis in 3 weeks! And he did so with a burst of intensity. There’s only speculation for his why, but scholars point to several theories. The first was a confrontation with his father and his struggle to be taken seriously as a writer. Second, it could have been his guilt and anxiety about being a burden to his family and feeling worthless to them when he couldn’t work. Third, Kafka may have woke up one day feeling like a stranger in his own life. Unable to communicate and misunderstood. The third theory is the strongest, but I think all three theories can be true at the same time. 

At the time of Kafka’s early death, his friend Brod did NOT burn his unfinished books. And because of him that’s why we have novels like The Trial and The Castle at all. 

Now some interesting facts about Kafka and The Metamorphosis. Kafka never specifies what Gregor turns into. The book was translated from German into English and the German word “Ungeziefer” means “vermin” or “unclean pest.” 

“Kafkaesque” entered the English language. And is used to describe nightmarish, illogical bureaucracy. I’ve never used it, but I dare you to. 

Kafka Tea 🫖 

Now for some tea on Kafka’s love life. He was engaged three times (twice to the same woman, Felice Bauer) and broke off each engagement, partly out of fear that marriage would destroy his writing. Which goes to show how much love he had for his craft, arguably to a fault. Let’s plunge into the story now. 

The Plot 🔍

The story opens up with literature’s most famous lines. “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman supporting his family (parents and sister) wakes up transformed into a giant insect. Remember the German translation is “vermin or pest.” Upon this realization, one would think he’d be more concerned about the transformation itself, but that’s not the case. His biggest concern is that he’s going to be late for work. He’s almost in denial, or he has white collar brain (having a dulled brain because of long days and boredom at a desk). He says, “How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense.” 

I’ll give my side commentary here, personally I’ve had moments where I’ve been more concerned about my work than I have been about myself. I’ve had moments where I had pneumonia but worked any way. In one instance I delayed seeing a doctor about a bad shoulder injury for a year because I was worried about delaying projects. This mind virus is what Kafka warns us about. Prioritizing work over well being. To support this, Gregor says, “What a fate: to be condemned to work for a firm where the slightest negligence at once gave rise to the gravest suspicion!”

Back to the story. 

Gregor’s office manager visits his home to check on him, and when Gregor gets out of bed and opens the door, his manager and family are terrified by his transformation. Understandably. The manager runs away in fear. Gregor’s father attacks him and forces him back into the room with a cane and a newspaper, which causes injury.

Eventually Gregor’s realizes whats going on and is forced to cope. His family is forced to work. The father returns to work, his mother takes up sewing again, his sister Grete gets a job, and they convert their home into a boarding house. Gregor struggles to live normally, again no surprises here. Grete his sister is a full time employee and becomes a full time caregiver for Gregor. She feeds him and cleans him. Not sure what that entails, but it doesn’t sound appealing. I’m imagining all the tasks that come with caring for a baby but with a giant vermin. Changing, powdering, and everything in between. Initially Grete serves as Gregor’s main connection to the family. 

Gregor, still has the mind of his former self, hides under the couch to avoid frightening Grete. Which to me makes things much more frightening. In the room, Gregor grows attached to a picture on his wall. Now with the transformation, not only to Gregor but to the family having to take up jobs, care for Gregor, and open a 20th century AirB&B, tensions rise. When Grete and their mother try to remove furniture to give him more crawl space, Gregor panics and views this as an attack or erasure of his humanity. He clings to the picture frame, terrifying his mother. His father, similar to Kafka’s father’s personality of judgement and quick temper, becomes enraged and throws apples at him. An apple lodges in Gregor’s back and causes a lasting wound.

Now the tragedy. Gregor grows weaker each day as he becomes more isolated. His family stops trying to communicate with him and it’s apparent that he’s becoming a burden. The household deteriorates, Grete neglects his room which probably looks like a disgusting insect jar at this point but with carpet, and the family takes in three lodgers to make ends meet. One night Gregor leaves his room as he hears Grete’s violin playing. From the book were given insight to Gregor’s thoughts, “Was he an animal, that music could move him so? … It seemed to him that he was being shown the way to the unknown nourishment he had been yearning for.”

The lodgers who are unaware of the giant insect in the home, discover him and are disgusted. They threaten to leave without paying rent. This becomes the straw that breaks the camels back. Grete declares they must get rid of “it,” which dehumanizes Gregor. Wounded emotionally and physically, Gregor loses all his desire to live and retreats to his room. He dies quietly before dawn. Before doing so we learn that and I quote, “He thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister’s.”

What should be a tragedy is actually a big sigh of relief to the family. The cleaning woman disposes of his body. And the final scene is Gregor’s family taking riding to the countryside and discussing plans for a brighter future. Ouch. 

The Big Idea 🧠

Gregor Samsa’s transformation is less about becoming a bug than becoming unwanted. Kafka asks a haunting question: if you could no longer provide, achieve, or be useful… would people still see you as fully human? 

My quick hot take is this, in relationships there butterflies 🦋 and there are leaches 🪱. Some relationships beautify while others suck the life out of you. This goes both ways, and I see this as a subtle reminder about human behavior. Gregor’s close circle is full of leaches, sadly.

Now the main themes found in The Metamorphosis are  alienation, guilt, and family/economic pressures. 

Alienation and dehumanization 👨➡️🪲 

Gregor’s physical and circumstantial transformation exposed an alienation already present. His income was more valuable to those around him than his humanity, soul, relationship, whatever we want to call it. He was an economic function. Once he can no longer work, his “insect” or “vermin”status just becomes literal. A reality made more reality. He became what his family saw. Not a person. Side commentary here, this is a genuine concern or fear that we see play out the real world, in literature and movies. For example, Breaking Bad. A man who gives up his humanity in the name of supporting his family. Individuals in their old age fearing of becoming a burden to their families. Slap of reality here, thats not an if but when. Yes taking care of someone can be burdensome, but in a healthy relationship and view of life we expect this to happen. And we do so out of responsibility and love for the person. 

Family & Economic Dependency 💰 

Gregor’s capacity for love is revealed to be contingent on Gregor’s usefulness aka his income. As soon as thats gone, the other family members find work and their tenderness for him quickly disappears. Kafka argues how capitalism can hollow out families and transform bonds into transactions.

Guilt 👨‍⚖️ 

Gregor never becomes upset against his transformation. His tragedy is the shame and worthlessness he feels. He’s more concerned for the trouble he’s caused (outside of his control), even as he starves to death. His death is caused by a loss of to exist once he accepts he’s a burden.

The Body Prison ⛓️‍💥 

The insect body makes visible what Gregor’s human body had been masking. Exhaustion, resentment, and estrangement from a job and family he never chose. Another perspective or way of interpreting this story, is that the transformation is almost a relief. An awful but forced permission to stop performing. There’s a saying that circumstances reveal the man. Circumstances expose us and those around us, during the good times and the bad. Gregor’s new body is a prison, a prison he’s been punished with for his actions. There’s no running away any more, he’s trapped and forced to deal with the consequences of his actions. We make our choices, but we don’t choose the consequences. 

Grete’s Arc as a Mirror 🪞 

Grete’s transformation runs opposite to Gregor’s. She grows to become a capable young woman as Gregor becomes more helpless. The final scene is a cruel climax. Gregor’s death sparks hope for her future, making his sacrifice (unacknowledged) the precondition for her flourishing.

This is Absurd 🎩 

Kafka never explains the WHY for Gregor’s transformation. His refusal to give a cause is the point. That point being meaning or justice don’t come from the universe. It’s up to the reader to construct significance in a universe that offers none. “Our identity often becomes tied to what we contribute, not who we are.” Kafka suggests that losing a job, status, or ability can also mean losing the way others treat us. It’s a reminder to separate our worth from our usefulness. Imagine someone whose career defines their identity. After being laid off, invitations stop, coworkers disappear, and even family conversations change. Nothing about their character changed. Only the role they played. Kafka’s story still feels surprisingly modern.

A question to ask ourselves is if everything that made you “successful” disappeared tomorrow, what part of you would remain unchanged? 🪲🧍‍♂️

That’s it for today, thank you for listening. If you want more book recommendations and hot takes like this, follow @underlinethis on social and YouTube — that’s where I share the stuff that doesn’t make it into the episode. Next time, we’re diving into Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley— see you then! 🎙️ 

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