The Metamorphosis

Gregor wakes up on his bedroom floor at twilight. Energized from his day-long rest, Gregor moves toward his bedroom door, "groping awkwardly with his feelers" (18). The morning's incident with Mr. Samsa has left Gregor’s left side feeling like a "long unpleasantly stretched scar" (18), and he has to hobble on his sets of legs. 

As Gregor reaches the bedroom door, he realizes what lured him there: the sweet smell of milk and bread. Excited to eat his favorite meal, Gregor thrusts his head into the milk bowl but draws back just as quickly. It's not the pain in his left side that keeps him from eating, it's that the food "does not appeal to him at all" (18). Disappointed and hungry, Gregor crawls back to the middle of his bedroom. 

Through a crack in his bedroom's double doors, Gregor sees the light from a gas lamp coming from the living room. From Grete's letters to him, Gregor knows that normally at this time, Mr. Samsa reads aloud from the newspaper to Mrs. Samsa and Grete. Gregor knows his family is in the living room, yet tonight they make no sound. Gregor feels proud that his steady job has provided his family with "all tranquility, all prosperity, all contentment" (19), but he now fears it will all end. Gregor tries to keep his mind from such anxiety.

At some point in the evening, someone opens one of Gregor's bedroom doors a crack then quickly shuts it. Gregor feels "determined to bring in the hesitant visitor" (19), but no one comes back. The lights shut off in the living room and Gregor realizes no one will come to see him until the next day. Now, Gregor has all night to think about how he will "reorganize his life from scratch" (19). The tall ceilings in his room, familiar after five years, now make Gregor anxious and he scurries, "not without a slight shame" (19), under the couch. His wide body only fits partway, but the cramped conditions make Gregor "very comfortable" (19). 

After a night of fitful sleep, interrupted by hunger and worry about the effects of his "present condition" (19), Gregor awakens at dawn. Grete opens Gregor's bedroom door and looks around "eagerly" (20). When Grete sees Gregor sticking out from under the couch, she goes back out, slamming the door. Almost immediately, she reenters the room, walking on tip toes as though Gregor were "a serious invalid or a total stranger" (20). 

From under the couch, Gregor positions his head so that he can watch Grete. He is delighted that Grete notices he hasn't eaten the bread and milk. Grete grabs the bowl with a rag and takes it out of the room. She returns with "an entire selection" (20) of food for Gregor to try, which she spreads out on a newspaper. Grete has brought "old half-rotten vegetables" (20), bones from last night's meal, raisins, almonds, stale bread, and cheese "Gregor had declared inedible two days earlier" (20). Grete also sets out a bowl of water, then leaves the room and locks the door behind her, allowing Gregor privacy in which to eat. 

Gregor maneuvers out from under the couch, surprised that his wounds seem to have healed completely. He eats with gusto, first the cheese, then the rotting vegetables, then the sauce on the leftover bones. Gregor not only doesn't care for the fresh food but carries the rotting food he's eating a little way away from it. Sated, Gregor begins dozing in the middle of his room. Grete returns to the room and Gregor scampers back under the couch as she cleans up his meal, even things he didn't touch. 

This becomes routine, with Grete bringing Gregor scraps early in the morning before their parents and Anna rise, and in the afternoon while her parents nap and she sends Anna out on errands. Because no one can understand Gregor's speech, the family assumes Gregor cannot understand theirs. When Grete cleans up Gregor's meals, she sometimes talks to herself. 

Gregor begins eavesdropping by pressing his entire body against "the appropriate door" (22) whenever he hears voices in the living room. Early into his transformation, Gregor hears his family have many conversations about him. He notices that there are always at least two people in the house aside from him. No one wants to be alone with him, nor do they want to leave him alone. Gregor also heard Anna beg Mrs. Samsa to "let her go immediately" (22), then thank her as though "she was receiving the greatest favor which people had shown her" (22). 

In addition to conversations about himself, Gregor overhears Mr. Samsa discussing the family's finances. Mr. Samsa still has a bit of money from his former business which he keeps in "a small lock box" (22). Gregor had worried that there was nothing left but had never heard Mr. Samsa speak of it either way. Learning that there is at least some money left provides Gregor with some relief. Gregor recalls how his father's "business misfortune" (23) forced Gregor to take on a job as a travelling salesman. He reflects that bringing home a steady income and commissions used to bring his family joy, but now only Grete seems close to him.

Before his transformation, Gregor had planned to use his income to send Grete to conservatory for violin. He planned to reveal these intentions to his family on Christmas Eve. These spoiled dreams sometimes cause Gregor anguish so that he hits his head against his bedroom door. When he does this, the conversation in the living room stops and Mr. Samsa says, "There he goes on again" (23). 

Through his eavesdropping, Gregor finds out that Mr. Samsa believes the family has enough money "from the old times" (23) and from what's left of Gregor's income to survive. Even though this news pleases Gregor, he knows he could have paid off Mr. Samsa's debts to his employer if he was able to keep working. Gregor knows that the money his family has isn't "nearly sufficient" (24) for his family to continue paying off their debt. Gregor thinks they can survive at most a year or two. He wonders how they'll earn the money they need to live, as no one in his family is suited to working. These thoughts keep Gregor awake most nights. 

Gregor begins to spend four hours each day pushing a chair over to his window so that he can look outside. He realizes that he's able to see with less clarity each day, so even his familiar street seems to be "a featureless wasteland" (25) of grey. Grete routinely moves the chair away from the window until she understands that Gregor must like it there. 

Every day when Grete comes into Gregor's room, she rushes to the window and flings it open to air out the space. The sound of Grete rushing to the window, without even closing his bedroom door, frightens Gregor, who cowers under his couch. One day, about a month after his transformation, Grete enters Gregor's room while he's still standing on the chair, looking out the window. Grete runs out of the room and doesn't return again until lunchtime. Gregor realizes his appearance is "still constantly intolerable" (25) to Grete and laboriously positions his bedsheet over the couch so that he can hide his body completely the next time she visits him. 

Two weeks after Gregor's transformation, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Samsa have made any attempts to visit their son. They do wait outside his bedroom door while Grete tidies his room, eager to hear about Gregor's condition and whether there might be some "slight improvement" (26). However, Mrs. Samsa soon begins to ask to see Gregor, her "unlucky son" (26). Gregor hopes that his mother, a more sensible, mature woman than Grete, will come to visit him. 

Gregor has grown tired of creeping around on only his bedroom floor. One day, he begins crawling on the walls and ceiling, too. This gives Gregor a sense of "happy amusement" (26) and allows him to breathe more easily. Grete notices the "sticky stuff" (27) Gregor's movements leave on the walls and decides that she should move some of his furniture out of the bedroom to make it easier for Gregor to climb. 

Grete, however, isn't strong enough to move the dresser and writing desk on her own. She can't ask Mr. Samsa, nor Anna, who has asked to be confined to the kitchen, so she decides to ask Mrs. Samsa while Mr. Samsa is out of the house. Gregor conceals himself completely beneath the couch and doesn't even try to peek out. Grete tells Mrs. Samsa Gregor is "not visible" (27) and Mrs. Samsa enters the room. Gregor listens to the "two weak women" (27) struggle with moving the dresser. Eventually, Mrs. Samsa asks whether moving the furniture is a good idea. She argues that removing the furniture may show that they've given up "all hope of an improvement" (28). Mrs. Samsa also says that once Gregor gets better, the sight of his room being rearranged may remind him of this time. 

As he hears this, Gregor realizes that "the lack of all immediate human contact" (28) has "confused his understanding" (28). He can't understand why he would ever think that removing the furniture would be good for him. Gregor realizes he must prevent the removal of anything. However, Grete disagrees with Mrs. Samsa and Gregor. She convinces Mrs. Samsa to continue their task and the two move the heavy dresser out of the room. 

Gradually, Gregor becomes overwhelmed by the "swollen commotion" (29) of his sister and mother's movements. When Mrs. Samsa and Grete leave the room, Gregor scrambles out from under the couch, intending to stop them from taking anything more. He spots the picture of the woman in furs hanging in the frame he crafted and crawls onto it. The frame's glass cools his "hot abdomen" (29). When Grete and Mrs. Samsa return, Grete sees Gregor and tries to get Mrs. Samsa to leave the room again, suggesting that maybe they should take a longer break. However, Grete makes Mrs. Samsa suspicious and she turns to see Gregor on the wall. The sight makes her faint onto the couch. 

Grete raises her fist at Gregor, saying, "Gregor, you…" (30). She then goes to the medicine cabinet to find something with which to "revive" (30) their mother. Gregor, wanting to help his sister, "as in earlier times" (30), pries himself off the glass and scuttles out of his room. Grete, surprised to see Gregor, drops the glass she's holding, and a shard of glass cuts his face. Grete gathers a few glass containers, then returns to Gregor's room, locking the door behind her. Overwhelmed "with self-reproach and worry" (31), Gregor begins to crawl on the walls, furniture, and ceiling. He then collapses onto the table. 

Gregor lies on the table while Grete attends to their mother in his bedroom. The apartment bell rings and Mr. Samsa comes inside. Gregor hears Grete telling Mr. Samsa that Mrs. Samsa has fainted but she's recovering now. Grete also says that Gregor "has broken loose" (31) and Mr. Samsa says he "expected that" (31). He tells Grete that she and her mother should have listened to him. Gregor realizes that Mr. Samsa believes he's "committed some violent crime or other" (31). Gregor wants to find a way to calm his father. Since he can't communicate verbally, Gregor rushes to his bedroom door and presses his head against it, trying to show that he intends to go back inside. 

Mr. Samsa approaches Gregor with anger and pleasure. Gregor scarcely recognizes his father, dressed as he is in the blue uniform "servants wear in a banking company" (32). Mr. Samsa raises his huge boot over Gregor, who runs away until Mr. Samsa stops moving. Gregor decides to stay on the floor, fearing that his father will take any movement to the walls or ceiling as a gesture of hostility. However, Gregor begins to "suffer from a shortage of breath" (32) and can only stagger around with his eyes closed. 

Mr. Samsa begins throwing small apples at Gregor. The first few miss him but then one lands on his back, causing an "unexpected and incredible pain" (33) when Gregor tries to move. Paralyzed, Gregor watches as his mother emerges from his room in her underwear, Grete having taken their mother's clothes off to "give her some freedom to breathe" (33). Mrs. Samsa flings herself at Mr. Samsa, clinging to him, and begs him to spare Gregor's life.