"Gregor ate hardly anything anymore. Only when he chanced to move past the food which had been prepared did he, as a game, take a bit into his mouth, hold it there for hours, and generally spit it out again. At first he thought it might be his sadness over the condition of his room which kept him from eating, but he very soon became reconciled to the alterations in his room. People had grown accustomed to discard in his room things which they could not put anywhere else, and at this point there were many such things, now that they had rented one room of the apartment to three lodgers. These solemn gentlemen—all three had full beards, as Gregor once found out through a crack in the door—were meticulously intent on tidiness, not only in their own room but, since they had now rented a room here, in the entire household, particularly in the kitchen. They simply did not tolerate any useless or shoddy stuff. Moreover, for the most part they had brought with them their own pieces of furniture. Thus, many items had become superfluous, and these were not really things one could sell or things people wanted to throw out. All these items ended up in Gregor’s room, even the box of ashes and the garbage pail from the kitchen. The cleaning woman, always in a hurry, simply flung anything that was momentarily useless into Gregor’s room. Fortunately Gregor generally saw only the relevant object and the hand which held it. The cleaning woman perhaps was intending, when time and opportunity allowed, to take the stuff out again or to throw everything out all at once, but in fact the things remained lying there, wherever they had ended up at the first throw, unless Gregor squirmed his way through the accumulation of junk and moved it. At first he was forced to do this because otherwise there was no room for him to creep around, but later he did it with a growing pleasure, although after such movements, tired to death and feeling wretched, he did not budge again for hours."
Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis is a hauntingly strange novella concerning a traveling salesman named Gregor who one day wakes up to find he has changed into a monstrous vermin. Told in a unconventional non-Aristotelian structure, the story begins with the climax and is focused not on the transformation itself nor how it came to be but rather on the events that stem from this happening. There are many themes found within the text, including Gregor's isolation and alienation from "normal" society, the sacrifices Gregor has made and the guilt he experiences as a result, and the perversion of the typical nuclear family unit. One of the most striking aspects of the text is the number of greatly different interpretations that are possible from this short work.
The passage chosen for this commentary takes place in the last chapter of the novella. It describes Gregor's decreased appetite and introduces the three lodgers, who have moved into the house and have caused* useless or superfluous items to be discarded in Gregor's room, which soon accumulates with rubbish. Within this passage, the themes of sacrifice, isolation, power relations, mental decay and the ostracization of those who are considered by society to be abnormal are evident, and information can be found concerning Gregor's mental state and the power hierarchy in the household, with an interesting commentary on social norms and society's treatment of those who are seen as abnormal.
Gregor's mental status, especially the deterioration* of his human characteristics and an increasing indifference towards both daily life and his verminous form*, is implied* within this passage through his decreased appetite for food, his emotions, and the pleasure he receives from creeping around his room.
Through the use of food and Gregor's decreasing desire to eat, Kafka expresses his growing indifference towards life. This is shown within the line "Gregor ate hardly anything anymore. Only when he chanced to move past the food which had been prepared did he, as a game, take a bit into his mouth, hold it there for hours, and generally spit it out again." Through this line, it is shown that the good which sustains Gregor and gives him life is not treated as essential by Gregor; indeed, he regards eating as a "game", whose connotations again emphasize how indifferent he is. The fact that he spits it out again is a sign of rejection, and could indicate that he is rejecting his human characteristics*. An ominous* interpretation of this is that through his financial sacrifice to his family, Gregor gave all he had of himself and therefore had almost nothing left, barely even the will to live, after the metamorphosis revealed his "true character" (a base, crawling insect). The effect of "ate hardly anything" is to produce an ominous* tone, and to foreshadow his death since he not eating sufficiently. Also, the fact that he holds it there for hours * This mention of food can be linked to Gregor's eating of only the decayed food when presented by his sister with a wide variety of food to sample, which showed his mental transformation into a bestial being.
Within this passage, Kafka also conveys that Gregor is still resisting consciousness of the metamorphosis and has not fully accepted its meaning, and its implications. This is best shown in the sentence "At first he thought it might be his sadness over the condition of his room which kept him from eating, but he very soon became reconciled to the alterations in his room." This relates to the beginning of the novella, in which he first pushed the idea of the metamorphosis out of his mind by concentrating on the worries of his job and then showed his subconscious attempts to resist knowledge of it through his looking outside the window and feeling melancholy due to the overcast wearing [and not the metamorphosis itself, which is arguably much more upsetting]. He has not fully accepted that he could well be in this form forever (something suggested when he recounts imagining "taking over the family's affairs"* again) or, at the very most, has accepted it but treats it with disregard. The transformation is not an important event for him, and he does not dwell on it; indeed, sometimes it feels like he has forgotten it has happened, as he almost never focuses on anything other than the practical aspects of his verminous form, and not the more theoretical ones (for example, why am I like this, or how did this happen). This raises the possibility that figuratively speaking, Gregor has always been an insect, or had the qualities of one due to always working and being forever consumed* by the practical aspects of life and not the theoretical, human-associated ones, and so the metamorphosis is in itself nothing that new. The use of "sadness" in this sentence serves to show that Gregor is still capable of feeling emotions, and it evokes a morose and despondent mood as well as implying* that Gregor is feeling deeply isolated.
Kafka also shows the decay of Gregor's humanity, and provides evidence that he is undergoing an continual transformation and not merely the initial one that occurs at the beginning of the become, through Gregor becoming increasing attuned to his body and the extreme fatigue he experiences within that body. This is displayed in the following sentence: "At first he was forced to do this because otherwise there was no room for him to creep around, but later he did it with a growing pleasure, although after such movements, tired to death and feeling wretched, he did not budge again for hours." The fact that he is able to "creep around" with a growing pleasure suggests that he is becoming more used to his body and is able to familiarize himself with it, and thus becoming more mentally used* to his new form (despite evidence above that he had not fully accepted it). It also shows the decaying of his humanity and a further metamorphosis into a less human-like creature, for Gregor as a human (provided that he is truly an insect now) never would have been able to derive pleasure from such an activity, and would be more likely to regard it as pointless (considering a simile he employs near the beginning of the story to compare travelling salesman who eat breakfast late - i.e., are more leisurely - with harem women, which has negative connotations). However, this is also implying that this decay of his human faculties is not a negative thing - at least he derives pleasure from it, something he did very rarely prior to the initial metamorphosis (in fact, the two things that sustained him most were the idea of paying back his parents' debt and quitting his job, and the hope of sending his sister to the Conservatory in the near future). The lethargic mood at the end, created by the hyperbolic and metaphoric use of "tired to death" and use of "did not budge again for hours", can represent just how tired he had been in his current life*.
The power hierarchy within the Samsa house is also portrayed within this passage, along with a look at the societal ramifications of such a power structure, and how those seen as "abnormal" by society are treated within a society.
Through effectively setting Gregor's room as a rubbish can where the rest of the simply dumps that which is useless or superfluous, Kafka is expressing not only how low he has become on the power hierarchy within the household for this to occur but also that Gregor himself has become, just like the clutter that fills his room, useless and superfluous. Evidence for this can be found within the passage "People had grown accustomed to discard in his room things which they could not put anywhere else, and at this point there were many such things [...]" His inability to provide for the family, which is the major need* of the role that he had taken from the father due to working and earning money while the father was not, is the cause of this uselessness, and once the rest of the family has begun working and bringing home money any ability to work of his has become superfluous as well. Kafka's choice of the ambiguous pronoun "people" may indicate that the "people" here represent society as a whole, and that the room into which they are discarding things represents the many places that exist for those considered "not normal" within society and who are, like Gregor, at the bottom of the power hierarchy - asylums, jails, hospitals. When read with this interpretation, the "things which they could not put anywhere else" clearly appears to represent the people who are placed in such institutions, for there is no nowhere else to put them.*
This notion of Gregor being useless and superfluous is reinforced by a later section. This section states: "Thus, many items had become superfluous, and these were not really things one could sell or things people wanted to throw out. All these items ended up in Gregor’s room, even the box of ashes and the garbage pail from the kitchen." The repeated use of "people" again suggests that it is meant to represent society, and the way society, in a way, "dumps" the unwanted members of itself in specialized institutions, just as the unwanted possessions within the Samsa household are dumped into Gregor's room. The mention of "box of ashes" and "garbage pail" helps to illustrate the type of rubbish* that is ending up in Gregor's room, and characterises the room itself as a garbage pail, suggesting that Gregor is simply piece of garbage, useless to the family and simply taking up space within the apartment until he can be disposed of entirely. Additionally, the fact that these are things that cannot be sold signifies *.
Another important point within this passage is that the lodgers who have taken up residence within the household have begun to dominate the household, and are even replacing Gregor in his former position of power as the head of the household. Besides the obvious fact that they are a source of income for the Samsa family, their dominance is shown in other ways as well, particularly in the following passage: "They simply did not tolerate any useless or shoddy stuff. Moreover, for the most part they had brought with them their own pieces of furniture." As this "useless and shoddy stuff" is currently being disposed of within Gregor's room, their intolerance of it could signify that they, who appear to represent normal figures of society, do not tolerate those who are not normal (e.g. Gregor). Their characterisation as practical and no-nonsense people due to their intolerance of uselessness or shoddiness reinforces this representation. Concerning the power hierarchy, the lodgers have likely supplanted Gregor's role and are now the head of the household, dispossessing the father in the same way Gregor dispossessed him unintentionally before the metamorphosis. The symbolism in the lodgers bringing their own pieces of furniture indicates that they have brought with them their own ideas about how the household should be run*[are* you* sure*], and that they have brought with them power as well. Their dominance is further shown by the lodgers' prevailing over the household the same way Gregor had, by reading the newspaper and taking predominance over the dining table. Additionally, just like Gregor, their presence is unwanted and burdensome, especially after the lodgers discover Gregor and refuse to pay for their lodging.
Through this passage, Kafka provides more evidence for the possibility that Gregor is undergoing a continual metamorphosis in which he is gradually becoming more indifferent towards life, shows that Gregor's former position in the family is slipping further and further away from him and provides an insightful commentary on the way those regarded as not normal in a society are treated. While this passage is not as significant in relation to the plot of the story as Gregor's death, for example, or as laden with symbolism and imagery as the passage relating him being bombarded with apples by his father, it does depict* the accumulation of clutter within Gregor's room, which is an important symbolic happening within the story*.
One interpretation of the text is that it attacks conventional features of modern [20th century] Western society. There are many important questions and criticisms raised according to this interpretation, including the value of gender roles in a nuclear family and in society, whether the virtual enslavement of humans to their jobs that is a byproduct of the Industrial Revolution is necessary or even good, if society's treatment of those who do not belong is morally right and if not, if anything can be done about it. The answer to these questions, and many others, are not, it seems, found in the text. Kafka maintains a commendable level of ambiguity within the work, and stays well clear of obvious moral or ethical lessons; instead, he subtly integrates these topics within the text, and leaves it up to the reader to do some introspective thinking* and ponder for himself what the answers will be.