What Is The Metamorphosis About? Kafka's Story of Gregor Samsa Explained

The Metamorphosis (in German, Die Verwandlung) is a novella by Franz Kafka, published in 1915, about Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman who wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed into a huge insect. Instead of explaining how or why this happened, the story calmly follows what comes next: how Gregor's family reacts, how they cope with money, and how slowly they come to see him as a burden. It is one of the most famous works of twentieth-century literature.

The writer

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) was a German-speaking Jewish writer from Prague, then part of Austria-Hungary. By day he worked for an insurance institute, and he wrote at night. He published little in his lifetime, and before he died of tuberculosis he asked his friend Max Brod to burn his unpublished manuscripts. Brod refused and published them instead, which is why we can read novels such as The Trial and The Castle today.

The story in brief

The first sentence is one of the most famous in modern fiction: Gregor wakes from troubled dreams and finds himself changed into a monstrous insect-like creature. Strangely, his first worry is not his body but that he has missed his train and will be late for work. Gregor has been supporting his parents and his younger sister Grete by working at a job he hates, mainly to pay off his father's debts.

When his family and his manager see him, they are horrified. Gregor is locked in his room. At first Grete brings him food and cleans the room, and she seems to understand him a little. His father, however, drives him back with violence and at one point throws apples at him; one lodges in Gregor's back and causes a lasting wound.

Without Gregor's income, the family must work and take in lodgers. Over time their sympathy turns into resentment. One evening Grete plays the violin for the lodgers, Gregor creeps out to listen and is discovered, and the lodgers leave in disgust. Grete then declares that the creature must go, because it is no longer really her brother. That night Gregor dies quietly in his room. The family, relieved, takes a trip to the countryside and begins to look hopefully towards the future.

What does it mean?

Kafka never explains the transformation, and readers have offered many interpretations. Some see it as a picture of how a person who can no longer work or earn is treated as useless by family and society. Others read it as a story about illness, disability, guilt, or the feeling of being trapped in a job and a role. What makes it so powerful is the flat, ordinary tone in which a completely impossible event is described.

Grete's change

One of the most striking parts of the story is the change in Gregor's sister. At the start Grete is the only one who cares for him: she notices what food he likes and tries to make his room comfortable. As the months pass, the work becomes a duty, then a chore, and finally she is the one who says the family must get rid of him. At the very end, her parents notice that she has grown into a young woman ready for marriage. Her "metamorphosis" mirrors Gregor's, but in the opposite direction: as he fades, she blossoms. Many readers find this quiet final image more disturbing than the insect itself.

"Kafkaesque"

Kafka's style gave English and many other languages the word "Kafkaesque", used for situations that are nightmarishly confusing, illogical or bureaucratic. If you have ever been sent from office to office to fix a simple form, you have had a Kafkaesque experience.

Learn with The Metamorphosis: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
Kafkaesque	nightmarishly confusing or bureaucratic	Renewing my visa was a Kafkaesque process.
to feel like a burden	to feel you cause trouble for others	After the injury he felt like a burden.
the breadwinner	the person who earns money for the family	She became the family breadwinner.
out of the blue	suddenly and unexpectedly	The news came out of the blue.
to keep to yourself	to stay alone and quiet	He kept to himself for weeks.

Try this: Write three English sentences about a confusing experience with rules or offices, using "Kafkaesque" and "out of the blue".