The Metamorphosis

How Gregor's family views money/ wealth.

Throughout the story there is a constant connection with the idea of wealth and being rich. This idea of wealth is more important to Gregor's mother and father than it is to anyone else in the story. "Gregor later earned so much money that he was in a position to bear the expenses of the entire family, costs which he, in fact, did bear. They had become quite accustomed to it, both the family and Gregor as well. They took the money with thanks, and he happily surrendered it, but a special warmth was no longer present"(Kafka 12). In this case money bought the family status, without it they felt incomplete. Once Gregor was deformed into a bug he became less important and no longer useful to his family. “ 'What a demanding job I’ve chosen! Day in, day out, on the road. The stresses of selling are much greater than the actual work going on at head office, and, in addition to that, I still have to cope with the problems of travelling, the worries about train connections, irregular bad food, temporary and constantly changing human relationships, which never come from the heart' " (Kafka 1). His family has forced him into this job with the added stress of paying off his fathers debt. It is torture for Gregor and not something that he enjoys. His father is giving his own problems to someone else to deal with. "Once I’ve got together the money to pay off my parents’ debt to him—that should take another five or six years—I’ll do it for sure" (Kafka 1).
Gregor is a burden to his family until he pays off his fathers debt so he can continue to lead a lavish life style. Gregor has in a way put his own life and freedom at a hault in order to serve his family. Maybe Gregor was turned into a bug not to punish Gregor but to punish his own father, for now he can no longer rely on his son financially.

Gregor's Isolation and connection to his bedroom.

From the begining Gregor isolates himself from all means of life. He lives in a small bedroom and only separates himself from his house when he is at work. His family in many ways contributes to his isolation. "When he had completed turning around, he immediately began to wander straight back. He was astonished at the great distance which separated him from his room and did not understand in the least how in his weakness he had covered the same
distance a short time before, almost without noticing it" (Kafka 24). Gregor feels a connection to his bedroom, it is somewhere he can go and be safe, away from the threats of his father, for the most part. It is the familiarity of his bedroom which makes him feel so comfortable. "But the high, open room, in which he was compelled to lie flat on the floor, made him anxious, without his being able to figure out the reason, for he had lived in the room for five years" (Kafka 10). As Gregor became less useful to his family, he began to feel more and more like a guest in his own home. It was more of a privilege for him to stay there. So he went to his bedroom to escape from the pressure and sometimes connect and speak with his sister which was very much to be kept a secret from his father. "...the father heaped reproaches on the mother that she had not left the cleaning of Gregor’s room to the sister and, turning to his left, he shouted at the sister that
she would no longer be allowed to clean Gregor’s room ever again. The sister, shaken by her crying fit, pounded on the table with her tiny fists, and Gregor hissed at all this, angry that no one thought about shutting the door and sparing him the sight of this commotion" (Kafka 20). Gregor's father does not want Gregor to be in contact with anyone, not even his own sister. He is ashamed at the sight of him and feels that he should stay alone in his bedroom without any outside connections. Gregor has little connection with his own family so he has developed a connection with the unknown. Such as framing pictures of strangers because he doesn't have anyone else to connect with.

 One other thing that I noticed in the story was how people can adapt to maybe unnatural or unaccepted things. Just like how Gregors family adapted to their lavish style of living. An outsider looking in might say that their life is extravagant though they might not see it themselves because they have been living the same way for so long they don't know the difference. Gregor's father was extremely conceded and relied on others to support him financially, therefore they began to rely on Gregor for support and after a while they stopped seeing realistically how they were abusing Gregor. Towards the end of the story Gregor is no longer so stressed out about being a bug because he has adapted to it, and learned to live with it. It seems to me that at the end of story Gregor is no longer over thinking every single move he makes and is more at ease with his current state of being a bug.