Metamorphosis, Chapter Three

Key Points

• Gregor’s transformation has affected his family greatly. All members of his family are forced to take more responsibility on themselves. His father gets a job at a bank. His mother begins sewing lingerie for a clothing store. His sister takes a job as a sales girl and begins learning shorthand and French. They are too tired and busy to pay any attention to Gregor.


• Gregor’s family hires a woman to clean. Gregor’s room becomes a storage/junk room because the cleaning lady is not to go in there even though she is not repulsed by him.


• In order to add to their income, the family accepts three tenants who are rude and take over the apartment. One evening, Gregor’s sister plays the violin in hopes of entertaining the lodgers. Gregor is greatly moved by the music and comes out of his room. The lodgers see him, refuse to pay their rent, and immediately leave the apartment.


• The family begins discussing what to do about Gregor. His sister says they must get rid of him, because the insect is not really her brother anymore. Gregor is chased back into his room, where he dies.


• The family grieves, but they are relieved at the same time to be rid of such a burden. They all leave the apartment together and take a trolley outside of the city.

Quotes

• “What mainly prevented the family from moving was their complete hopelessness and the thought that they had been struck by a misfortune as none of their relatives and acquaintances had ever been hit.”


• “‘But how can it be Gregor? If it were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that it isn’t possible for human beings to live with such a creature, and he would have gone away of his own free will. Then we wouldn’t have a brother, but we’d be able to go on living and honor his memory.’”


• “They decided to spend this day resting and going for a walk; they not only deserved a break in their work, they absolutely needed one.”


• “…it occurred almost simultaneously to Mr. and Mrs. Samsa, as they watched their daughter getting livelier and livelier, that lately, in spite of all the trouble which had turned her cheeks pale, she had blossomed into a good-looking, shapely girl. Growing quieter and communication almost unconsciously through glances, they thought that it would soon be time, too, to find her a good husband. And it was like a conformation of their new dreams and good intentions when at the end of the ride their daughter got up first and stretched her young body.”

Important Symbols (found in Glossary)

• Isolation


• Tenants


• Litotes


• Gregor’s Death

thanks to source Ms. Vanderwall, Ms. Scherle, and Ms. Jose, U of E