The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

It was a dreary morning with raindrops beating on the window gutter when Gregor Samsa awoke from uneasy dreams. Only Gregor hadn’t woken up as the “him” he was when he went to sleep. He woke up transformed into “einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer”- a monstrous vermin*.

After discovering his transformation, some of his first thoughts were about work- how exhausting his job was, the constant travel, having no close connections due to his work schedule- and paying off his parent’s debt.

One thing that makes Kafka's The Metamorphosis so compelling is that it is open to interpretation, and there are so many different lenses you can look at it through, including: an existentialist lens, a Marxist lens, a mental illness lens, and the lens of abuse within a family, and this is just naming a few.

Let’s talk about our thoughts on this story, how it makes us feel, and the different interpretations of it.

Reading is welcomed, but not required! Bring yourself and your perspectives.

If you would like to read the short story, it can be found here.
It is also available for free on Hoopla as an ebook or an audiobook.

*The Metamorphosis was originally published in German as Die Verwandlung. There are many translations of the short story. Some versions state that he was transformed into a “gigantic insect,” “a bug,” and so on.