In “The Metamorphosis”, Gregor refuses to face the reality of his situation, instead choosing to remain in denial about his family life and to an extent, his metamorphosis into a bug, resulting in his eventual death. He maintains an illusion for himself of a loving family, essentially living life in a daze, a constant daydream of a better reality that gets him through the day. This allows him to rationalize working a job he hates, paying off his fathers debt, his father stealing money from him, his boss not appreciating him, and not having a social life.
Gregor’s reality is that he is lonely and unloved, but since he could not deal with this as a human, he was forced to work out his issues as a bug. As a man Gregor was unable to muster up the courage to stand up to anyone, instead keeping his complaints to himself while continuing to live a thankless life. In regards to paying off his families debt, Gregor admits “the exchange no longer felt particularly warm,” yet he continued to work selflessly, while they took advantage of him.
He recognized that he was not fully appreciated; yet he still chose to remain in denial about his father’s ability to work and the extent to which he himself is happy with the arrangement. Gregor continues to adhere to the arrangement denying him-self happiness in order to make his family happy. “For Freud, denial was a defense against external realities that threaten the ego” (Carey 1) Accepting the reality of his family life would be too much for Gregor’s ego, so denying it and believing that he is indeed loved and appreciated allows him to carry on with the truth bottled up deep down.
After his transformation into a bug, Gregor learns more of his father wronging him, but chooses to view his father’s transgressions as being “for the best. ” His father had been taking money that he gave them to pay off the debt and setting some aside for himself, accumulating “into a small capital. ” Again we get a sense of pent up hostility held back by delusional guilt and a superfluous sense of responsibility. Gregor’s parasitic father took a cut of the money that was meant to go toward paying off the debt that he owed, the debt that he should rightfully be working to pay off, the debt that he had put on his sons shoulders.
He saved this money for him-self; lengthening the amount of time his debt would burden Gregor. “People unwilling to risk a break skew their perception of reality much more purposefully. One common way to do this is to recast clear moral breaches as foulups, stumbles or lapses in competence — because those are more tolerable” (Carey 1) The rational response to such a seedy act by ones own father would be anger, confusion, maybe even sadness for having been deceived and taken advantage of, but Gregor clung to his perception of reality in which he is loved and his perfect family could do no real wrong.
Similarly, when Gregor wakes as a bug, he continues to try to live out his “normal” human life despite his bug body. Despite his new body’s limitations, and new found abilities, Gregor causes himself a great deal of stress and pain trying to walk on two legs and performing other acts reminiscent of his human existence. When he first wakes, the touch of his leg against his abdomen sends chills down his spine, yet when he first crawls he feels happy.
He particularly liked hanging from the ceiling,” but he denies himself the simple pleasures he craves because of his delusional obsession with holding onto his furniture and belongings that admittedly serve no real purpose to his now bug form “with the exception of the indispensible settee [which would stay to serve its purpose of shielding his family from his grotesque appearance]. ” Gregor denies himself happiness. He admits that his mindless crawling makes him happy, but convinces himself that he should feel guilty for giving into such a simple pleasure.
Using this logic, Gregor creates an argument as to why the furniture should stay, so as not to turn his room into a cave or Den. Retaining a hold on his human life and distancing himself from the reality of what he’s become, only he has no way of communicating with his family. Ultimately, his fighting was for nothing since despite witnessing signs of his enjoyment that he gets from crawling freely, his family soon turned his room into a storage room, further hindering his enjoyment of life, but his resistance to happiness raises question to weather or not Gregor loves himself.
If Gregor truly loved himself then he would allow himself to be happy. Gregor would have lived a life for himself, rather than living for a family that doesn’t appreciate him. Gregor could have worked a job he liked, leaving behind “the agony of traveling,” maybe even starting a family of his own. Gregor could have voiced dreams of settling down, buying himself a house, or taking a trip rather than his wish to send his sister “off to study at the conservatory. ” His fantasy about his family carries over into his perception of his sister’s actual prospects as a violinist, thus the validity of her dream being of greater importance than his.
He believes that “his sister’s playing was so lovely” despite the lodgers agitated appearance while enjoying … or more likely tolerating her performance. Gregor goes so far as to fantasize about taking her back into his room to play solely for him since “no one [there] was rewarding her playing. ” Just as Gregor is not capable of accepting his current physical form and the way his family treats him, he is unable to accept that his sister may not necessarily be what most would consider a good violin player, instead placing blame on her cigar smoking audience.
Gregor is so enticed by his sisters playing that he ponders, “Was he a beast, that music so moved him? He felt as if he were being shown the way to that unknown nourishment he craved. ” Perhaps, as with his new taste in food, Gregor could be more drawn to his sister’s rotten violin playing than something more appealing to the human ear. More likely, Gregor is referring to human connection as being the “nourishment he craved. ” Since his transformation, Gregor has been confined to himself.
Unable to voice himself to anyone, leave his “captivity” in his room, or have any real contact with his family, Gregor is lonely. “Loneliness, which Emily Dickinson described as “the Horror not to be surveyed,” is a quiet devastation. But in Britain, it is increasingly being viewed as something more: a serious public health issue. “( Hafner 1) It is after his sister causes a scene, openly voicing her wishes for what she refuses to even acknowledge as being Gregor to leave that Gregor loses the will to live. She was the one person in his family that he had felt most connected to.
Her rejection confirmed that he was in fact alone. The toll loneliness took on him put his already injured and starving body over the edge. The Metamorphosis tells the lonely delusions of Gregor Samsa, A traveling salesman turned giant insect that lived solely to serve his family. A man/bug that denied his own happiness in hopes of pleasing his family, but no matter how much he gave, they kept taking until there was nothing left to take. His family took everything from him, his freedom, his money, and eventually his will to live.
