I feel you, Gregor.

At the beginning of the novel, Gregor is clearly unhappy with his job. He thinks, “O God, what an exhausting job I’ve chosen! On the move day in, day out… I’m saddled with the strain of all this travelling, the anxiety about train connections, the bad and irregular meals, the constant stream of changing faces with no chance of any warmer, lasting companionship.” He is also a part of a hierarchical, bureaucratic system, that sounds pretty oppressive, based off his description of his boss: “Sitting up on his desk and talking down to his staff from on high…”  All the while, Gregor doesn’t seem to do anything about it or stand up for himself. What a wimp, right? I think it’s easy to judge, but I find Gregor’s life to be somewhat relatable.

He wakes up in the morning, and despite his clearly negative feelings about his job, and his transformation into a monstrous insect, his number one priority is still getting to work. He feels that it is an obligation, and reminds himself, “Ah well, I haven’t given up all hope yet; once I’ve got the money together to pay back what my parents owe him—that should be managed in five or six years—I’ll do it without fail.” In this quote, Gregor is looking forward to the future, and is waiting for a period of unhappiness to pass, seemingly in the hope of reaching a better time.

I resonate with that sentiment. Similar to how Gregor’s life is defined entirely by his work routine, our lives are largely defined by going to school. I’m wired to wake up, get ready for school, go to school, come back and do school work, repeat. It’s a huge part of my life. (Just to clarify, I love school and it’s not at all as terrible as Gregor’s job.) However, there are moments when I’ve felt like Gregor does here. There have been times when I was doing school work, for example, memorizing flowcharts, writing essays, or studying for bio exams, and I felt no passion for doing so and questioned why I was. I always did it, though, and for a similar reason to Gregor’s; I told myself to push through it in order to reach a greater goal. For example, I remember sitting at my dining room table, three hours into memorizing flowcharts, and starting to question the point of it. Like Gregor reminded himself that he would be done with the arrangement in five or six years, I would remind myself to keep pushing for another few hours. I told myself that if kept going, I’d get a good score on the test, good grade in the class, get into college, etc. Just like Gregor's commitment to his job, commitment to school is central to my life.

But it’s interesting to consider what would happen, and who I’d be, if I suddenly wasn’t able to go to school anymore. How would I fill my time, if not with homework? I think that’s one of the interesting questions Kafka poses in The Metamorphosis. When Gregor is debilitated by his new circumstances, he’s no longer able to go to work, he loses his purpose, and he kind of loses the hope he was holding on to. It makes you think about why you do what you do, and what your goals are. Both Gregor's attitude toward his job, and his transformation, prompt us to think about our own lives, and how they might by similar to Gregor's.