Metamorphosis – I’m free and that’s why I’m lost
The cruelest thing about Gregor Samsa’s transformation was not about him waking up as creature but realizing that he had been living as less than human.
He spent his entire life working for his family that depended on him, carrying the responsibilities he never chose. But the same family that once depended on him began to see him as a burden.
And maybe this is where his real metamorphosis began. His body changed overnight, but the way his family saw him changed even faster.
He was no longer the son, who brought money home, and the brother who carried responsibilities. Now, he simply was a creature locked inside a room, slowly becoming a stranger in only home he had ever known.
What hurts the most is that Gregor never truly fought to be loved. He spent his entire life believing that he worked hard enough to earn for his family and sacrificing his happiness for them.
But the moment he could no longer give, he began to lose his identity as a son, as a brother and as a human.
Maybe that is what Kafka wanted us to see: sometimes we spend so much of our lives being there for others that we forget how to be there for ourselves.
And perhaps that’s the cruelest transformation of all.
