Posted by Natalie
When Gregor is in his insect form, about what size do you believe he is? Is Gregor small enough to hide himself under the sofa or behind the door without being seen, or is he so large that he needs to cover himself with a sheet? Does the insect Gregor maintain one size throughout the book or does his size seem to differ depending on his situation? What does the size of Gregor's insect body say about who he is as a person? Is Gregor's size a reflection of his opinion of himslef or is it a reflection of how others see him?
I think that Gregor stays the same size during The Metamorphosis. At one point his mother is described as having “caught sight of the huge brown mass on the flowered wallpaper” (87). In this scene, Gregor would have had to be large enough for his mother to have seen him from across the room, which I don’t think would be possible if he was the size of a normal bug. For the majority of the story, I pictured Gregor as the same size as a human or possibly even larger. Because Gregor is still exposed when he is under the couch, I assumed that that meant he was larger than the couch. Because he had to move a blanket to cover himself, I felt that he was pretty large. Also, I don’t think that a small insect would be able to move a blanket himself on top of a couch. I think that his size is reflective of how he and his family feel about him. Both Gregor and his family see him as a burden. His family hates taking care of him and Gregor does nothing to help this situation. Thinking about it now, I can’t recall at any point in the story that Gregor actually hopes that he will go back to being a human, so I’m not sure if he sees his metamorphosis as a negative thing.
ReplyDeletePrior to this blog post, I believed Gregor remained one size throughout The Metamorphosis. I reached this conclusion when he described himself pushing a chair and propping himself up so that he could reach the doorknob in order to open the door (65). This scene especially created an image of Gregor as a human sized bug. However, when reading this week's blog post, I started questioning whether my assumption was correct. I think, without directly stating a change in size, Kafka implies that Gregor changes size through his interactions with his environment. For instance, we know Gregor is of human size when a blanket is placed over him, but when he is climbing the walls, I believe he may be smaller. While I think he is still larger than a normal-sized bug, I think he is definitely smaller than a human. Therefore, the changing of size seems to denote, not only the level of support and love his family feels for him, but it also seems to correlate with his decreasing connection to human life. Hence, I believe Kafka utilizes Gregor's size to argue that as he loses a connection to the outside world, he becomes more and more entrapped in his bug life, that it becomes increasingly more normal.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you asked this question because I found myself wondering throughout The Metamorphosis just how large Gregor was as an insect. Of course, it is hard to imagine an enormous beetle-like creature maneuvering around a bedroom and opening doors and such, which is probably why it was so hard for me to grasp. Gregor was described as a "gigantic insect" (53) so I have no doubt that he was of decent size. I agree with Jessica in that I believe he stayed the same size throughout the story, able to flatten himself under the couch and almost impossibly fit through a door frame. Gregor was the provider for his family before his metamorphosis which is I think the significance of his size. Gregor may have felt unappreciated by his family and taken for granted, it was now his turn to be an imposition on his family. Thus, I think his size was a reflection of how his family saw and depended on him since his absence as a provider was enormous in their lives.
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ReplyDeleteWhile reading, I was under the impression that Gregor was a human sized insect and remained this way throughout the story. Initially when he was transformed and was attempting to get out of bed, he describes himself as “unusually broad” and spoke of the “breadth and mass…of his body” (57). He is also just barely able to fit under the sofa when he hides for his family, saying, “it took considerable self-control for him to stay under the sofa…since the large meal had swollen his body somewhat and he was so cramped he could barely breathe.” (75) I also do not think that people would have reacted so strongly had the Gregor been an insect of normal size.
I do believe that his size is a reflection of both how Gregor sees himself and how others see him. He strongly believed that the family relied on him when he was working, that he was going to get them out of debt and send his sister to a conservatory. He believed himself to be this huge heroic figure in his family’s life. In reality, it seems as though he was a burden all along and his transformation has simply magnified that. He still lived at home, he still relied on his family to shelter and nourish him. His family was even checking on him when his metamorphosis was not yet exposed to make sure he was ready for work and to see if he was in need of anything. I think Jessica makes an interesting point when she says that he never wished to transform back into a human. Though he doesn’t seem to enjoy being a giant insect, he also doesn’t seem to entirely hate it because he does nothing to try to reverse it.
While reading, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, I initially depicted Gregor as an insect large enough that he could cover himself with a sheet, almost as if he were a human size bug. Kafka describes that, “slowly Gregor pushed the chair toward the door” (64). It would be near impossible for the average size bug to be able to push a chair, unless of course the chair was on wheels. That is one reason why I imagine Gregor to be much larger that the average size bug. It was once he opened the door that I began to see Gregor as the size of the average insect. Kafka explains that, “since [Gregor] had to pull the door toward him, he was still invisible even when it was really wide open”(65). This leads me to believe that Gregor did in fact chance size throughout the story. This size change seemed to be a direct reflection of the specific situation Gregor was facing. When Gregor needed to open the door, he was a bug the size of a human. Yet, when Gregor was visible to his family, he was the size of an actual insect. Gregor seemed to be smaller in front of others because that is how he felt. He felt inferior because he was no longer able to provide for them and seemed to be completely useless.
ReplyDeleteWhen Gregor is in his insect form he seems to transition sizes. At times, he is so big that he barely can be covered by the sheet on his bed, pace throughout his room, or fit through a door, but at other times he seems to be so small that he can fit under a couch, see through the crack in the bottom of a door, and fear the immense size of his father’s foot. I do not believe that Gregor maintains one size throughout the book because it is impossible for a shoe to be bigger than a body and then have that same body barely fit through a door. It is impossible to be nearly unable to pace one day due to size limitations and then be able to pace the floors, walls, and ceilings with ease another day.
ReplyDeleteI think that when Gregor first wakes up he has a good opinion of himself as a salesman and his family also loves, respects, and supports him. I think that his giant insect form reflects their views of Gregor. However, once he opens the door he immediately experiences rejection from his family, and in the next scene he is able to hide under a couch because he is so small. Later, after his sister treats him kindly by bringing him a large selection of food, he again grows big because he feels valued and important. This pattern continues throughout the story. Whenever someone rejects him or makes him feel worthless, he is smaller in the next scene, and whenever he is accepted by his family and feels valued he is bigger in the next scene.
Furthermore, I believe that at the beginning of the story Gregor’s size could be interpreted as a result of how he views himself, but as time goes on throughout the book it is clear that he continues to think highly of himself, or at least never is repulsed by himself in the way his family is. Therefore, I believe that Gregor’s changing size directly correlates to his family’s acceptance or rejection of Gregor and has nothing to do with his view of himself.
It is also very interesting to me that there is no mention of Gregor’s size change in the third chapter after he has been attacked by his father. Could this physical attack be a permanent rejection of Gregor’s insect form? Even though his family opens the door to the other rooms after this attack, less time and care is put into cleaning Gregor’s room, getting him food that he likes, and making sure he is comfortable. Also, Gregor only perceives the open door as an apology, but it is possible that Gregor’s injury allowed his family to live their lives with apathy towards Gregor instead. This apathy eventually turned into hatred which coincidentally resulted in his death directly after.
i think that for the majority of the story, gregor is larger than a normal human (or at least comparable). when gregor is trying to get out of bed, he struggles to move his lower body and, "in spite of its width and weight his body mass at last slowly followed the turning of his head", he would remain in bed since it was too difficult to get up (im using an online version right now so i dont have a page number). later when gregors manager is at the bedroom door, gregor tries to get up again and, "he swung himself with all his might out of the bed. There was a loud thud..." (X). if he was sizable enough to be described as having to swing himself out of bed and making a loud thud, assuming this is an accurate description from the point of view of a human sized narrator, then he would have to be fairly large.
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