Gregor's Trash Family
I understand that the situation
forced upon the Samsa’s is both shocking and, to say the least, not ideal.
However, I feel as though they could handle it better. Clearly, from the first
time they see his newly transformed and buggy self they know that it is Gregor.
Rightfully, they are confused, terrified, sad, even angry at first. However,
these feelings don’t seem to go away as time goes on. They push him out of the
family and lock him away in his room. They feed him whatever garbage they could
find lying around and never speak or attempt real contact with him. They never
even test to see if Gregor can understand what they are saying.
Even the family member that
Gregor is closest to and the one that takes care of him treats him more as a
pet than her older brother. Grete is scared of his appearance, the first time
she sees him she runs from the room, and so she never touches him or lingers around
him for too long. She is his one main connection to humans and his family but as
being such she creates more of a barrier between Gregor and his parents because
she has sole responsibility over him; his parents never necessarily have to come
in contact with him as long as he stays in his room. Plus, with her caretaking
being as low quality as it is, she doesn’t allow Gregor to feel like a human at
all. It is also because of her constant contact with him that she becomes
morally exhausted and no longer cares about what happens to him. This
exhaustion causes her to say that she would prefer if he was dead and no longer
a burden to the family.
His mother is hopeful that
eventually her real Gregor will return. However, she never shows this towards
the bug version of him. She is disgusted and terrified of him. Often times, she
even faints when she sees him. She is reluctant to change his room because she
is worried that when Gregor returns he will see that his family basically gave
up on him. She says this as though the bug is not, in fact, her son Gregor.
Although the family does seem to think that his bug form is him, in some capacity,
otherwise they would not keep him around. Thus, it shows that they do not want
to make the effort, or think that it would help, to communicate and try to help
Gregor retain his humanity even though they have the opportunities to.
What do you think about
the way Gregor’s family treats him?
Great post! I feel like the family dynamics of the Samsa's definitely come out more when Gregor turns into a bug. Even before we saw that Gregor wasn't really accepted fully into the family, in a way that he had to do all the work and be the breadwinner. It seems like now that Gregor can't provide for the family anymore, there is no need to have him around, which seems like an unhealthy relationship between the parents and Gregor.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the family's treatment of Gregor is very dehumanizing. Like you said, this would make sense if they didn't think the bug was Gregor but they clearly at least believe in the possibility that the bug is Gregor. If that is the case I think they should be making every effort to communicate with him and in general to make him feel human. Their actions indicate that the family doesn't think the bug is a sentient being even though they refer to the bug as Gregor. The family's abusing of the bug (who they seem to think is Gregor) makes me feel very little sympathy for their ordeal of having a bug in the house.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to consider the way that the story would change of Gregor retained his ability to have normal human communication. Because Gregor does not display any outward human characteristics, the Samsa's reaction is appropriate considering the hassle that it must be to live along side of a life size bug. However, to the reader this is dehumanizing because we see the humanity that Gregor can't communicate with his family.
ReplyDeleteIf they just TRIED to communicate with Gregor then maybe they could have a slightly more normal relationship than just keeping this giant insect in their house. Instead they don't try that and Grete is wayyy too eager to treat Gregor as a pet and not a human. Also the dad just never visits him and also physically harms him!? Even though he acknowledges that it IS his son, just transformed. I agree that they overall do not seem like a good family or even an average one. They seem to just take advantage of Gregor and are quick to see him as an insect because he already was one in their eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe irony is, although the family (Grete specifically) does feed Gregor kitchen scraps, this is what he actually prefers--the cold milk repulses him--and he's discomfitingly grateful for Grete's generosity and thoughtlessness in giving him these kitchen scraps on an old newspaper (and he doesn't seem at all offended that she refuses to touch his skanky water bowl with her bare hands). The reader might react as you do here, and there's much to be said about how the family slides so easily into the posture of neglect and disgust, but Gregor believes he thoroughly deserves their neglect and disgust, and he's all too aware how repugnant he actually is. He seems quite sympathetic to their efforts, and it's this utter self-negation and mortification that freaks most readers out. We want Gregor to get a little more indignant at their treatment of him--but he accepts it, and to the end is thinking of his family "with tenderness and love."
ReplyDeleteI was also angry about the way Gregor's family treated him. Even from the start, before they knew he was an insect, I thought that his parents were mean. They seemed like they thought he was useless and always doing something wrong. This seemed to get worse as the story progressed,
ReplyDeleteand it was sad that they didn't really give craps that he died! Though the ending is supposed to be happy, I thought that when they made that comment about Gregor not being able to pick out a house just reinforced that they don't care at all.
I agree that the family treats Gregor poorly, despite his appearance. The fact that they know the bug is their son makes their attitude towards him even stranger. I sympathized with the mother the most, as she still cared for him and hoped for him to come back.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the family should have tried to communicate with Gregor. However, from their point of view, it is understandable that they didn't try to- how could they communicate with a giant bug? Gregor's efforts to communicate with them were only successful when the subject was very basic.
This made me wonder what would happen if I turned into a bug. I feel like my family would be grossed out, I'd like to think they wouldn't dehumanize me completely. Having your family dehumanize you, to not recognize you as one of them, is a really frightening idea. This was what made me convinced of Kafka's nightmarish writing style. Yes, bugs are gross, but the idea of being abandoned by your family is much more traumatizing to me.
ReplyDelete