Death In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is an enlightening novel on how death helps to illuminate the message of the novel. Gregor’s death helps to illuminate the fact that his family never cared about him and alienated him before and during his metamorphosis with how his family treats him before his metamorphosis, when they throw the apple at him, and how they feel after his death.
Gregor had been alienated throughout his life, even prior to his metamorphosis. The following quote is showing how demanding his father was, because at this point, he does not know that Gregor has changed. “But their little exchange had made the rest of the family aware that, contrary to expectations, Gregor was still in the house, and already his father was knocking on one of the side doors, feebly but with his fist. ‘Gregor, Gregor,’ he called, ‘what’s going on?’ And after a little while he called again in a deeper, warning voice, ‘Gregor!
Gregor!’”(Kafka 5-6). This shows that his family expects a lot from him and want him to always be at their beck and call. Gregor’s treatment by his family before is just leading up to the point when he wil want to die and will go forth in doing so.
His treatment while he’s a bug is identical to before except perhaps worst. In this quote, his father throws an apple at him and his mother & sister do nothing to stop him. As a result, he will realize that his family never cared about him and that it may be easier if he was just dead. “...at the moment a lightly flung object hit the floor right near him and rolled in front of him. It was an apple; a second one came flying right after it; Gregor stopped dead with fear; further running was useless, for his father was determined to bombard him. He had filled his pockets from the fruit bowl on the buffet and who was now pitching one apple after another, for the time being without taking good aim.”(Kafka 37). His family does not want him around anymore and proves that they are the ones who drove him to his death.
Gregor’s family acts relieved and satisfied that he has died at the end of the novel.
The quote is about how Gregor’s lifeless body was found and how his family reacted to it. “Dead?’ said Mrs. Samsa and looked inquiringly at the cleaning woman, although she could scrutinize everything for herself and could recognize the truth even without scrutiny. ‘I’ll say,’ said the cleaning woman, and to prove it she pushed Gregor’s corpse with her broom a good distance sideways. Mrs. Samsa made a movement as if to hold the broom back but did not do it. ‘Well,’ said Mr. Samsa, ‘now we can thank God!’ He crossed himself, and the three women followed his example.”(Kafka 52). His alienation during his life before and after his metamorphosis ultimatley led to his death.
Samsa’s central theme in The Metamorphosis is that people will be people and not care about you. In reaction to that, the universal theme is to seperate yourself from others before they can seperate themselves from you. Gregor’s death helps to illuminate these themes found in The
Metamorphosis.