Gregor Samsa Symbolism
In this story there is a man named Gregor Samsa who is a traveling businessman that is working for a man who his parents are indebted to. He needs to work off their debt so that they are not made to pay. In the beginning he wakes up to find that he has turned into a cockroach. The time is 7:30 he tries to get up and work but can’t because he’s on his back and he is in this bug like form which he has suddenly transformed into overnight. He is portrayed as a cockroach in this story to compare to absurdity at the fact that life is random and absurd. The symbolism is that he was a worker, always on the move. The physiological distance between him and those around might have also brought about this change.
Bugs are hardworking creatures who
toil and toil endlessly for others before themselves. They continuously work until they die even when they are not rewarded or appreciated for it. This type of behavior could be a good analogy for Gregor’s entire life. But he still did it just because that’s what he thought was the right thing to do and never thought otherwise. His mentality is others before himself. This way of thinking is most likely the reason why Gregor gives up his personal and social life because of the way he was forced to make a salary for his family’s benefit. Gregor is overworked and stressed out so much that he turns into a “Cockroach”. Say that this story is real and he and he was not a normal traveling salesman and was actually cockroach. He would be out casted and unaccepted in his workspace and at home and he wouldn’t be able to provide for them. In the end he’s just going to end up a burden.
The cockroach was the best way to represent the lifestyle that he was living. Cockroaches are always going somewhere and doing something with little rest and little reward. Gregor was working towards a dead end where he finally pays off the boss but his parents are dead and gone.
Gregor’s transformation symbolizes a deeper meaning than just a man turning into a bug.
During his whole life Gregor was treated terribly by his father making him feel like he was just a lesser being such as a bug.
Bugs are hardworking creatures who
toil and toil endlessly for others before themselves. They continuously work until they die even when they are not rewarded or appreciated for it. This type of behavior could be a good analogy for Gregor’s entire life. But he still did it just because that’s what he thought was the right thing to do and never thought otherwise. His mentality is others before himself. This way of thinking is most likely the reason why Gregor gives up his personal and social life because of the way he was forced to make a salary for his family’s benefit. Gregor is overworked and stressed out so much that he turns into a “Cockroach”. Say that this story is real and he and he was not a normal traveling salesman and was actually cockroach. He would be out casted and unaccepted in his workspace and at home and he wouldn’t be able to provide for them. In the end he’s just going to end up a burden.
The cockroach was the best way to represent the lifestyle that he was living. Cockroaches are always going somewhere and doing something with little rest and little reward. Gregor was working towards a dead end where he finally pays off the boss but his parents are dead and gone.
Gregor’s transformation symbolizes a deeper meaning than just a man turning into a bug.
During his whole life Gregor was treated terribly by his father making him feel like he was just a lesser being such as a bug.