Gregor, a man transformed
into a bug, was caring and selfless ‘till the end. He spent and sacrificed his
whole life to support and help his family, even when his family wasn’t good and
nice to him back. He worked away years of his life to pay off a debt that
wasn’t even his own. “Once I’ve got together the money to pay off my parents’
debt to him” (Kafka 1). The Debt isn’t even his own yet he is willing to pay it
off. Not only was he working to pay off his parents debt but also to simply
support them in things that weren’t even truly needs. “he felt a great pride
that he had been able to provide such a life for his parents and his sister in
such a beautiful apartment.” (Kafka 9). He has provided with a much larger and
nicer apartment than they needed. And he worked for this when the money could
have been going towards the debt. He works so his family can live in luxury,
while he is off spending all of his time working his life away. When Gregor was
first turned into a bug there wasn’t even the slightest hint of self-pity or
any worry for himself. He was simply worried about his family. “I am concerned
about my parents and my sister. I’m in a fix, but I’ll work myself out of it
again.”(Kafka 7). He’s willing to work himself away for his family. He’s only
worried about his position and how it will affect his family, not himself.
Gregor will completely away for the wellbeing of his family, eve if they aren’t
worth it.
Gregor’s family completely took him for granted as
a human and blamed him for their problems when he could no longer provide for
them, when they should be providing for themselves or at least appreciating the
work he does and not just simply expecting it. When Gregor didn’t get out of
bed the morning he was transformed, his mother was only concerned for him
missing the train, not whether or not he was ok. “‘Gregor,’ a voice called—it
was his mother—‘it’s quarter to seven. Don’t you want to be on your way?’”
(Kafka 2). His mother just see’s him as a thing to provide for them, not as a
son who can get sick and might need a little help and support. His parents had taken the money that Gregor
had worked for and stored it in savings. “rejoicing over this unanticipated
foresight and frugality. True, with this excess money, he could really have
paid off more of his father’s debt to his employer and the day on which he
could be rid of this position would have been a lot closer, but now things were
doubtless better the way his father had arranged them.”(Kafka 12) its good to
be frugal and save money away for emergencies, but they weren’t worried about
how Gregor might feel about that. They weren’t concerned about sucking his
years away from him. In the end even the sister no longer saw him as human.
“‘My dear parents,’ said the sister banging her hand on the table by way of an
introduction, ‘things cannot go on any longer in this way. Maybe if you don’t
understand that, well, I do. I will not utter my brother’s name in front of
this monster, and thus I say only that we must try to get rid of it. We have
tried what is humanly possible to take care of it and to be patient. I believe
that no one can criticize us in the slightest.’”(Kafka 23). When he turns into
a bug they forget that he is actually their family member. It’s hard to even
see that they ever saw him as a family member and simply as someone who worked
for their good. Gregor was taken advantage of by his own family who considered
him a burden as soon as he stopped providing them with what they were used to.
