Pressure

As we grow up, parents seem to have an innate quality that tells them to put the pressure of the world on our shoulders. It differs from family to family. In many cases today, the pressure stems from doing well on SATs, having the highest GPA in the class, and getting into one of the top colleges. In Gregor’s case, he has to set aside the fact that he is young and should be having fun and fully support his family financially. At the beginning of the story, we, as the reader, get a first glance at how Gregor feels about his work situation. He puts down the life of a traveling salesman, talking about how they have sleepless nights, never get to become real friends with people, and are always on the move. He says that he would love to yell at his boss and quit but has to ‘curb his tongue’ because of his parents’ debt to the manager. Rather than freaking out when he finds that he has been mysteriously transformed into a life size bug, his mind immediately goes to work and that if he kept his job for another four to five years, he will have worked off his family’s debt to his manager and finally be free from the financial pressure that his family has put on him. Now that he is bug, he obviously cannot keep his job, therefore, downing his spirits a little bit; however, on the other hand, now he can just sit at home and lounge. Gregor’s father is described as being extremely lazy. Rather than acting like the man of the family, he resigns early from that post and unfairly hands it off to Gregor.

A parallel can be drawn between Kafka’s Metamorphasis and Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. In both families, pressure is put onto the eldest son to provide and protect the family. Jason and Gregor both feel the weight of being the sole provider of the family, which in both cases leaves them very unhappy. While the two situations differ a little, I think the underlying meaning is the essentially the same—too much pressure on children who shouldn’t have to deal with something that heavy at such a young age. Although Gregor’s transformation is not an ideal situation, I think that Gregor is somewhat happy with the outcome in that his father has finally assumed the role he should have from the beginning and he can finally act his age and live a little.

In class, we began talking about how Gregor’s father may be a little threatened by him but never had a chance to really get into the conversation. I definitely agree with the idea that there is a little jealousy on Gregor’s father’s end. I think that once Gregor began taking on the role of the sole provider of the family, the father saw his role of the family slipping away from him even thought it was his own fault the changes in roles ever happened. Everyday Gregor came home from work with a paycheck or some form of work I think that would just remind the father of how pathetic it is that he’s making his son feel so much pressure; therefore, when the roles are finally reversed to the way they should be, the father sees Gregor as helpless and tries to take advantage of it by throwing the apples at him and not showing him any respect. (578)