# The Metamorphosis (Book) # 📔 The Metamorphosis (Book) --- # ℹ️ Information **Author**:: [[Franz Kafka]] **Category**:: [[Fiction (Book)]] **Series**:: None **Tags**:: #note/literature📖 #note/evergreen🌲 **Readwise**: **Topics**: **Rating**:: 5 --- # 🏔️ What It's About # 🧠 Overall Thoughts * Lots of symbolize in the book, namely concerning mental health and isolation * The transformation to a bug symbolizes dehumanization… * His sister opening the windows = people actively attempting to shine a light in your darkness * It’s interesting how his sister is the only one who makes any effort to care for him with any form of intentionality, or even confront him / step into his room early on. * His Dad, who has lived in loathing since his failed business and survived off of Gregor’s spoils since, simply considers the financials * His mother is, essentially, completely absent for the first several weeks. * Maybe this is representative of the bond between siblings moreover parents, requiring an escalation of some sort. * Funny how, as his sister and Mom are clearing his room of furniture because his sister noticed that he liked the empty space, the Mom comes in and completely projects the opposite, that he needs cluttered floor and walls, projecting what she thinks is what he wants as opposed to trusting and listening to her daughter, who has been more supportive. * “To her, the reverse seemed to be true; the sight of the empty walls pierced her right to the heart, and why should Gregor not feel the same…” * I don’t think the irony is deep here 😆 People constantly project what they think is right for you without concerning themselves with asking if that’s what you want. * Topic of “enabling” his father’s laziness? E.g., he hasn’t had a job in 5 years because he didn’t have to because Gregor, and now he does and he’s clearly not happy about (he releases his fury on Gregor after his Mom faints), although certainly able, just unwilling. * On the scene where Grete is playing the violin, Gregor comes out of the room, conflict transpires with the lodgers, and Gregor’s family decides to part ways with him by fully dehumanizing him, “he was never Gregor” * The way he makes getting there from the outset and defeated turning around and back to the his room, which now seems an exceptional distance and arduous, was REALLY interesting. * There was this ruminate question posed of, “why?”, and that certainly has to do with the wind continuing to be taken out of Gregor’s sails as he, and his former life and relationships, devolve. * There’s a relationship between Gregor’s energy and the health of his environment. * After he gets back to his room, suffering a significant blow of loss with his family, he’s essentially rendered immobile. * On top of this, he begins to *rationalize* it and gas lights himself that it out to be this - “it struck him unnatural that he had really been able to move around up to this point” * As and after Gregor dies… * His willingness to live fades… * Main take: Gregor creates an enabling environment that isn’t returned. His downfall catapults them to action, realizing and pursuing their dreams, while he’s left to fade. * Symbols * Apple (stuck in his back by his father)? * A symbolic scar of conflict with his father and the desperation of “care” he received by his family. * ## 👍 What I Liked - ## 👎 What I Didn't Like - # ☘️ How the Book Changed Me %% How my life / behavior / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book. %% # 🤝 Who Should Read It? # ✍️ My Top 3 Quotes >