Questions for "The Metamorphosis"

Chapter 1

1. What has happened to Gregor Samsa?
2. Why does Gregor have "uneasy dreams"?
3. What do we learn about Gregor from the picture he has hung on his wall?
4. Why does Gregor hate his job?
5. Why does he continue to work there?
6. How long has Gregor been working for his company?
7. Why is it the weather and NOT his metamorphosis that makes Gregor "melencholy"?
8. What is the first sign his parents get that Gregor is not well?
9. What explanation does Gregor’s mother offer the office manager?
10. What happened when Gregor attempts to defend himself through the door?
11. How did the Gregor’s parents react when they see what has happened to Gregor?
12. How does the manager react when Gregor attempts to stop him from leaving?
13. How does Gregor’s father react when Gregor leaves his room?
14. What does Gregor's boss mean when he says, "we men of business . . . very often simply have to ignore any slight indispostions, since business must be attended to"? Is this true? Why or why not?
15. How is Gregor injured?
16. Do you think Gregor's metamorphosis was self-imposed? Why or why not?
17. Given Gregor's present condition why is he still thinking about going to work?
18. While Gregor is still on his back the text says he "saw no way of bringing any calm and order into this senseless confusion, he told himself again that it was impossible to stay in bed and that the most sensible course was to risk everything for the smallest hope of getting away from it." What do think this passage might represent beyond what is literally happening in the story?
19. What does Gregor mean when he thinks, "What a fate, to be condemned to work for a firm where the smallest omission at once gave rise to the gravest suspicion!"?
20. What do you think is going to happen to Gregor?

Chapter 2

1. What does Gregor’s sister bring him to eat?
2. How does Gregor react to the food he usually eats?
3. What did his father usually do in the afternoons?
4. How does Gregor try to help his family cope with his transformation?
5. How does Gregor’s sister discover what to feed Gregor?
6. Why had Gregor been taking care of his family financially? Do think they appreciated what he had done for them? Why or why not?
7. Why do Gregor’s sister and father prevent Gregor’s mother from visiting him?
8. What does Gregor begin to do to amuse himself in his room?
9. Why does Gregor’s sister remove all the furniture from Gregor’s room?
10. How does Gregor feel as the women remove his furniture?
11. Why does Gregor protect the picture on the wall?
12. What weapons does Gregor’s father use to attempt to injure him?
13. How would you describe Gregor's father? mother? sister?
14. Do you think it is significant that Gregor's father throws apples at him? Why or why not?
15. Why do you think Gregor reacts so strongly when the chief clerk says that Gregor's work has been unsatisfactory?
16. Why does Gregor feel better when he believes that the others are going to help him?
17. How does Gregor's metamorphosis affect the rest of the family?
18. Why does Grete like taking care of Gregor in the beginning?
19. Why does the family decide to hide what has happened instead of trying to get help?
20. As time goes on, how does Grete's treatment of Gregor change? Why does this happen?

Chapter 3

1. How does the family try to recompense Gregor for the injury he suffered at his father’s hands?
2. What do the members of the family do to make up for Gregor’s lost income?
3. How does the family’s treatment of Gregor begin to change?
4. What brings about the changes in their behavior toward him?
5. How does Gregor feel about the way his treatment has changed?
6. Is if significant that Gregor's injury is caused by his father? Why or why not?
7. Why is Grete angry that her mother cleaned Gregor's room?
8. Why is the charwoman not afraid of Gregor?
9. Why does Gregor stop eating?
10. What effect does Grete’s violin have on Gregor?
11. How do the boarders react when they see Gregor?
12. Of Gregor the text says, "his indifference to everything was much too great for him to turn on his back and scrape himself clean on the carpet." Why has his indifference grown to this level?
13. Why does the family believe they must get rid of Gregor?
14. Why do they begin referring to him as "it"?
15. At the end of the story why does Gregor still think of "his family with tenderness of love" even after he hears that they want to get rid of him?
16. Who discovers that Gregor has died?

17. How does Gregor die?

18. Did Gregor starve himself to death?

19. Or did Gregor just lose the will to live?

20. Or is Gregor's family ultimately responsible for Gregor's death through their negligence?
    

Discussion

1. Is it Gregor's fault that he has become a giant insect? Why or why not?
2. Do the rest of Gregor's family experience a metamorphosis as the story progresses? Why or why not?
3. Do you think Gregor has really been transformed into a huge insect or has he just imagined it?
4. What kind of insect do you think Gregor has turned into?

5. Why and how did Gregor become a vermin?

6. Did Gregor deserve to be turned into a bug?

7. Do you think his transformation is a literal one, or are we supposed to take his transformation as a purely symbolic one?
   

8. Do you think the outcome of the story would have been any different if the Samsas had been more accepting of Gregor? For example, what if they tried to understand what he was expressing non-verbally?

9. Do you think that if they could accept his hybrid, human-insect status, they would all be able to co-exist together indefinitely?
   Why or why not?

10. How would the story be different if Gregor had been transformed into a different, less repulsive animal?

11. What if only his gender changed? His race?
    

12. Take a look at the pages following Gregor's death. What happens to Gregor's corpse?