Essai Litteraire
Grete is a significant character in this chapter because of her role in the death of Gregor. In the
chapter before, she was given the power to take care of her brother, to the point that she used
this power to the extent and decided everything for him. Progressively, Grete begins to neglect
him, act against him and she showed less consideration for his feelings as a part of the family.
This begins when the father comes home after Gregor has scared his mother and Grete doesn't
try to defend him. Grete continuously views Gregor as more of a creature than a human until
she referred to him as "it" and, finally, wonders whether the insect really is Gregor. Grete's
betrayal of her brother is final and absolute. At the end, readers are faced with Grete's speech
that is considered a climax of the novel. The metamorphosis comes here to an end because
Grete gave up on the humanity in Gregor. “We must try to get rid of it” p.49, she realizes that
Gregor is the problem and has to be gotten rid of. Grete condemns Gregor to death when she
locks him into his feelings for his family: "He thought of his family with tenderness and love.
Grete's betrayal was just one more emotional shock Gregor had to face. At this point, Gregor
experiences death as he was no longer finding the humanity in him that his sister somehow
helped him find.
Gregor's death represents the final image of "The Metamorphosis". Grete transformed from a
young girl to a woman. She wakes up to find her body has blossomed by the time Gregor
disappeared "It struck both Mr. and Mrs. Samsa, almost at the same moment, as they became
aware of their daughters increasing vivacity, that in spite of all the sorrow of recent times,
which had made her cheeks pale, she had bloomed into a pretty girl with a good figure" (p.58).
There is an irony to note in the contrast between Gregor's death and Grete's blossom. In the
end of the image represented caused A reversal. Gregor, through the transformation, let go of
his duty to his family in order to find his freedom. Now the family wants to let go of their duty to
him in order to find their own freedom. At the end of the Kafka's story, Gregor Samsa dies and
with him dies the huge insect too. But with the end of this transformation starts new happy
ones. For instance, Gregor’s family feels a big sense of relief like if a burden has been lifted off
them, and they can start a new life. Grete in the end of the story is a young woman who is
willing to start her career as a musician. All of them are happy, including Gregor himself who
stops all his sufferings and rejections from his family. Gregor’s love and devotion towards his
family remain unchanged at the end. As his physical needs and abilities shift from human to
animal, it is his family who forces him to adapt to his new identity: they remove the furniture
from his room, begin feeding him leftovers, and gradually help strip away everything that had
identified him as a human being. It is no surprise, then, that they’re excluding Gregor from their
lives, and eventually cause his death. By the end of the story, Gregor’s parents and sister have
themselves metamorphosed: they regain a youthful energy as they begin to work, think of the
future, and eventually sell the apartment they had shared with Gregor. Therefore, the real
metamorphosis is caused by Gregor’s superficial change, since he resists adapting to his new
physical identity. This forces his parents and sister leading them to a much deeper
transformation at the end.