The Metamorphosis
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The Metamorphosis

By Franz Kafka ()
The Metamorphosis
This text is a translation from the German by Ian Johnston,

Malaspina University-College Nanaimo, BC. It has been

prepared for students in the Liberal Studies and English

departments. This document is in the public domain,

released, January 1999
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I

O
ne morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from
anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been

changed into a monstrous verminous bug. He lay on his ar
-
mour-hard back and saw, as he lifted his head up a little, his

brown, arched abdomen divided up into rigid bow-like sec
-
tions. From this height the blanket, just about ready to slide

off completely, could hardly stay in place. His numerous

legs, pitifully thin in comparison to the rest of his circum
-
ference, flickered helplessly before his eyes.

‘What’s happened to me,’ he thought. It was no dream.

His room, a proper room for a human being, only some
-
what too small, lay quietly between the four well-known

walls. Above the table, on which an unpacked collection of

sample cloth goods was spread out (Samsa was a traveling

salesman) hung the picture which he had cut out of an il
-
lustrated magazine a little while ago and set in a pretty gilt

frame. It was a picture of a woman with a fur hat and a fur

boa. She sat erect there, lifting up in the direction of the

viewer a solid fur muff into which her entire forearm dis
-
appeared.

Gregor’s glance then turned to the window. The dreary

weather (the rain drops were falling audibly down on the

metal window ledge) made him quite melancholy. ‘Why

don’t I keep sleeping for a little while longer and forget all
The Metamorphosis
this foolishness,’ he thought. But this was entirely impracti
-
cal, for he was used to sleeping on his right side, and in his

present state he couldn’t get himself into this position. No

matter how hard he threw himself onto his right side, he

always rolled again onto his back. He must have tried it a

hundred times, closing his eyes, so that he would not have

to see the wriggling legs, and gave up only when he began

to feel a light, dull pain in his side which he had never felt

before.

‘O God,’ he thought, ‘what a demanding job I’ve chosen!

Day in, day out on the road. The stresses of trade are much

greater than the work going on at head office, and, in addi
-
tion to that, I have to deal with the problems of traveling,

the worries about train connections, irregular bad food,

temporary and constantly changing human relationships

which never come from the heart. To hell with it all!’ He felt

a slight itching on the top of his abdomen. He slowly pushed

himself on his back closer to the bed post so that he could

lift his head more easily, found the itchy part, which was

entirely covered with small white spots (he did not know

what to make of them), and wanted to feel the place with a

leg. But he retracted it immediately, for the contact felt like

a cold shower all over him.

He slid back again into his earlier position. ‘This getting

up early,’ he thought, ‘makes a man quite idiotic. A man

must have his sleep. Other traveling salesmen live like ha
-
rem women. For instance, when I come back to the inn

during the course of the morning to write up the necessary

orders, these gentlemen are just sitting down to breakfast.
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If I were to try that with my boss, I’d be thrown out on the

spot. Still, who knows whether that mightn’t be really good

for me. If I didn’t hold back for my parents’ sake, I would’ve

quit ages ago. I would’ve gone to the boss and told him just

what I think from the bottom of my heart. He would’ve fall
-
en right off his desk! How weird it is to sit up at the desk and

talk down to the employee from way up there. The boss has

trouble hearing, so the employee has to step up quite close

to him. Anyway, I haven’t completely given up that hope

yet. Once I’ve got together the money to pay off the parents’

debt to him—that should take another five or six years—I’ll

do it for sure. Then I’ll make the big break. In any case, right

now I have to get up. My train leaves at five o’clock.’

And he looked over at the alarm clock ticking away by

the chest of drawers. ‘Good God,’ he thought. It was half

past six, and the hands were going quietly on. It was past

the half hour, already nearly quarter to. Could the alarm

have failed to ring? One saw from the bed that it was prop
-
erly set for four o’clock. Certainly it had rung. Yes, but was it

possible to sleep through this noise that made the furniture

shake? Now, it’s true he’d not slept quietly, but evident
-
ly he’d slept all the more deeply. Still, what should he do

now? The next train left at seven o’clock. To catch that one,

he would have to go in a mad rush. The sample collection

wasn’t packed up yet, and he really didn’t feel particular
-
ly fresh and active. And even if he caught the train, there

was no avoiding a blow up with the boss, because the firm’s

errand boy would’ve waited for the five o’clock train and re
-
ported the news of his absence long ago. He was the boss’s
The Metamorphosis
minion, without backbone or intelligence. Well then, what

if he reported in sick? But that would be extremely em
-
barrassing and suspicious, because during his five years’

service Gregor hadn’t been sick even once. The boss would

certainly come with the doctor from the health insurance

company and would reproach his parents for their lazy son

and cut short all objections with the insurance doctor’s

comments; for him everyone was completely healthy but re
-
ally lazy about work. And besides, would the doctor in this

case be totally wrong? Apart from a really excessive drowsi
-
ness after the long sleep, Gregor in fact felt quite well and

even had a really strong appetite.

As he was thinking all this over in the greatest haste,

without being able to make the decision to get out of bed

(the alarm clock was indicating exactly quarter to seven)

there was a cautious knock on the door by the head of the

bed.

‘Gregor,’ a voice called (it was his mother!) ‘it’s quar
-
ter to seven. Don’t you want to be on your way?’ The soft

voice! Gregor was startled when he heard his voice answer
-
ing. It was clearly and unmistakably his earlier voice, but

in it was intermingled, as if from below, an irrepressibly

painful squeaking which left the words positively distinct

only in the first moment and distorted them in the rever
-
beration, so that one didn’t know if one had heard correctly.

Gregor wanted to answer in detail and explain everything,

but in these circumstances he confined himself to saying,

‘Yes, yes, thank you mother. I’m getting up right away.’ Be
-
cause of the wooden door the change in Gregor’s voice was
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not really noticeable outside, so his mother calmed down

with this explanation and shuffled off. However, as a result

of the short conversation the other family members be
-
came aware of the fact that Gregor was unexpectedly still

at home, and already his father was knocking on one side

door, weakly but with his fist. ‘Gregor, Gregor,’ he called

out, ‘what’s going on?’ And after a short while he urged him

on again in a deeper voice. ‘Gregor!’ Gregor!’ At the other

side door, however, his sister knocked lightly. ‘Gregor? Are

you all right? Do you need anything?’ Gregor directed an
-
swers in both directions, ‘I’ll be ready right away.’ He made

an effort with the most careful articulation and by inserting

long pauses between the individual words to remove every
-
thing remarkable from his voice. His father turned back to

his breakfast. However, the sister whispered, ‘Gregor, open

the door, I beg you.’ Gregor had no intention of opening the

door, but congratulated himself on his precaution, acquired

from traveling, of locking all doors during the night, even

at home.

First he wanted to stand up quietly and undisturbed,

get dressed, above all have breakfast, and only then con
-
sider further action, for (he noticed this clearly) by thinking

things over in bed he would not reach a reasonable conclu
-
sion. He remembered that he had already often felt a light

pain or other in bed, perhaps the result of an awkward ly
-
ing position, which later turned out to be purely imaginary

when he stood up, and he was eager to see how his present

fantasies would gradually dissipate. That the change in his

voice was nothing other than the onset of a real chill, an
The Metamorphosis
occupational illness of commercial travelers, of that he had

not the slightest doubt.

It was very easy to throw aside the blanket. He needed

only to push himself up a little, and it fell by itself. But to

continue was difficult, particularly because he was so un
-
usually wide. He needed arms and hands to push himself

upright. Instead of these, however, he had only many small

limbs which were incessantly moving with very different

motions and which, in addition, he was unable to control.

If he wanted to bend one of them, then it was the first to ex
-
tend itself, and if he finally succeeded doing with this limb

what he wanted, in the meantime all the others, as if left

free, moved around in an excessively painful agitation. ‘But

I must not stay in bed uselessly,’ said Gregor to himself.

At first he wanted to get of the bed with the lower part

of his body, but this lower part (which he incidentally had

not yet looked at and which he also couldn’t picture clearly)

proved itself too difficult to move. The attempt went so slow
-
ly. When, having become almost frantic, he finally hurled

himself forward with all his force and without thinking, he

chose his direction incorrectly, and he hit the lower bedpost

hard. The violent pain he felt revealed to him that the lower

part of his body was at the moment probably the most sen
-
sitive.

Thus, he tried to get his upper body out of the bed first

and turned his head carefully toward the edge of the bed.

He managed to do this easily, and in spite of its width and

weight his body mass at last slowly followed the turning of

his head. But as he finally raised his head outside the bed in
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the open air, he became anxious about moving forward any

further in this manner, for if he allowed himself eventually

to fall by this process, it would take a miracle to prevent his

head from getting injured. And at all costs he must not lose

consciousness right now. He preferred to remain in bed.

However, after a similar effort, while he lay there again

sighing as before and once again saw his small limbs fight
-
ing one another, if anything worse than before, and didn’t

see any chance of imposing quiet and order on this arbitrary

movement, he told himself again that he couldn’t possibly

remain in bed and that it might be the most reasonable

thing to sacrifice everything if there was even the slight
-
est hope of getting himself out of bed in the process. At the

same moment, however, he didn’t forget to remind himself

from time to time of the fact that calm (indeed the calmest)

reflection might be better than the most confused deci
-
sions. At such moments, he directed his gaze as precisely as

he could toward the window, but unfortunately there was

little confident cheer to be had from a glance at the morn
-
ing mist, which concealed even the other side of the narrow

street. ‘It’s already seven o’clock’ he told himself at the latest

striking of the alarm clock, ‘already seven o’clock and still

such a fog.’ And for a little while longer he lay quietly with

weak breathing, as if perhaps waiting for normal and natu
-
ral conditions to re-emerge out of the complete stillness.

But then he said to himself, ‘Before it strikes a quarter

past seven, whatever happens I must be completely out of

bed. Besides, by then someone from the office will arrive to

inquire about me, because the office will open before sev
-
The Metamorphosis
en o’clock.’ And he made an effort then to rock his entire

body length out of the bed with a uniform motion. If he let

himself fall out of the bed in this way, his head, which in

the course of the fall he intended to lift up sharply, would

probably remain uninjured. His back seemed to be hard;

nothing would really happen to that as a result of the fall.

His greatest reservation was a worry about the loud noise

which the fall must create and which presumably would

arouse, if not fright, then at least concern on the other side

of all the doors. However, it had to be tried.

As Gregor was in the process of lifting himself half out

of bed (the new method was more of a game than an effort;

he needed only to rock with a constant rhythm) it struck

him how easy all this would be if someone were to come to

his aid. Two strong people (he thought of his father and the

servant girl) would have been quite sufficient. They would

have only had to push their arms under his arched back to

get him out of the bed, to bend down with their load, and

then merely to exercise patience and care that he complet
-
ed the flip onto the floor, where his diminutive legs would

then, he hoped, acquire a purpose. Now, quite apart from

the fact that the doors were locked, should he really call out

for help? In spite of all his distress, he was unable to sup
-
press a smile at this idea.

He had already got to the point where, with a stronger

rocking, he maintained his equilibrium with difficulty, and

very soon he would finally have to decide, for in five minutes

it would be a quarter past seven. Then there was a ring at the

door of the apartment. ‘That’s someone from the office’ he
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told himself, and he almost froze while his small limbs only

danced around all the faster. For one moment everything

remained still. ‘They aren’t opening,’ Gregor said to him
-
self, caught up in some absurd hope. But of course then, as

usual, the servant girl with her firm tread went to the door

and opened it. Gregor needed to hear only the visitor’s first

word of greeting to recognize immediately who it was, the

manager himself. Why was Gregor the only one condemned

to work in a firm where at the slightest lapse someone im
-
mediately attracted the greatest suspicion? Were all the

employees then collectively, one and all, scoundrels? Was

there then among them no truly devoted person who, if he

failed to use just a couple of hours in the morning for office

work, would become abnormal from pangs of conscience

and really be in no state to get out of bed? Was it really not

enough to let an apprentice make inquiries, if such ques
-
tioning was even necessary? Must the manager himself

come, and in the process must it be demonstrated to the en
-
tire innocent family that the investigation of this suspicious

circumstance could only be entrusted to the intelligence

of the manager? And more as a consequence of the excited

state in which this idea put Gregor than as a result of an

actual decision, he swung himself with all his might out of

the bed. There was a loud thud, but not a real crash. The fall

was absorbed somewhat by the carpet and, in addition, his

back was more elastic than Gregor had thought. For that

reason the dull noise was not quite so conspicuous. But he

had not held his head up with sufficient care and had hit it.

He turned his head, irritated and in pain, and rubbed it on
The Metamorphosis
the carpet.

‘Something has fallen in there,’ said the manager in the

next room on the left. Gregor tried to imagine to himself

whether anything similar to what was happening to him to
-
day could have also happened at some point to the manager.

At least one had to concede the possibility of such a thing.

However, as if to give a rough answer to this question, the

manager now took a few determined steps in the next room,

with a squeak of his polished boots. From the neighbour
-
ing room on the right the sister was whispering to inform

Gregor: ‘Gregor, the manager is here.’ ‘I know,’ said Gregor

to himself. But he did not dare make his voice loud enough

so that his sister could hear.

‘Gregor,’ his father now said from the neighbouring

room on the left, ‘Mr. Manager has come and is asking why

you have not left on the early train. We don’t know what we

should tell him. Besides, he also wants to speak to you per
-
sonally. So please open the door. He will good enough to

forgive the mess in your room.’

In the middle of all this, the manager called out in a

friendly way, ‘Good morning, Mr. Samsa.’ ‘He is not well,’

said his mother to the manager, while his father was still

talking at the door, ‘He is not well, believe me, Mr. Manager.

Otherwise how would Gregor miss a train! The young man

has nothing in his head except business. I’m almost angry

that he never goes out at night. Right now he’s been in the

city eight days, but he’s been at home every evening. He sits

there with us at the table and reads the newspaper quietly

or studies his travel schedules. It’s a quite a diversion for
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him if he busies himself with fretwork. For instance, he cut

out a small frame over the course of two or three evenings.

You’d be amazed how pretty it is. It’s hanging right inside

the room. You’ll see it immediately, as soon as Gregor opens

the door. Anyway, I’m happy that you’re here, Mr. Manager.

By ourselves, we would never have made Gregor open the

door. He’s so stubborn, and he’s certainly not well, although

he denied that this morning.’

‘I’m coming right away,’ said Gregor slowly and delib
-
erately and didn’t move, so as not to lose one word of the

conversation. ‘My dear lady, I cannot explain it to myself

in any other way,’ said the manager; ‘I hope it is nothing se
-
rious. On the other hand, I must also say that we business

people, luckily or unluckily, however one looks at it, very

often simply have to overcome a slight indisposition for

business reasons.’ ‘So can Mr. Manager come in to see you

now’ asked his father impatiently and knocked once again

on the door. ‘No,’ said Gregor. In the neighbouring room on

the left a painful stillness descended. In the neighbouring

room on the right the sister began to sob.

Why didn’t his sister go to the others? She’d probably

just gotten up out of bed now and hadn’t even started to get

dressed yet. Then why was she crying? Because he wasn’t

getting up and wasn’t letting the manager in; because he

was in danger of losing his position, and because then his

boss would badger his parents once again with the old de
-
mands? Those were probably unnecessary worries right

now. Gregor was still here and wasn’t thinking at all about

abandoning his family. At the moment he was lying right
The Metamorphosis
there on the carpet, and no one who knew about his condi
-
tion would’ve seriously demanded that he let the manager

in. But Gregor wouldn’t be casually dismissed right way be
-
cause of this small discourtesy, for which he would find an

easy and suitable excuse later on. It seemed to Gregor that

it might be far more reasonable to leave him in peace at the

moment, instead of disturbing him with crying and conver
-
sation. But it was the very uncertainty which distressed the

others and excused their behaviour.

‘Mr. Samsa,’ the manager was now shouting, his voice

raised, ‘what’s the matter? You are barricading yourself in

your room, answer with only a yes and a no, are making

serious and unnecessary troubles for your parents, and ne
-
glecting (I mention this only incidentally) your commercial

duties in a truly unheard of manner. I am speaking here in

the name of your parents and your employer, and I am re
-
questing you in all seriousness for an immediate and clear

explanation. I am amazed. I am amazed. I thought I knew

you as a calm, reasonable person, and now you appear sud
-
denly to want to start parading around in weird moods. The

Chief indicated to me earlier this very day a possible expla
-
nation for your neglect—it concerned the collection of cash

entrusted to you a short while ago—but in truth I almost

gave him my word of honour that this explanation could

not be correct. However, now I see here your unimaginable

pig headedness, and I am totally losing any desire to speak

up for you in the slightest. And your position is not at all the

most secure. Originally I intended to mention all this to you

privately, but since you are letting me waste my time here
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uselessly, I don’t know why the matter shouldn’t come to the

attention of your parents. Your productivity has also been

very unsatisfactory recently. Of course, it’s not the time of

year to conduct exceptional business, we recognize that, but

a time of year for conducting no business, there is no such

thing at all, Mr. Samsa, and such a thing must never be.’

‘But Mr. Manager,’ called Gregor, beside himself and in

his agitation forgetting everything else, ‘I’m opening the

door immediately, this very moment. A slight indisposition,

a dizzy spell, has prevented me from getting up. I’m still

lying in bed right now. But now I’m quite refreshed once

again. I’m in the midst of getting out of bed. Just have pa
-
tience for a short moment! Things are not going so well as

I thought. But things are all right. How suddenly this can

overcome someone! Just yesterday evening everything was

fine with me. My parents certainly know that. Actually just

yesterday evening I had a small premonition. People must

have seen that in me. Why have I not reported that to the

office! But people always think that they’ll get over sickness

without having to stay at home. Mr. Manager! Take it easy

on my parents! There is really no basis for the criticisms

which you are now making against me, and really nobody

has said a word to me about that. Perhaps you have not read

the latest orders which I shipped. Besides, now I’m setting

out on my trip on the eight o’clock train; the few hours’ rest

have made me stronger. Mr. Manager, do not stay. I will be

at the office in person right away. Please have the goodness

to say that and to convey my respects to the Chief.’

While Gregor was quickly blurting all this out, hard
-
The Metamorphosis
ly aware of what he was saying, he had moved close to the

chest of drawers without effort, probably as a result of the

practice he had already had in bed, and now he was trying

to raise himself up on it. Actually, he wanted to open the

door; he really wanted to let himself be seen by and to speak

with the manager. He was keen to witness what the others

now asking after him would say at the sight of him. If they

were startled, then Gregor had no more responsibility and

could be calm. But if they accepted everything quietly, then

he would have no reason to get excited and, if he got a move

on, could really be at the station around eight o’clock.

At first he slid down a few times from the smooth chest of

drawers. But at last he gave himself a final swing and stood

upright there. He was no longer at all aware of the pains in

his lower body, no matter how they might still sting. Now

he let himself fall against the back of a nearby chair, on the

edge of which he braced himself with his thin limbs. By do
-
ing this he gained control over himself and kept quiet, for

he could now hear the manager.

‘Did you understood a single word?’ the manager asked

the parents, ‘Is he playing the fool with us?’ ‘For God’s sake,’

cried the mother already in tears, ‘perhaps he’s very ill and

we’re upsetting him. Grete! Grete!’ she yelled at that point.

‘Mother?’ called the sister from the other side. They were

making themselves understood through Gregor’s room.

‘You must go to the doctor right away. Gregor is sick. Hurry

to the doctor. Have you heard Gregor speak yet?’ ‘That was

an animal’s voice,’ said the manager, remarkably quietly in

comparison to the mother’s cries.
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‘Anna! Anna!’ yelled the father through the hall into the

kitchen, clapping his hands, ‘fetch a locksmith right away!’

The two young women were already running through the

hall with swishing skirts (how had his sister dressed herself

so quickly?) and yanked open the doors of the apartment.

One couldn’t hear the doors closing at all. They probably

had left them open, as is customary in an apartment in

which a huge misfortune has taken place.

However, Gregor had become much calmer. All right,

people did not understand his words any more, although

they seemed clear enough to him, clearer than previously,

perhaps because his ears had gotten used to them. But at

least people now thought that things were not all right with

him and were prepared to help him. The confidence and as
-
surance with which the first arrangements had been carried

out made him feel good. He felt himself included once again

in the circle of humanity and was expecting from both the

doctor and the locksmith, without differentiating between

them with any real precision, splendid and surprising re
-
sults. In order to get as clear a voice as possible for the critical

conversation which was imminent, he coughed a little, and

certainly took the trouble to do this in a really subdued way,

since it was possible that even this noise sounded like some
-
thing different from a human cough. He no longer trusted

himself to decide any more. Meanwhile in the next room it

had become really quiet. Perhaps his parents were sitting

with the manager at the table and were whispering; perhaps

they were all leaning against the door and listening.

Gregor pushed himself slowly towards the door, with the
The Metamorphosis
help of the easy chair, let go of it there, threw himself against

the door, held himself upright against it (the balls of his tiny

limbs had a little sticky stuff on them), and rested there mo
-
mentarily from his exertion. Then he made an effort to turn

the key in the lock with his mouth. Unfortunately it seemed

that he had no real teeth. How then was he to grab hold

of the key? But to make up for that his jaws were naturally

very strong; with their help he managed to get the key really

moving, and he did not notice that he was obviously inflict
-
ing some damage on himself, for a brown fluid came out of

his mouth, flowed over the key, and dripped onto the floor.

‘Just listen for a moment,’ said the manager in the next

room, ‘he’s turning the key.’ For Gregor that was a great

encouragement. But they all should’ve called out to him,

including his father and mother, ‘Come on, Gregor,’ they

should’ve shouted, ‘keep going, keep working on the lock.’

Imagining that all his efforts were being followed with sus
-
pense, he bit down frantically on the key with all the force

he could muster. As the key turned more, he danced around

the lock. Now he was holding himself upright only with his

mouth, and he had to hang onto the key or then press it

down again with the whole weight of his body, as necessary.

The quite distinct click of the lock as it finally snapped re
-
ally woke Gregor up. Breathing heavily he said to himself,

‘So I didn’t need the locksmith,’ and he set his head against

the door handle to open the door completely.

Because he had to open the door in this way, it was already

open very wide without him yet being really visible. He first

had to turn himself slowly around the edge of the door, very
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carefully, of course, if he did not want to fall awkwardly on

his back right at the entrance into the room. He was still

preoccupied with this difficult movement and had no time

to pay attention to anything else, when he heard the manag
-
er exclaim a loud ‘Oh!’ (it sounded like the wind whistling),

and now he saw him, nearest to the door, pressing his hand

against his open mouth and moving slowly back, as if an

invisible constant force was pushing him away. His mother

(in spite of the presence of the manager she was standing

here with her hair sticking up on end, still a mess from the

night) with her hands clasped was looking at his father; she

then went two steps towards Gregor and collapsed right in

the middle of her skirts spreading out all around her, her

face sunk on her breast, completely concealed. His father

clenched his fist with a hostile expression, as if he wished

to push Gregor back into his room, then looked uncertainly

around the living room, covered his eyes with his hands,

and cried so that his mighty breast shook.

At this point Gregor did not take one step into the room,

but leaned his body from the inside against the firmly bolt
-
ed wing of the door, so that only half his body was visible,

as well as his head, titled sideways, with which he peeped

over at the others. Meanwhile it had become much brighter.

Standing out clearly from the other side of the street was

a part of the endless gray-black house situated opposite (it

was a hospital) with its severe regular windows breaking

up the facade. The rain was still coming down, but only in

large individual drops visibly and firmly thrown down one

by one onto the ground. The breakfast dishes were standing
The Metamorphosis
piled around on the table, because for his father breakfast

was the most important meal time in the day, which he pro
-
longed for hours by reading various newspapers. Directly

across on the opposite wall hung a photograph of Gregor

from the time of his military service; it was a picture of him

as a lieutenant, as he, smiling and worry free, with his hand

on his sword, demanded respect for his bearing and uni
-
form. The door to the hall was ajar, and since the door to the

apartment was also open, one saw out into the landing of

the apartment and the start of the staircase going down.

‘Now,’ said Gregor, well aware that he was the only one

who had kept his composure. ‘I’ll get dressed right away,

pack up the collection of samples, and set off. You’ll allow

me to set out on my way, will you not? You see, Mr. Manag
-
er, I am not pig-headed, and I am happy to work. Traveling

is exhausting, but I couldn’t live without it. Where are you

going, Mr. Manager? To the office? Really? Will you report

everything truthfully? A person can be incapable of work

momentarily, but that is precisely the best time to remem
-
ber the earlier achievements and to consider that later, after

the obstacles have been shoved aside, the person will work

all the more keenly and intensely. I am really so indebted to

Mr. Chief—you know that perfectly well. On the other hand,

I am concerned about my parents and my sister. I’m in a fix,

but I’ll work myself out of it again. Don’t make things more

difficult for me than they already are. Speak up on my behalf

in the office! People don’t like traveling salesmen. I know

that. People think they earn pots of money and thus lead a

fine life. People don’t even have any special reason to think
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through this judgment more clearly. But you, Mr. Manag
-
er, you have a better perspective on the interconnections

than the other people, even, I tell you in total confidence, a

better perspective than Mr. Chairman himself, who in his

capacity as the employer may let his judgment make casual

mistakes at the expense of an employee. You also know well

enough that the traveling salesman who is outside the of
-
fice almost the entire year can become so easily a victim

of gossip, coincidences, and groundless complaints, against

which it’s impossible for him to defend himself, since for the

most part he doesn’t hear about them at all and only then

when he’s exhausted after finishing a trip, and gets to feel in

his own body at home the nasty consequences, which can’t

be thoroughly explored back to their origins. Mr. Manager,

don’t leave without speaking a word telling me that you’ll at

least concede that I’m a little in the right!’

But at Gregor’s first words the manager had already turned

away, and now he looked back at Gregor over his twitching

shoulders with pursed lips. During Gregor’s speech he was

not still for a moment, but was moving away towards the

door, without taking his eyes off Gregor, but really gradu
-
ally, as if there was a secret ban on leaving the room. He was

already in the hall, and after the sudden movement with

which he finally pulled his foot out of the living room, one

could have believed that he had just burned the sole of his

foot. In the hall, however, he stretched out his right hand

away from his body towards the staircase, as if some truly

supernatural relief was waiting for him there.

Gregor realized that he must not under any circum
-
The Metamorphosis
stances allow the manager to go away in this frame of mind,

especially if his position in the firm was not to be placed

in the greatest danger. His parents did not understand all

this very well. Over the long years, they had developed the

conviction that Gregor was set up for life in his firm and,

in addition, they had so much to do nowadays with their

present troubles that all foresight was foreign to them. But

Gregor had this foresight. The manager must be held back,

calmed down, convinced, and finally won over. The future

of Gregor and his family really depended on it! If only the

sister had been there! She was clever. She had already cried

while Gregor was still lying quietly on his back. And the

manager, this friend of the ladies, would certainly let him
-
self be guided by her. She would have closed the door to

the apartment and talked him out of his fright in the hall.

But the sister was not even there. Gregor must deal with it

himself.

Without thinking that as yet he didn’t know anything

about his present ability to move and without thinking

that his speech possibly (indeed probably) had once again

not been understood, he left the wing of the door, pushed

himself through the opening, and wanted to go over to the

manager, who was already holding tight onto the handrail

with both hands on the landing in a ridiculous way. But as

he looked for something to hold onto, with a small scream

Gregor immediately fell down onto his numerous little legs.

Scarcely had this happened, when he felt for the first time

that morning a general physical well being. The small limbs

had firm floor under them; they obeyed perfectly, as he
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noticed to his joy, and strove to carry him forward in the

direction he wanted. Right away he believed that the final

amelioration of all his suffering was immediately at hand.

But at the very moment when he lay on the floor rocking in

a restrained manner quite close and directly across from his

mother (apparently totally sunk into herself) she suddenly

sprang right up with her arms spread far apart and her fin
-
gers extended and cried out, ‘Help, for God’s sake, help!’ She

held her head bowed down, as if she wanted to view Gregor

better, but ran senselessly back, contradicting that gesture,

forgetting that behind her stood the table with all the dishes

on it. When she reached the table, she sat down heavily on

it, as if absent-mindedly, and did not appear to notice at all

that next to her coffee was pouring out onto the carpet in a

full stream from the large overturned container.

‘Mother, mother,’ said Gregor quietly, and looked over

towards her. The manager momentarily had disappeared

completely from his mind; by contrast, at the sight of the

flowing coffee he couldn’t stop himself snapping his jaws

in the air a few times . At that his mother screamed all over

again, hurried from the table, and collapsed into the arms of

his father, who was rushing towards her. But Gregor had no

time right now for his parents: the manager was already on

the staircase. His chin level with the banister, the manager

looked back for the last time. Gregor took an initial move
-
ment to catch up to him if possible. But the manager must

have suspected something, because he made a leap down

over a few stairs and disappeared, still shouting ‘Huh!’ The

sound echoed throughout the entire stairwell.
The Metamorphosis
Now, unfortunately this flight of the manager also

seemed completely to bewilder his father, who earlier had

been relatively calm, for instead of running after the manag
-
er himself or at least not hindering Gregor from his pursuit,

with his right hand he grabbed hold of the manager’s cane,

which he had left behind with his hat and overcoat on a

chair. With his left hand, his father picked up a large news
-
paper from the table and, stamping his feet on the floor, he

set out to drive Gregor back into his room by waving the

cane and the newspaper. No request of Gregor’s was of any

use; no request would even be understood. No matter how

willing he was to turn his head respectfully, his father just

stomped all the harder with his feet.

Across the room from him his mother had pulled open

a window, in spite of the cool weather, and leaning out with

her hands on her cheeks, she pushed her face far outside

the window. Between the alley and the stair well a strong

draught came up, the curtains on the window flew around,

the newspapers on the table swished, and individual sheets

fluttered down over the floor. The father relentlessly pressed

forward pushing out sibilants, like a wild man. Now, Gregor

had no practice at all in going backwards; it was really going

very slowly. If Gregor only had been allowed to turn himself

around, he would have been in his room right away, but he

was afraid to make his father impatient by the time-consum
-
ing process of turning around, and each moment he faced

the threat of a mortal blow on his back or his head from the

cane in his father’s hand. Finally Gregor had no other op
-
tion, for he noticed with horror that he did not understand
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yet how to maintain his direction going backwards. And so

he began, amid constantly anxious sideways glances in his

father’s direction, to turn himself around as quickly as pos
-
sible (although in truth this was only very slowly). Perhaps

his father noticed his good intentions, for he did not disrupt

Gregor in this motion, but with the tip of the cane from a

distance he even directed here and there Gregor’s rotating

movement.

If only there hadn’t been his father’s unbearable hissing!

Because of that Gregor totally lost his head. He was already

almost totally turned around, when, always with this hiss
-
ing in his ear, he just made a mistake and turned himself

back a little. But when he finally was successful in getting

his head in front of the door opening, it became clear that

his body was too wide to go through any further. Natu
-
rally his father, in his present mental state, had no idea of

opening the other wing of the door a bit to create a suitable

passage for Gregor to get through. His single fixed thought

was that Gregor must get into his room as quickly as possi
-
ble. He would never have allowed the elaborate preparations

that Gregor required to orient himself and thus perhaps

get through the door. On the contrary, as if there were no

obstacle and with a peculiar noise, he now drove Gregor for
-
wards. Behind Gregor the sound was at this point no longer

like the voice of only a single father. Now it was really no

longer a joke, and Gregor forced himself, come what might,

into the door. One side of his body was lifted up. He lay at an

angle in the door opening. His one flank was sore with the

scraping. On the white door ugly blotches were left. Soon
The Metamorphosis
he was stuck fast and would have not been able to move any

more on his own. The tiny legs on one side hung twitch
-
ing in the air above, the ones on the other side were pushed

painfully into the floor. Then his father gave him one really

strong liberating push from behind, and he scurried, bleed
-
ing severely, far into the interior of his room. The door was

slammed shut with the cane, and finally it was quiet.
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II

G
regor first woke up from his heavy swoon-like sleep
in the evening twilight. He would certainly have wo
-
ken up soon afterwards without any disturbance, for he felt

himself sufficiently rested and wide awake, although it ap
-
peared to him as if a hurried step and a cautious closing of

the door to the hall had aroused him. The shine of the elec
-
tric streetlights lay pale here and there on the ceiling and on

the higher parts of the furniture, but underneath around

Gregor it was dark. He pushed himself slowly toward the

door, still groping awkwardly with his feelers, which he

now learned to value for the first time, to check what was

happening there. His left side seemed one single long un
-
pleasantly stretched scar, and he really had to hobble on his

two rows of legs. In addition, one small leg had been seri
-
ously wounded in the course of the morning incident (it was

almost a miracle that only one had been hurt) and dragged

lifelessly behind.

By the door he first noticed what had really lured him

there: it was the smell of something to eat. For there stood a

bowl filled with sweetened milk, in which swam tiny piec
-
es of white bread. He almost laughed with joy, for he now

had a much greater hunger than in the morning, and he im
-
mediately dipped his head almost up to and over his eyes

down into the milk. But he soon drew it back again in dis
-
The Metamorphosis
appointment, not just because it was difficult for him to eat

on account of his delicate left side (he could eat only if his

entire panting body worked in a coordinated way), but also

because the milk, which otherwise was his favorite drink

and which his sister had certainly placed there for that rea
-
son, did not appeal to him at all. He turned away from the

bowl almost with aversion and crept back into the middle

of the room.

In the living room, as Gregor saw through the crack in

the door, the gas was lit, but where on other occasions at this

time of day the father was accustomed to read the afternoon

newspaper in a loud voice to his mother and sometimes also

to his sister, at the moment not a sound was audible. Now,

perhaps this reading aloud, about which his sister always

spoken and written to him, had recently fallen out of their

general routine. But it was so still all around, in spite of the

fact that the apartment was certainly not empty. ‘What a

quiet life the family leads’, said Gregor to himself and, as he

stared fixedly out in front of him into the darkness, he felt

a great pride that he had been able to provide such a life in

a beautiful apartment like this for his parents and his sister.

But how would things go if now all tranquillity, all prosper
-
ity, all contentment should come to a horrible end? In order

not to lose himself in such thoughts, Gregor preferred to set

himself moving and crawled up and down in his room.

Once during the long evening one side door and then the

other door was opened just a tiny crack and quickly closed

again. Someone presumably needed to come in but had then

thought better of it. Gregor immediately took up a position
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by the living room door, determined to bring in the hesitant

visitor somehow or other or at least to find out who it might

be. But now the door was not opened any more, and Gregor

waited in vain. Earlier, when the door had been barred, they

had all wanted to come in to him; now, when he had opened

one door and when the others had obviously been opened

during the day, no one came any more, and the keys were

stuck in the locks on the outside.

The light in the living room was turned off only late at

night, and now it was easy to establish that his parents and

his sister had stayed awake all this time, for one could hear

clearly as all three moved away on tiptoe. Now it was cer
-
tain that no one would come into Gregor any more until

the morning. Thus, he had a long time to think undisturbed

about how he should reorganize his life from scratch. But

the high, open room, in which he was compelled to lie flat

on the floor, made him anxious, without his being able to

figure out the reason, for he had lived in the room for five

years. With a half unconscious turn and not without a slight

shame he scurried under the couch, where, in spite of the

fact that his back was a little cramped and he could no lon
-
ger lift up his head, he felt very comfortable and was sorry

only that his body was too wide to fit completely under it.

There he remained the entire night, which he spent partly

in a state of semi-sleep, out of which his hunger constantly

woke him with a start, but partly in a state of worry and

murky hopes, which all led to the conclusion that for the

time being he would have to keep calm and with patience

and the greatest consideration for his family tolerate the
The Metamorphosis
troubles which in his present condition he was now forced

to cause them.

Already early in the morning (it was still almost night)

Gregor had an opportunity to test the power of the deci
-
sions he had just made, for his sister, almost fully dressed,

opened the door from the hall into his room and looked ea
-
gerly inside. She did not find him immediately, but when she

noticed him under the couch (God, he had to be somewhere

or other; for he could hardly fly away) she got such a shock

that, without being able to control herself, she slammed the

door shut once again from the outside. However, as if she

was sorry for her behaviour, she immediately opened the

door again and walked in on her tiptoes, as if she was in

the presence of a serious invalid or a total stranger. Gregor

had pushed his head forward just to the edge of the couch

and was observing her. Would she really notice that he had

left the milk standing, not indeed from any lack of hunger,

and would she bring in something else to eat more suitable

for him? If she did not do it on her own, he would sooner

starve to death than call her attention to the fact, although

he had a really powerful urge to move beyond the couch,

throw himself at his sister’s feet, and beg her for something

or other good to eat. But his sister noticed right away with

astonishment that the bowl was still full, with only a little

milk spilled around it. She picked it up immediately (al
-
though not with her bare hands but with a rag), and took

it out of the room. Gregor was extremely curious what she

would bring as a substitute, and he pictured to himself dif
-
ferent ideas about that. But he never could have guessed
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what his sister out of the goodness of her heart in fact did.

She brought him, to test his taste, an entire selection, all

spread out on an old newspaper. There were old half-rot
-
ten vegetables, bones from the evening meal, covered with

a white sauce which had almost solidified, some raisins

and almonds, cheese, which Gregor had declared inedible

two days earlier, a slice of dry bread, a slice of salted bread

smeared with butter. In addition to all this, she put down a

bowl (probably designated once and for all as Gregor’s) into

which she had poured some water. And out of her delicacy

of feeling, since she knew that Gregor would not eat in front

of her, she went away very quickly and even turned the key

in the lock, so that Gregor could now observe that he could

make himself as comfortable as he wished. Gregor’s small

limbs buzzed as the time for eating had come. His wounds

must, in any case, have already healed completely. He felt

no handicap on that score. He was astonished at that and

thought about it, how more than a month ago he had cut his

finger slightly with a knife and how this wound had hurt

enough even the day before yesterday.

‘Am I now going to be less sensitive,’ he thought, already

sucking greedily on the cheese, which had strongly attract
-
ed him right away, more than all the other foods. Quickly

and with his eyes watering with satisfaction, he ate one after

the other the cheese, the vegetables, and the sauce; the fresh

food, by contrast, didn’t taste good to him. He couldn’t bear

the smell and even carried the things he wanted to eat a

little distance away. By the time his sister slowly turned the

key as a sign that he should withdraw, he was long finished
The Metamorphosis
and now lay lazily in the same spot. The noise immediately

startled him, in spite of the fact that he was already almost

asleep, and he scurried back again under the couch. But it

cost him great self-control to remain under the couch, even

for the short time his sister was in the room, because his

body had filled out somewhat on account of the rich meal

and in the narrow space there he could scarcely breathe.

In the midst of minor attacks of asphyxiation, he looked

at her with somewhat protruding eyes, as his unsuspect
-
ing sister swept up with a broom, not just the remnants, but

even the foods which Gregor had not touched at all, as if

these were also now useless, and as she dumped everything

quickly into a bucket, which she closed with a wooden lid,

and then carried all of it out of the room. She had hardly

turned around before Gregor had already dragged himself

out from the couch, stretched out, and let his body expand.

In this way Gregor got his food every day, once in the

morning, when his parents and the servant girl were still

asleep, and a second time after the common noon meal, for

his parents were, as before, asleep then for a little while, and

the servant girl was sent off by his sister on some errand

or other. Certainly they would not have wanted Gregor to

starve to death, but perhaps they could not have endured

finding out what he ate other than by hearsay. Perhaps his

sister wanted to spare them what was possibly only a small

grief, for they were really suffering quite enough already.

What sorts of excuses people had used on that first

morning to get the doctor and the locksmith out of the

house Gregor was completely unable to ascertain. Since he
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was not comprehensible, no one, not even his sister, thought

that he might be able to understand others, and thus, when

his sister was in her room, he had to be content with listen
-
ing now and then to her sighs and invocations to the saints.

Only later, when she had grown somewhat accustomed to

everything (naturally there could never be any talk of her

growing completely accustomed to it) Gregor sometimes

caught a comment which was intended to be friendly or

could be interpreted as such. ‘Well, today it tasted good to

him,’ she said, if Gregor had really cleaned up what he had

to eat; whereas, in the reverse situation, which gradually

repeated itself more and more frequently, she used to say

sadly, ‘Now everything has stopped again.’

But while Gregor could get no new information direct
-
ly, he did hear a good deal from the room next door, and

as soon as he heard voices, he scurried right away to the

relevant door and pressed his entire body against it. In

the early days especially, there was no conversation which

was not concerned with him in some way or other, even if

only in secret. For two days at all meal times discussions

on that subject could be heard on how people should now

behave; but they also talked about the same subject in the

times between meals, for there were always at least two

family members at home, since no one really wanted to re
-
main in the house alone and people could not under any

circumstances leave the apartment completely empty. In

addition, on the very first day the servant girl (it was not

completely clear what and how much she knew about what

had happened) on her knees had begged his mother to let
The Metamorphosis
her go immediately, and when she said good bye about fif
-
teen minutes later, she thanked them for the dismissal with

tears in her eyes, as if she was receiving the greatest favour

which people had shown her there, and, without anyone de
-
manding it from her, she swore a fearful oath not to betray

anyone, not even the slightest bit.

Now his sister had to team up with his mother to do the

cooking, although that didn’t create much trouble because

people were eating almost nothing. Again and again Gregor

listened as one of them vainly invited another one to eat and

received no answer other than ‘Thank you. I have enough’

or something like that. And perhaps they had stopped hav
-
ing anything to drink, too. His sister often asked his father

whether he wanted to have a beer and gladly offered to fetch

it herself, and when his father was silent, she said, in order

to remove any reservations he might have, that she could

send the caretaker’s wife to get it. But then his father finally

said a resounding ‘No,’ and nothing more would be spoken

about it.

Already during the first day his father laid out all the

financial circumstances and prospects to his mother and

to his sister as well. From time to time he stood up from

the table and pulled out of the small lockbox salvaged from

his business, which had collapsed five years previously,

some document or other or some notebook. The sound was

audible as he opened up the complicated lock and, after re
-
moving what he was looking for, locked it up again. These

explanations by his father were, in part, the first enjoyable

thing that Gregor had the chance to listen to since his im
-
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prisonment. He had thought that nothing at all was left over

for his father from that business; at least his father had told

him nothing to the contradict that view, and Gregor in any

case hadn’t asked him about it. At the time Gregor’s only

concern had been to devote everything he had in order to

allow his family to forget as quickly as possible the busi
-
ness misfortune which had brought them all into a state of

complete hopelessness. And so at that point he’d started

to work with a special intensity and from an assistant had

become, almost overnight, a traveling salesman, who natu
-
rally had entirely different possibilities for earning money

and whose successes at work at once were converted into

the form of cash commissions, which could be set out on

the table at home in front of his astonished and delighted

family. Those had been beautiful days, and they had never

come back afterwards, at least not with the same splendour,

in spite of the fact that Gregor later earned so much money

that he was in a position to bear the expenses of the entire

family, expenses which he, in fact, did bear. They had be
-
come quite accustomed to it, both the family and Gregor

as well. They took the money with thanks, and he happily

surrendered it, but the special warmth was no longer pres
-
ent. Only the sister had remained still close to Gregor, and

it was his secret plan to send her (in contrast to Gregor she

loved music very much and knew how to play the violin

charmingly) next year to the conservatory, regardless of the

great expense which that must necessitate and which would

be made up in other ways. Now and then during Gregor’s

short stays in the city the conservatory was mentioned in
The Metamorphosis
conversations with his sister, but always only as a beauti
-
ful dream, whose realization was unimaginable, and their

parents never listened to these innocent expectations with

pleasure. But Gregor thought about them with scrupulous

consideration and intended to explain the matter ceremoni
-
ously on Christmas Eve.

In his present situation, such futile ideas went through

his head, while he pushed himself right up against the

door and listened. Sometimes in his general exhaustion

he couldn’t listen any more and let his head bang listlessly

against the door, but he immediately pulled himself togeth
-
er, for even the small sound which he made by this motion

was heard near by and silenced everyone. ‘ There he goes on

again,’ said his father after a while, clearly turning towards

the door, and only then would the interrupted conversation

gradually be resumed again.

Gregor found out clearly enough (for his father tended

to repeat himself often in his explanations, partly because

he had not personally concerned himself with these mat
-
ters for a long time now, and partly also because his mother

did not understand everything right away the first time)

that, in spite all bad luck, a fortune, although a very small

one, was available from the old times, which the interest

(which had not been touched) had in the intervening time

gradually allowed to increase a little. Furthermore, in ad
-
dition to this, the money which Gregor had brought home

every month (he had kept only a few florins for himself)

had not been completely spent and had grown into a small

capital amount. Gregor, behind his door, nodded eagerly,
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rejoicing over this unanticipated foresight and frugality.

True, with this excess money, he could 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.

At the moment, however, this money was nowhere near

sufficient to permit the family to live on the interest pay
-
ments. Perhaps it would be enough to maintain the family

for one or at most two years, that’s all. Thus it came only to

an amount which one should not really take out and which

must be set aside for an emergency. But the money to live

on must be earned. Now, his father was a healthy man, al
-
though he was old, who had not worked at all for five years

now and thus could not be counted on for very much. He

had in these five years, the first holidays of his trouble-filled

but unsuccessful life, put on a good deal of fat and thus had

become really heavy. And should his old mother now may
-
be work for money, a woman who suffered from asthma,

for whom wandering through the apartment even now was

a great strain and who spent every second day on the sofa

by the open window labouring for breath? Should his sis
-
ter earn money, a girl who was still a seventeen-year-old

child, whose earlier life style had been so very delightful

that it had consisted of dressing herself nicely, sleeping in

late, helping around the house, taking part in a few mod
-
est enjoyments and, above all, playing the violin? When

it came to talking about this need to earn money, at first

Gregor went away from the door and threw himself on the
The Metamorphosis
cool leather sofa beside the door, for he was quite hot from

shame and sorrow.

Often he lay there all night long. He didn’t sleep a mo
-
ment and just scratched on the leather for hours at a time.

He undertook the very difficult task of shoving a chair over

to the window. Then he crept up on the window sill and,

braced in the chair, leaned against the window to look out,

obviously with some memory or other of the satisfaction

which that used to bring him in earlier times. Actually from

day to day he perceived things with less and less clarity, even

those a short distance away: the hospital across the street,

the all too frequent sight of which he had previously cursed,

was not visible at all any more, and if he had not been pre
-
cisely aware that he lived in the quiet but completely urban

Charlotte Street, he could have believed that from his win
-
dow he was peering out at a featureless wasteland, in which

the gray heaven and the gray earth had merged and were

indistinguishable. His attentive sister must have observed

a couple of times that the chair stood by the window; then,

after cleaning up the room, each time she pushed the chair

back right against the window and from now on she even

left the inner casement open.

If Gregor had only been able to speak to his sister and

thank her for everything that she had to do for him, he

would have tolerated her service more easily. As it was he

suffered under it. The sister admittedly sought to cover up

the awkwardness of everything as much as possible, and,

as time went by, she naturally got more successful at it. But

with the passing of time Gregor also came to understand
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everything more precisely. Even her entrance was terrible

for him. As soon as she entered, she ran straight to the win
-
dow, without taking the time to shut the door (in spite of

the fact that she was otherwise very considerate in sparing

anyone the sight of Gregor’s room), and yanked the window

open with eager hands, as if she was almost suffocating, and

remained for a while by the window breathing deeply, even

when it was still so cold. With this running and noise she

frightened Gregor twice every day. The entire time he trem
-
bled under the couch, and yet he knew very well that she

would certainly have spared him gladly if it had only been

possible to remain with the window closed in a room where

Gregor lived.

On one occasion (about one month had already gone by

since Gregor’s transformation, and there was now no partic
-
ular reason any more for his sister to be startled at Gregor’s

appearance) she came a little earlier than usual and came

upon Gregor as he was still looking out the window, im
-
mobile and well positioned to frighten someone. It would

not have come as a surprise to Gregor if she had not come

in, since his position was preventing her from opening the

window immediately. But she not only did not step inside;

she even retreated and shut the door. A stranger really could

have concluded from this that Gregor had been lying in wait

for her and wanted to bite her. Of course, Gregor imme
-
diately concealed himself under the couch, but he had to

wait until the noon meal before his sister returned, and she

seemed much less calm than usual. From this he realized

that his appearance was still constantly intolerable to her