The Ending of the Metamorphosis: Happily, Ever After?

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The Metamorphosis as a whole seems to epitome Kafkaesque. Waking up and finding yourself transformed into a giant bug already feels very surreal yet Gregor’s single minded focus to get to work makes it seem even more surreal. On the whole, the story feels very dark and it feels like nothing goes Gregor’s way and yet, the mood of the last few paragraphs diverges from the previous Kafkaesque tone.

The imagery we get in the last few paragraphs feels oddly optimistic. First off, “the tram car was filled with warm sunshine” (110). Just the phrase “warm sunshine” seems like the opposite of Kafkaesque. Sunshine is nice, happy and warm, all of which are not emotions you would expect people to feel when a family member transforms into a giant bug and dies. Earlier, Kafka writes, “They rose, went to the window, and clasped each other tight” (110). This scene feels like a sweet moment of family bonding. I know this probably wasn’t what Kafka intended but I imagine the Samsa family (sans Gregor) having a group hug near the window. This image of familial closeness is contrasted to the image of the family we get from Gregor’s point of view at the beginning of the story. We know the Gregor spent most of his time doing work and what little free time Gregor has he memorizes train time tables. In a sense, Gregor feels isolated from his family at first since he spends so much time at his job. Gregor’s isolation when put next to this scene of familial closeness (that happens when Gregor is gone) puts a bitter taste in my mouth. I guess, I just want Gregor to be happy with his family too. Yet, even if Gregor wasn’t a giant bug, I have a hard time inserting his human self into this scene. I can’t imagine him clasping his family member’s tight or sitting in a tram car filled with warm sunshine. I can only imagine Gregor sitting awkwardly to the side memorizing train time tables.

One thing that struck me as I read the last few paragraphs was how fairy tale like the ending of The Metamorphosis was. It feels like all of the Samsa family’s problems have magically vanished. Their jobs weren’t that bad, they would move to another flat, their future looked promising, the giant bug that was a parasite to their household is dead. All their problems seem to be neatly tied up with no loose ends, which seems a little unrealistic. Grete’s transformation in particular feels like it could have come from a fairy tale and, in a sense, it feels like a coming of age story. Grete has to take many trials, such as caring for Gregor the giant bug and getting a job, and emerges as a beautiful young woman who can be married off (which I have many problems with but that’s not for this blog post). And then I wonder if the Samsa family deserves their “happily ever after”. The fact, that Grete literally told Gregor to go die for the good of the family really puts them in a negative light for me. The ending of The Metamorphosis feels unfair in that respect.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 13, 2018 at 12:50 PM

    I think your right to view the happily ever after ending as unfair. Although, like we talked about in class there are alternative darker or happier ways to view the ending. You could say that the whole book has been about Gregor being taken advantage of and this lack of grief makes the parents seem like the villains who prevailed. On the other hand you could argue that from the parents perspective they had no reason to think the bug was gregor and it took them all the book to accept that and the family is now coming together past the grief they have been constantly feeling. I agree with your impression of the end, but it's interesting to consider others!

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  2. AlexOctober 13, 2018 at 2:08 PM

    In my view this "happily ever after" ending is not what really happened, but what Gregor imagined would happen. I agree that the family does not deserve such a happy ending, but Gregor's mind is so twisted that he thinks it does and he views himself as being such a burden to the family that he imagines that when he is gone all of their troubles will disappear.

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  3. AdamOctober 13, 2018 at 2:21 PM

    The ending of The Metamorphosis also struck me as a little off-putting. The tone of the almost "fairy-tale" like ending, as you say, doesn't feel right when we think about what has happened to Gregor. With Gregor now dead and the rest of the family seeming closer than ever after forgetting about him, I can't help having that feeling.

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  4. MitchellOctober 14, 2018 at 12:56 PM

    I think it makes a lot of sense to view this story as a twisted kind of "fairy tale," in lots of ways. And the ending seems to try to assert that "happily ever after" when it feels *least* appropriate (that's maybe a nice summary of Kafka's aesthetic overall!). I would insist that this disparity of content and tone is quintessentially "Kafkaesque"--he makes sunshine and optimism and family bonding seem horrible and creepy and unsettling. And he's definitely intending a kind of "group hug" dynamic in these last scenes--they even walk together through the apartment as a trio, three across (just like the lodgers!).

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