/lit/ - Literature

In Kafka’s Metamorphosis we witness a change not only in Gregor Samsa, but in his sister. At the time of Gregor's transformation, we are introduced to her as a tender girl, somewhat sympathetic to her brother’s plight. As the story progresses, her closeness with her brother fades, and she attempts to clean out his room, contrary to his desires. Ultimately it is she who calls to get rid of Gregor. In parallel with this movement from ally to enemy of Gregor is her sexual development. She stops covering her neck, inviting her brother’s desire to kiss it; she goes out into the world, working, exposed to other men. The final lines of the story are of her parents noticing her blossoming womanhood.
Gregor is the impotent modern man, stripped of humanity well before the events of the story-- which is why, upon his metamorphosis, he never panics, never notices anything really out of the ordinary. He has always been meekly subservient to his father and to his superiors at the company, working to pay off his family’s debt. He hardly eats. When desperately trying to protect the furniture in his room, the one thing he elects to block with his body and keep at all costs is his picture of a woman in furs. We see here the traits of the modern insectoid man: submissive, isolated; without appetite, yet clinging to pornography; dehumanized.
Grete, as his sister, represents the modern feminine principle. As Gregor moves further away from humanity, she moves towards it almost too far, and resents the modern male more and more. This is analogous to the modern hypersexualized female.