Summary of the Book

This is a summary of the book that i found on a website. it puts the book in to perspective and makes easier to understand each section. it also asks some very interesting questions like what bug does gregor actually turn in to?

 

Summary                   

Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find that he has been inexplicably transformed into a giant insect. He is not dreaming; he is clearly still in his own bedroom in his family's apartment, in his own bed. He is lying on his back and can see his numerous legs squirming uselessly in the air. Initially, he is unable to get out of bed.


Gregor's thoughts turn to his strenuous and thankless job as a traveling salesman for a company that is suspicious and over-vigilant toward its sales force. Gregor would have quit long ago, but his parents are in deep financial debt to his boss, so for the family's sake he continues. A quick glance at the alarm clock tells Gregor that he has slept late and missed his train. If he rushes he might still be able to catch the 7 a.m. train, but even this won't spare him a tongue-lashing from his boss. He considers calling in sick, which he has never done, but suspects that his boss would then send a health-insurance doctor to check on him.
Concerned, Gregor's parents and his sister Grete soon begin to knock on his door. In an altered voice, with brief and deliberate phrases, he tries to reassure them. He expends a quarter of an hour struggling with his air-beating limbs and unfamiliar body in an attempt to get out of bed. When Gregor, rocking back and forth, is on the verge of teetering off the bed and landing on his sturdy (he hopes) back, the doorbell rings. It is the chief clerk of the company come to see why he didn't leave by the early train. Gregor swings off the bed and onto the floor, banging his head in the process.
Gregor's parents detain the chief clerk while imploring Gregor to open the locked door to his room. Gregor is still able to manage simple stalling phrases. At last, the chief clerk becomes impatient. In front of Gregor's parents, the functionary sets into a critical and demoralizing speech, even maliciously insinuating that perhaps Gregor is hiding in his room because of some unethical activity involving cash receipts. Gregor excitedly replies with a stream of words, pleading illness, offering assurances that he will make the eight o'clock train, and asking the man to spare his parents. While he speaks he maneuvers himself up against his wardrobe and is able, with considerable difficulty, to draw himself upright. He wants to open the door and then gauge the seriousness of his situation from the reaction of those outside.
His family and the chief clerk become alarmed. They have not understood a word of his fevered reply. In fact, they do not recognize it as human speech. His mother sends Grete for the doctor; his father sends the maid for a locksmith. Gregor remains calm. He feels reassured by the efforts being made on his behalf. Leaning against the door, his jaws struggle with the key. He manages at last to open the door and peer out. Gregor's mother faints, his father begins to weep, and the chief clerk can only muster a startled "Oh!"
From his room's threshold, Gregor tries to placate the clerk and defend himself against earlier accusations. But the man is slowly making his way to the door. Thinking the chief clerk still angry with him, Gregor makes a move to intercept the man and further plead his case. His movement frightens his mother and sends the chief clerk fleeing down the stairwell, screaming at full volume. Gregor's father springs into action, grabbing a stick and a newspaper and herding Gregor back into his bedroom with prods and fierce hisses. Gregor injures himself badly trying to fit back through the doorway. The door is slammed shut behind him, and all goes quiet.       
                                
One reason this novella has become so well-known and inspired so many interpretations is that it does not show its hand. It begins with a ridiculous but resonant proclamation--that a man is now a large insect--and does not look back, with no nods or winks or unambiguous signs as to how we should proceed. The narrative itself is clear and straightforward. The descriptions of the insect are somewhat hazy with regard to true entomology, but the descriptions of Gregor's physical tribulations as an insect are detailed and realistic--if such a thing can be said of a two- or three-foot-long bug. What are we to make of this? The transformation is a fait accompli and, within the context of the story, there is no going back to question its cause.
Although Gregor wakes up as an insect in outward, physical form, some of his more internal elements undergo a more gradual metamorphosis. But soon, his human voice disappears and his preferences grow more insect-like. With time he masters the coordination of his new body. He thinks less and crawls on walls and ceilings. But his consideration for his family's feelings seldom wavers.
A note on the insect: It has been variously translated as a cockroach, a stag beetle, a dung beetle, and a centipede. The latter, of course, is not an insect at all. But does a cockroach have the "numerous legs" that "flicker" before Gregor's eyes? Only if "numerous" means six. Does a cockroach have a neck that it can turn to give one last look behind it, as Gregor does later? It's more likely that the bug is not a specific bug, and its exact identity is immaterial to the tale. Kafka himself asked that the insect not be depicted on the cover of the book in 1915; this, he felt sure, would spoil the story.

Sparknotes LLC, 2011, http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/section1.rhtml, accessed 20/3/2011