s looked upon him with amusement, both of which can support my claim of a real physical change in Gregor. Another clue for a real physical change is the way he is treated and the way he treats himself. People like his father, sister and the charwoman treat him like an animal or a pest. His father says, ““shoo!”” (Kafka, page 104) to him with newspapers and hurls apples his way, and he in turn runs around in circles and hides under furniture. His sister now cleans his dirty disgusting room, serves him food on the floor, which by the way is spoiled and rotting. And the char woman tosses all useless appliances in his room and every now and then finds time in her daily activities to call him a “old dung beetle!”” (Kafka, page 127) and pester him with brooms. He him self takes certain liberties that only cockroaches have such a sticking to the surfaces of walls and ceilings. Another important fact is the fact that he never left the house. With such a gruesome appearance it supports my claim. But if he is indeed a cockroach then what is the point behind this whole story? Is it just a fable about a man who turned into a cockroach? Was this whole fiasco of making a man a cockroach done to give a distraction to a redundant moral, or maybe even compensate for a meaningless story? I doubt that this book would have such critical acclaim if so, then what? That’s what I had a hard time figuring out. At first glance I looked at it as a overdone story whose redundant moral is one of lack of love and appreciation, one where people build you up to knock you down. Gregor’s father did both of which. In some aspect I was right, but there’s much more. As the critics have thought me.In “Franz Kafka An Anthology of Marxist Criticism” Howard Fast sees things very much the same way I do but with a little bit more knowledge on Kafka, his history, and his times. He says just ...
