Franz Kafka ..............................................................................................................................................1

One 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 armourhard back and saw, as he lifted his head up a

little, his brown, arched abdomen divided up into rigid bowlike sections. 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 circumference, 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

somewhat too small, lay quietly between the four wellknown 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 illustrated 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

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 this foolishness," he thought. But this was entirely impractical, 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

"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 addition 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

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 harem 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. 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 fallen

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 himthat should take

another five or six yearsI'll do it for sure. Then I'll make the big break. In any case, right now I have to get

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 properly 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 evidently 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 particularly 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

reported the news of his absence long ago. He was the boss's minion, without backbone or intelligence. Well

then, what if he reported in sick? But that would be extremely embarrassing 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 really lazy

about work. And besides, would the doctor in this case be totally wrong? Apart from a really excessive

drowsiness 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

"Gregor," a voice called (it was his mother!) "it's quarter to seven. Don't you want to be on your way?" The

soft voice! Gregor was startled when he heard his voice answering. 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 reverberation, 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."

Because of the wooden door the change in Gregor's voice was 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 became 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

answers 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 everything 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

First he wanted to stand up quietly and undisturbed, get dressed, above all have breakfast, and only then

consider further action, for (he noticed this clearly) by thinking things over in bed he would not reach a

reasonable conclusion. He remembered that he had already often felt a light pain or other in bed, perhaps the

result of an awkward lying 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 occupational illness of commercial travelers, of that he had not

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 unusually 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 extend 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

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 slowly. 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 sensitive.

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 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

However, after a similar effort, while he lay there again sighing as before and once again saw his small limbs

fighting 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 slightest 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 decisions. 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 morning 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

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 seven 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

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 completed 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

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 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 himself, 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 immediately 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 questioning was even necessary? Must the manager

himself come, and in the process must it be demonstrated to the entire 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

"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 today 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 neighbouring 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

"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 personally. 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 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

"I'm coming right away," said Gregor slowly and deliberately 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 serious. 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

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 demands? 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 there on the carpet, and

no one who knew about his condition would've seriously demanded that he let the manager in. But Gregor

wouldn't be casually dismissed right way because 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 conversation. But it was the very uncertainty which

"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 neglecting (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 requesting 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 suddenly to want to start parading around in weird moods. The

Chief indicated to me earlier this very day a possible explanation for your neglectit concerned the

collection of cash entrusted to you a short while agobut 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

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

"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 patience 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, hardly 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

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 doing this he gained control over himself and kept quiet, for he could now

"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

"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

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 assurance 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

results. 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 something 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 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 momentarily 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 inflicting some damage on himself, for a brown fluid

"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 suspense, 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 really 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

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 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 manager 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,

At this point Gregor did not take one step into the room, but leaned his body from the inside against the

firmly bolted 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 grayblack 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 piled around on the table, because for his father breakfast was the most important meal time in the

day, which he prolonged 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 uniform. 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

"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. Manager, I am not pigheaded, 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 remember 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. Chiefyou 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 through this judgment more clearly. But you, Mr.

Manager, 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 office 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

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 gradually, 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

Gregor realized that he must not under any circumstances 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 himself 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

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 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 fingers 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 absentmindedly, and did not appear to notice at all that next to her coffee was pouring out

"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 movement 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

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 manager 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 newspaper 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 timeconsuming 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 option, for he noticed with horror that he did not understand 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 possible (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

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 hissing 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. Naturally 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 possible.

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 forwards. 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 he was stuck fast and would have not been able to

move any more on his own. The tiny legs on one side hung twitching 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, bleeding severely, far into the interior of his room. The door was slammed shut with

Gregor first woke up from his heavy swoonlike sleep in the evening twilight. He would certainly have

woken up soon afterwards without any disturbance, for he felt himself sufficiently rested and wide awake,

although it appeared to him as if a hurried step and a cautious closing of the door to the hall had aroused him.

The shine of the electric 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 unpleasantly stretched scar, and he really had to hobble on his two

rows of legs. In addition, one small leg had been seriously 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 pieces of white bread. He almost laughed with

joy, for he now had a much greater hunger than in the morning, and he immediately dipped his head almost

up to and over his eyes down into the milk. But he soon drew it back again in disappointment, 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 reason, 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 prosperity, all contentment should come to a

horrible end? In order not to lose himself in such thoughts, Gregor preferred to set himself moving and

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 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

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 certain 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 longer

lift up his head, he felt very comfortable and was sorry only that his body was too wide to fit completely

There he remained the entire night, which he spent partly in a state of semisleep, 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 troubles which in his present condition he was now forced to cause

Already early in the morning (it was still almost night) Gregor had an opportunity to test the power of the

decisions he had just made, for his sister, almost fully dressed, opened the door from the hall into his room

and looked eagerly 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 (although 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 different ideas about that. But he never could have guessed 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 halfrotten 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

"Am I now going to be less sensitive," he thought, already sucking greedily on the cheese, which had strongly

attracted 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 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 selfcontrol 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 unsuspecting 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

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

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 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 listening 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

But while Gregor could get no new information directly, 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 remain 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 her go immediately, and when she said good bye about fifteen

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 demanding it from her, she swore a fearful

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 having 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

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 removing 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 imprisonment. 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 business 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 naturally 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 become 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 present. 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 conversations with his sister, but always only as a beautiful 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 ceremoniously on

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 together, 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

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 matters 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 addition 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,

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

payments. 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, although 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 troublefilled but unsuccessful life, put on a good deal of fat and thus had

become really heavy. And should his old mother now maybe 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 sister earn money, a girl who was still a

seventeenyearold 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 modest 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 cool leather sofa beside the door, for he was quite hot from shame

Often he lay there all night long. He didn't sleep a moment 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

precisely aware that he lived in the quiet but completely urban Charlotte Street, he could have believed that

from his window 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

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 everything more precisely. Even

her entrance was terrible for him. As soon as she entered, she ran straight to the window, 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 trembled 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

On one occasion (about one month had already gone by since Gregor's transformation, and there was now no

particular 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, immobile 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 immediately 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 and must remain intolerable in

future, and that she really had to exert a lot of selfcontrol not to run away from a glimpse of only the small

part of his body which stuck out from under the couch. In order to spare her even this sight, one day he

dragged the sheet on his back onto the couch (this task took him four hours) and arranged it in such a way

that he was now completely concealed and his sister, even if she bent down, could not see him. If this sheet

was not necessary as far as she was concerned, then she could remove it, for it was clear enough that Gregor

could not derive any pleasure from isolating himself away so completely. But she left the sheet just as it was,

and Gregor believed he even caught a look of gratitude when on one occasion he carefully lifted up the sheet

a little with his head to check as his sister took stock of the new arrangement.

In the first two weeks his parents could not bring themselves to visit him, and he often heard how they fully

acknowledged his sister's present work; whereas, earlier they had often got annoyed at his sister because she

had seemed to them a somewhat useless young woman. However, now both his father and his mother often

waited in front of Gregor's door while his sister cleaned up inside, and as soon as she came out she had to

explain in detail how things looked in the room, what Gregor had eaten, how he had behaved this time, and

whether perhaps a slight improvement was perceptible. In any event, his mother comparatively soon wanted

to visit Gregor, but his father and his sister restrained her, at first with reasons which Gregor listened to very

attentively and which he completely endorsed. Later, however, they had to hold her back forcefully, and

when she then cried "Let me go to Gregor. He's my unlucky son! Don't you understand that I have to go to

him?" Gregor then thought that perhaps it would be a good thing if his mother came in, not every day, of

course, but maybe once a week. She understood everything much better than his sister, who in spite of all her

courage was still a child and, in the last analysis, had perhaps undertaken such a difficult task only out of

Gregor's wish to see his mother was soon realized. While during the day Gregor, out of consideration for his

parents, did not want to show himself by the window, he couldn't crawl around very much on the few square

metres of the floor. He found it difficult to bear lying quietly during the night, and soon eating no longer gave

him the slightest pleasure. So for diversion he acquired the habit of crawling back and forth across the walls

and ceiling. He was especially fond of hanging from the ceiling. The experience was quite different from

lying on the floor. It was easier to breathe, a slight vibration went through his body, and in the midst of the

almost happy amusement which Gregor found up there, it could happen that, to his own surprise, he let go

and hit the floor. However, now he naturally controlled his body quite differently, and he did not injure

himself in such a great fall. His sister noticed immediately the new amusement which Gregor had found for

himself (for as he crept around he left behind here and there traces of his sticky stuff), and so she got the idea

of making Gregor's creeping around as easy as possible and thus of removing the furniture which got in the

But she was in no position to do this by herself. She did not dare to ask her father to help, and the servant girl

would certainly not have assisted her, for although this girl, about sixteen years old, had courageously

remained since the dismissal of the previous cook, she had begged for the privilege of being allowed to stay

permanently confined to the kitchen and of having to open the door only in answer to a special summons.

Thus, his sister had no other choice but to involve his mother while his father was absent. His mother

approached Gregor's room with cries of excited joy, but she fell silent at the door. Of course, his sister first

checked whether everything in the room was in order. Only then did she let his mother walk in. In great haste

Gregor had drawn the sheet down even further and wrinkled it more. The whole thing really looked just like a

coverlet thrown carelessly over the couch. On this occasion, Gregor held back from spying out from under

the sheet. Thus, he refrained from looking at his mother this time and was just happy that she had come.

"Come on; he is not visible," said his sister, and evidently led his mother by the hand. Now Gregor listened as

these two weak women shifted the still heavy old chest of drawers from its position, and as his sister

constantly took on herself the greatest part of the work, without listening to the warnings of his mother who

was afraid that she would strain herself. The work lasted a long time. After about a quarter of an hour had

already gone by his mother said that it would be better if they left the chest of drawers where it was, because,

in the first place, it was too heavy: they would not be finished before his father's arrival, and with the chest of

drawers in the middle of the room it would block all Gregor's pathways, but, in the second place, it might not

be certain that Gregor would be pleased with the removal of the furniture. To her the reverse seemed to be

true; the sight of the empty walls pierced her right to the heart, and why should Gregor not feel the same,

since he had been accustomed to the room furnishings for a long time and in an empty room would thus feel

"And is it not the case," his mother concluded very quietly, almost whispering as if she wished to prevent

Gregor, whose exact location she really didn't know, from hearing even the sound of her voice (for she was

convinced that he did not understand her words), "and isn't it a fact that by removing the furniture we're

showing that we're giving up all hope of an improvement and are leaving him to his own resources without

any consideration? I think it would be best if we tried to keep the room exactly in the condition in which it

was before, so that, when Gregor returns to us, he finds everything unchanged and can forget the intervening

As he heard his mother's words Gregor realized that the lack of all immediate human contact, together with

the monotonous life surrounded by the family over the course of these two months must have confused his

understanding, because otherwise he couldn't explain to himself that he in all seriousness could've been so

keen to have his room emptied. Was he really eager to let the warm room, comfortably furnished with pieces

he had inherited, be turned into a cavern in which he would, of course, then be able to crawl about in all

directions without disturbance, but at the same time with a quick and complete forgetting of his human past

as well? Was he then at this point already on the verge of forgetting and was it only the voice of his mother,

which he had not heard for along time, that had aroused him? Nothing was to be removed; everything must

remain. In his condition he couldn't function without the beneficial influences of his furniture. And if the

furniture prevented him from carrying out his senseless crawling about all over the place, then there was no

But his sister unfortunately thought otherwise. She had grown accustomed, certainly not without justification,

so far as the discussion of matters concerning Gregor was concerned, to act as an special expert with respect

to their parents, and so now the mother's advice was for his sister sufficient reason to insist on the removal,

not only of the chest of drawers and the writing desk, which were the only items she had thought about at

first, but also of all the furniture, with the exception of the indispensable couch. Of course, it was not only

childish defiance and her recent very unexpected and hard won selfconfidence which led her to this demand.

She had also actually observed that Gregor needed a great deal of room to creep about; the furniture, on the

But perhaps the enthusiastic sensibility of young women of her age also played a role. This feeling sought

release at every opportunity, and with it Grete now felt tempted to want to make Gregor's situation even more

terrifying, so that then she would be able to do even more for him than now. For surely no one except Grete

would ever trust themselves to enter a room in which Gregor ruled the empty walls all by himself. And so she

did not let herself be dissuaded from her decision by her mother, who in this room seemed uncertain of

herself in her sheer agitation and soon kept quiet, helping his sister with all her energy to get the chest of

drawers out of the room. Now, Gregor could still do without the chest of drawers if need be, but the writing

desk really had to stay. And scarcely had the women left the room with the chest of drawers, groaning as they

pushed it, when Gregor stuck his head out from under the sofa to take a look how he could intervene

cautiously and with as much consideration as possible. But unfortunately it was his mother who came back

into the room first, while Grete had her arms wrapped around the chest of drawers in the next room and was

rocking it back and forth by herself, without moving it from its position. His mother was not used to the sight

of Gregor; he could have made her ill, and so, frightened, Gregor scurried backwards right to the other end of

the sofa, but he could no longer prevent the sheet from moving forward a little. That was enough to catch his

mother's attention. She came to a halt, stood still for a moment, and then went back to Grete.

Although Gregor kept repeating to himself over and over that really nothing unusual was going on, that only

a few pieces of furniture were being rearranged, he soon had to admit to himself that the movements of the

women to and fro, their quiet conversations, the scratching of the furniture on the floor affected him like a

great swollen commotion on all sides, and, so firmly was he pulling in his head and legs and pressing his

body into the floor, he had to tell himself unequivocally that he wouldn't be able to endure all this much

longer. They were cleaning out his room, taking away from him everything he cherished; they had already

dragged out the chest of drawers in which the fret saw and other tools were kept, and they were now

loosening the writing desk which was fixed tight to the floor, the desk on which he, as a business student, a

school student, indeed even as an elementary school student, had written out his assignments. At that moment

he really didn't have any more time to check the good intentions of the two women, whose existence he had

in any case almost forgotten, because in their exhaustion they were working really silently, and the heavy

And so he scuttled out (the women were just propping themselves up on the writing desk in the next room in

order to take a breather) changing the direction of his path four times. He really didn't know what he should

rescue first. Then he saw hanging conspicuously on the wall, which was otherwise already empty, the picture

of the woman dressed in nothing but fur. He quickly scurried up over it and pressed himself against the glass

that held it in place and which made his hot abdomen feel good. At least this picture, which Gregor at the

moment completely concealed, surely no one would now take away. He twisted his head towards the door of

They had not allowed themselves very much rest and were coming back right away. Grete had placed her arm

around her mother and held her tightly. "So what shall we take now?" said Grete and looked around her. Then

her glance crossed with Gregor's from the wall. She kept her composure only because her mother was there.

She bent her face towards her mother in order to prevent her from looking around, and said, although in a

trembling voice and too quickly, "Come, wouldn't it be better to go back to the living room for just another

moment?" Grete's purpose was clear to Gregor: she wanted to bring his mother to a safe place and then chase

him down from the wall. Well, let her just attempt that! He squatted on his picture and did not hand it over.

But Grete's words had immediately made the mother very uneasy. She walked to the side, caught sight of the

enormous brown splotch on the flowered wallpaper, and, before she became truly aware that what she was

looking at was Gregor, screamed out in a high pitched raw voice "Oh God, oh God" and fell with outstretched

arms, as if she was surrendering everything, down onto the couch and lay there motionless. "Gregor, you. . .,"

cried out his sister with a raised fist and an urgent glare. Since his transformation those were the first words

which she had directed right at him. She ran into the room next door to bring some spirits or other with which

she could revive her mother from her fainting spell. Gregor wanted to help as well (there was time enough to

save the picture), but he was stuck fast on the glass and had to tear himself loose forcefully. Then he also

scurried into the next room, as if he could give his sister some advice, as in earlier times, but then he had to

stand there idly behind her, while she rummaged about among various small bottles. Still, she was frightened

when she turned around. A bottle fell onto the floor and shattered. A splinter of glass wounded Gregor in the

face, some corrosive medicine or other dripped over him. Now, without lingering any longer, Grete took as

many small bottles as she could hold and ran with them into her mother. She slammed the door shut with her

foot. Gregor was now shut off from his mother, who was perhaps near death, thanks to him. He could not

open the door, and he did not want to chase away his sister who had to remain with her mother. At this point

he had nothing to do but wait, and overwhelmed with selfreproach and worry, he began to creep and crawl

over everything: walls, furniture, and ceiling,. Finally, in his despair, as the entire room started to spin around

A short time elapsed. Gregor lay there limply. All around was still. Perhaps that was a good sign. Then there

was ring at the door. The servant girl was naturally shut up in her kitchen, and Grete must therefore go to

open the door. The father had arrived. "What's happened," were his first words. Grete's appearance had told

him everything. Grete replied with a dull voice; evidently she was pressing her face into her father's chest:

"Mother fainted, but she's getting better now. Gregor has broken loose." "Yes, I have expected that," said his

It was clear to Gregor that his father had badly misunderstood Grete's short message and was assuming that

Gregor had committed some violent crime or other. Thus, Gregor now had to find his father to calm him

down, for he had neither the time nor the opportunity to clarify things for him. And so he rushed away to the

door of his room and pushed himself against it, so that his father could see right away as he entered from the

hall that Gregor fully intended to return at once to his room, that it was not necessary to drive him back, but

But his father was not in the mood to observe such niceties. "Ah," he yelled as soon as he entered, with a tone

as if he were all at once angry and pleased. Gregor pulled his head back from the door and raised it in the

direction of his father. He had not really pictured his father as he now stood there. Of course, what with his

new style of creeping all around, he had in the past while neglected to pay attention to what was going on in

the rest of the apartment, as he had done before, and really should have grasped the fact that he would

encounter different conditions. Nevertheless, nevertheless, was that still his father? Was that the same man

who had lain exhausted and buried in bed in earlier days when Gregor was setting out on a business trip, who

had received him on the evenings of his return in a sleeping gown and arm chair, totally incapable of standing

up, who had only lifted his arm as a sign of happiness, and who in their rare strolls together a few Sundays a

year and on the important holidays made his way slowly forwards between Gregor and his mother (who

themselves moved slowly), always a bit more slowly than them, bundled up in his old coat, all the time

setting down his walking stick carefully, and who, when he had wanted to say something, almost always

But now he was standing up really straight, dressed in a tight fitting blue uniform with gold buttons, like the

ones servants wear in a banking company. Above the high stiff collar of his jacket his firm double chin stuck

out prominently, beneath his bushy eyebrows the glance of his black eyes was freshly penetrating and alert,

his otherwise disheveled white hair was combed down into a carefully exact shining part. He threw his cap,

on which a gold monogram (apparently the symbol of the bank) was affixed, in an arc across the entire room

onto the sofa and moved, throwing back the edge of the long coat of his uniform, with his hands in his trouser

He really didn't know what he had in mind, but he raised his foot uncommonly high anyway, and Gregor was

astonished at the gigantic size of his sole of his boot. However, he did not linger on that point. For he knew

from the first day of his new life that as far as he was concerned his father considered the greatest force the

only appropriate response. And so he scurried away from his father, stopped when his father remained

standing, and scampered forward again when his father merely stirred. In this way they made their way

around the room repeatedly, without anything decisive taking place; indeed because of the slow pace it didn't

look like a chase. Gregor remained on the floor for the time being, especially as he was afraid that his father

could take a flight up onto the wall or the ceiling as an act of real malice. At any event Gregor had to tell

himself that he couldn't keep up this running around for a long time, because whenever his father took a

single step, he had to go through an enormous number of movements. Already he was starting to suffer from

a shortage of breath, just as in his earlier days his lungs had been quite unreliable. As he now staggered

around in this way in order to gather all his energies for running, hardly keeping his eyes open, in his

listlessness he had no notion at all of any escape other than by running and had almost already forgotten that

the walls were available to him, although they were obstructed by carefully carved furniture full of sharp

points and spikesat that moment something or other thrown casually flew down close by and rolled in front

of him. It was an apple; immediately a second one flew after it. Gregor stood still in fright. Further flight was

From the fruit bowl on the sideboard his father had filled his pockets, and now, without for the moment

taking accurate aim, was throwing apple after apple. These small red apples rolled as if electrified around on

the floor and collided with each other. A weakly thrown apple grazed Gregor's back but skidded off

harmlessly. However another thrown immediately after that one drove into Gregor's back really hard. Gregor

wanted to drag himself off, as if the unexpected and incredible pain would go away if he changed his

position. But he felt as if he was nailed in place and lay stretched out completely confused in all his senses.

Only with his final glance did he notice how the door of his room was pulled open and how, right in front of

his sister (who was yelling), his mother ran out in her undergarments, for his sister had undressed her in order

to give her some freedom to breathe in her fainting spell, and how his mother then ran up to his father, on the

way her tied up skirts one after the other slipped toward the floor, and how, tripping over her skirts, she

hurled herself onto his father and, throwing her arms around him, in complete union with himbut at this

moment Gregor's powers of sight gave wayas her hands reached to the back of his father's head and she

Gregor's serious wound, from which he suffered for over a month (since no one ventured to remove the apple,

it remained in his flesh as a visible reminder), seemed by itself to have reminded the father that, in spite of his

present unhappy and hateful appearance, Gregor was a member of the family, something one should not treat

as an enemy, and that it was, on the contrary, a requirement of family duty to suppress one's aversion and to

endurenothing else, just endure. And if through his wound Gregor had now apparently lost for good his

ability to move and for the time being needed many many minutes to crawl across this room, like an aged

invalid (so far as creeping up high was concerned, that was unimaginable), nevertheless for this worsening of

his condition, in his opinion, he did get completely satisfactory compensation, because every day towards

evening the door to the living room, which he was in the habit of keeping a sharp eye on even one or two

hours beforehand, was opened, so that he, lying down in the darkness of his room, invisible from the living

room, could see the entire family at the illuminated table and listen to their conversation, to a certain extent

with their common permission, a situation quite different from what happened before.

Of course, it was no longer the animated social interaction of former times, about which Gregor in small hotel

rooms had always thought about with a certain longing, when, tired out, he had to throw himself in the damp

bedclothes. For the most part what went on now was very quiet. After the evening meal the father fell asleep

quickly in his arm chair; the mother and sister talked guardedly to each other in the stillness. Bent far over,

the mother sewed fine undergarments for a fashion shop. The sister, who had taken on a job as a salesgirl, in

the evening studied stenography and French, so as perhaps later to obtain a better position. Sometimes the

father woke up and, as if he was quite ignorant that he had been asleep, said to the mother "How long you

have been sewing today!" and went right back to sleep, while the mother and the sister smiled tiredly to each

With a sort of stubbornness the father refused to take off his servant's uniform even at home, and while his

sleeping gown hung unused on the coat hook, the father dozed completely dressed in his place, as if he was

always ready for his responsibility and even here was waiting for the voice of his superior. As result, in spite

of all the care of the mother and sister, his uniform, which even at the start was not new, grew dirty, and

Gregor looked, often for the entire evening, at this clothing, with stains all over it and with its gold buttons

always polished, in which the old man, although very uncomfortable, slept peacefully nonetheless.

As soon as the clock struck ten, the mother tried encouraging the father gently to wake up and then

persuading him to go to bed, on the ground that he couldn't get a proper sleep here and the father, who had to

report for service at six o'clock, really needed a good sleep. But in his stubbornness, which had gripped him

since he had become a servant, he insisted always on staying even longer by the table, although he regularly

fell asleep and then could only be prevailed upon with the greatest difficulty to trade his chair for the bed. No

matter how much the mother and sister might at that point work on him with small admonitions, for a quarter

of an hour he would remain shaking his head slowly, his eyes closed, without standing up. The mother would

pull him by the sleeve and speak flattering words into his ear; the sister would leave her work to help her

mother, but that would not have the desired effect on the father. He would settle himself even more deeply in

his arm chair. Only when the two women grabbed him under the armpits would he throw his eyes open, look

back and forth at the mother and sister, and habitually say "This is a life. This is the peace and quiet of my

old age." And propped up by both women, he would heave himself up, elaborately, as if for him it was the

greatest travail, allow himself to be led to the door by the women, wave them away there, and proceed on his

own from there, while the mother quickly threw down her sewing implements and the sister her pen in order

In this overworked and exhausted family who had time to worry any longer about Gregor more than was

absolutely necessary? The household was constantly getting smaller. The servant girl was now let go. A huge

bony cleaning woman with white hair flapping all over her head came in the morning and the evening to do

the heaviest work. The mother took care of everything else in addition to her considerable sewing work. It

even happened that various pieces of family jewelry, which previously the mother and sister had been

overjoyed to wear on social and festive occasions, were sold, as Gregor found out in the evening from the

general discussion of the prices they had fetched. But the greatest complaint was always that they could not

leave this apartment, which was too big for their present means, since it was impossible to imagine how

Gregor might be moved. But Gregor fully recognized that it was not just consideration for him which was

preventing a move (for he could have been transported easily in a suitable box with a few air holes); the main

thing holding the family back from a change in living quarters was far more their complete hopelessness and

the idea that they had been struck by a misfortune like no one else in their entire circle of relatives and

What the world demands of poor people they now carried out to an extreme degree. The father bought

breakfast to the petty officials at the bank, the mother sacrificed herself for the undergarments of strangers,

the sister behind her desk was at the beck and call of customers, but the family's energies did not extend any

further. And the wound in his back began to pain Gregor all over again, when now mother and sister, after

they had escorted the father to bed, came back, let their work lie, moved close together, and sat cheek to

cheek and when his mother would now say, pointing to Gregor's room, "Close the door, Grete," and when

Gregor was again in the darkness, while close by the women mingled their tears or, quite dry eyed, stared at

Gregor spent his nights and days with hardly any sleep. Sometimes he thought that the next time the door

opened he would take over the family arrangements just as he had earlier. In his imagination appeared again,

after a long time, his employer and supervisor and the apprentices, the excessively gormless custodian, two or

three friends from other businesses, a chambermaid from a hotel in the provinces, a loving fleeting memory, a

female cashier from a hat shop, whom he had seriously, but too slowly courtedthey all appeared mixed in

with strangers or people he had already forgotten, but instead of helping him and his family, they were all

But then he was in no mood to worry about his family. He was filled with sheer anger over the wretched care

he was getting, even though he couldn't imagine anything for which he might have an appetite. Still, he made

plans about how he could take from the larder what he at all account deserved, even if he wasn't hungry.

Without thinking any more about how one might be able to give Gregor special pleasure, the sister now

kicked some food or other very quickly into his room in the morning and at noon, before she ran off to her

shop, and in the evening, quite indifferent about whether the food had perhaps only been tasted or, what

happened most frequently, remained entirely undisturbed, she whisked it out with one sweep of her broom.

The task of cleaning his room, which she now always carried out in the evening, could not be done any more

quickly. Streaks of dirt ran along the walls; here and there lay tangles of dust and garbage. At first, when his

sister arrived, Gregor positioned himself in a particularly filthy corner in order with this posture to make

something of a protest. But he could have well stayed there for weeks without his sister's changing her ways.

Indeed, she perceived the dirt as much as he did, but she had decided just to let it stay.

In this business, with a touchiness which was quite new to her and which had generally taken over the entire

family, she kept watch to see that the cleaning of Gregor's room remained reserved for her. Once his mother

had undertaken a major cleaning of Gregor's room, which she had only completed successfully after using a

few buckets of water. But the extensive dampness made Gregor sick and he lay supine, embittered and

immobile on the couch. However, the mother's punishment was not delayed for long. For in the evening the

sister had hardly observed the change in Gregor's room before she ran into the living room mightily offended

and, in spite of her mother's hand lifted high in entreaty, broke out in a fit of crying. Her parents (the father

had, of course, woken up with a start in his arm chair) at first looked at her astonished and helpless; until they

started to get agitated. Turning to his right, the father heaped reproaches on the mother that she was not to

take over the cleaning of Gregor's room from the sister and, turning to his left, he shouted at the sister that she

would no longer be allowed to clean Gregor's room ever again, while the mother tried to pull the father,

beside himself in his excitement, into the bed room; the sister, shaken by her crying fit, pounded on the table

with her tiny fists, and Gregor hissed at all this, angry that no one thought about shutting the door and sparing

But even when the sister, exhausted from her daily work, had grown tired of caring for Gregor as she had

before, even then the mother did not have to come at all on her behalf. And Gregor did not have to be

neglected. For now the cleaning woman was there. This old widow, who in her long life must have managed

to survive the worst with the help of her bony frame, had no real horror of Gregor. Without being in the least

curious, she had once by chance opened Gregor's door. At the sight of Gregor, who, totally surprised, began

to scamper here and there, although no one was chasing him, she remained standing with her hands folded

across her stomach staring at him. Since then she did not fail to open the door furtively a little every morning

and evening to look in on Gregor. At first, she also called him to her with words which she presumably

thought were friendly, like "Come here for a bit, old dung beetle!" or "Hey, look at the old dung beetle!"

Addressed in such a manner, Gregor answered nothing, but remained motionless in his place, as if the door

had not been opened at all. If only, instead of allowing this cleaning woman to disturb him uselessly

whenever she felt like it, they had instead given her orders to clean up his room every day! One day in the

early morning (a hard downpour, perhaps already a sign of the coming spring, struck the window panes)

when the cleaning woman started up once again with her usual conversation, Gregor was so bitter that he

turned towards her, as if for an attack, although slowly and weakly. But instead of being afraid of him, the

cleaning woman merely lifted up a chair standing close by the door and, as she stood there with her mouth

wide open, her intention was clear: she would close her mouth only when the chair in her hand had been

thrown down on Gregor's back. "This goes no further, all right?" she asked, as Gregor turned himself around

Gregor ate hardly anything any more. Only when he chanced to move past the food which had been prepared

did he, as a game, take a bit into his mouth, hold it there for hours, and generally spit it out again. At first he

thought it might be his sadness over the condition of his room which kept him from eating, but he very soon

became reconciled to the alterations in his room. People had grown accustomed to put into storage in his

room things which they couldn't put anywhere else, and at this point there were many such things, now that

they had rented one room of the apartment to three lodgers. These solemn gentlemen (all three had full

beards, as Gregor once found out through a crack in the door) were meticulously intent on tidiness, not only

in their own room but (since they had now rented a room here) in the entire household, and particularly in the

kitchen. They simply did not tolerate any useless or shoddy stuff. Moreover, for the most part they had

brought with them their own pieces of furniture. Thus, many items had become superfluous, and these were

not really things one could sell or things people wanted to throw out. All these items ended up in Gregor's

room, even the box of ashes and the garbage pail from the kitchen. The cleaning woman, always in a hurry,

simply flung anything that was momentarily useless into Gregor's room. Fortunately Gregor generally saw

only the relevant object and the hand which held it. The cleaning woman perhaps was intending, when time

and opportunity allowed, to take the stuff out again or to throw everything out all at once, but in fact the

things remained lying there, wherever they had ended up at the first throw, unless Gregor squirmed his way

through the accumulation of junk and moved it. At first he was forced to do this because otherwise there was

no room for him to creep around, but later he did it with a with a growing pleasure, although after such

Because the lodgers sometimes also took their evening meal at home in the common living room, the door to

the living room stayed shut on many evenings. But Gregor had no trouble at all going without the open door.

Already on many evenings when it was open he had not availed himself of it, but, without the family

noticing, was stretched out in the darkest corner of his room. However, once the cleaning woman had left the

door to the living room slightly ajar, and it remained open even when the lodgers came in in the evening and

the lights were put on. They sat down at the head of the table, where in earlier days the mother, the father,

and Gregor had eaten, unfolded their serviettes, and picked up their knives and forks. The mother

immediately appeared in the door with a dish of meat and right behind her the sister with a dish piled high

with potatoes. The food gave off a lot of steam. The gentlemen lodgers bent over the plate set before them, as

if they wanted to check it before eating, and in fact the one who sat in the middle (for the other two he

seemed to serve as the authority) cut off a piece of meat still on the plate obviously to establish whether it

was sufficiently tender and whether or not something should be shipped back to the kitchen. He was satisfied,

and mother and sister, who had looked on in suspense, began to breathe easily and to smile.

The family itself ate in the kitchen. In spite of that, before the father went into the kitchen, he came into the

room and with a single bow, cap in hand, made a tour of the table. The lodgers rose up collectively and

murmured something in their beards. Then, when they were alone, they ate almost in complete silence. It

seemed odd to Gregor that out of all the many different sorts of sounds of eating, what was always audible

was their chewing teeth, as if by that Gregor should be shown that people needed their teeth to eat and that

nothing could be done even with the most handsome toothless jawbone. "I really do have an appetite," Gregor

said to himself sorrowfully, "but not for these things. How these lodgers stuff themselves, and I am dying."

On this very evening (Gregor didn't remember hearing the violin all through this period) it sounded from the

kitchen. The lodgers had already ended their night meal, the middle one had pulled out a newspaper and had

given each of the other two a page, and they were now leaning back, reading and smoking. When the violin

started playing, they became attentive, got up, and went on tiptoe to the hall door, at which they remained

standing pressed up against one another. They must have been audible from the kitchen, because the father

called out "Perhaps the gentlemen don't like the playing? It can be stopped at once." "On the contrary," stated

the lodger in the middle, "might the young woman not come into us and play in the room here where it is

really much more comfortable and cheerful?" "Oh, thank you," cried out the father, as if he were the one

playing the violin. The men stepped back into the room and waited. Soon the father came with the music

stand, the mother with the sheet music, and the sister with the violin. The sister calmly prepared everything

for the recital. The parents, who had never previously rented a room and therefore exaggerated their

politeness to the lodgers, dared not sit on their own chairs. The father leaned against the door, his right hand

stuck between two buttons of his buttoned up uniform. The mother, however, accepted a chair offered by one

lodger. Since she left the chair sit where the gentleman had chanced to put it, she sat to one side in a corner.

The sister began to play. The father and mother, followed attentively, one on each side, the movements of her

hands. Attracted by the playing, Gregor had ventured to advance a little further forward and his head was

already in the living room. He scarcely wondered about the fact that recently he had had so little

consideration for the others; earlier this consideration had been something he was proud of. And for that very

reason he would've had at this moment more reason to hide away, because as a result of the dust which lay all

over his room and flew around with the slightest movement, he was totally covered in dirt. On his back and

his sides he carted around with him dust, threads, hair, and remnants of food. His indifference to everything

was much too great for him to lie on his back and scour himself on the carpet, as he often had done earlier

during the day. In spite of his condition he had no timidity about inching forward a bit on the spotless floor of

In any case, no one paid him any attention. The family was all caught up in the violin playing. The lodgers,

by contrast, who for the moment had placed themselves, their hands in their trouser pockets, behind the music

stand much too close to the sister, so that they could all see the sheet music, something that must certainly

bother the sister, soon drew back to the window conversing in low voices with bowed heads, where they then

remained, worriedly observed by the father. It now seemed really clear that, having assumed they were to

hear a beautiful or entertaining violin recital, they were disappointed, and were allowing their peace and quiet

to be disturbed only out of politeness. The way in which they all blew the smoke from their cigars out of their

noses and mouths in particular led one to conclude that they were very irritated. And yet his sister was

playing so beautifully. Her face was turned to the side, her gaze followed the score intently and sadly. Gregor

crept forward still a little further and kept his head close against the floor in order to be able to catch her gaze

if possible. Was he an animal that music so seized him? For him it was as if the way to the unknown

nourishment he craved was revealing itself to him. He was determined to press forward right to his sister, to

tug at her dress and to indicate to her in this way that she might still come with her violin into his room,

because here no one valued the recital as he wanted to value it. He did not wish to let her go from his room

any more, at least not as long as he lived. His frightening appearance would for the first time become useful

for him. He wanted to be at all the doors of his room simultaneously and snarl back at the attackers. However,

his sister should not be compelled but would remain with him voluntarily; she would sit next to him on the

sofa, bend down her ear to him, and he would then confide in her that he firmly intended to send her to the

conservatory and that, if his misfortune had not arrived in the interim, he would have declared all this last

Christmas (had Christmas really already come and gone?), and would have brooked no argument. After this

explanation his sister would break out in tears of emotion, and Gregor would lift himself up to her armpit and

kiss her throat, which she, from the time she started going to work, had left exposed without a band or a

"Mr. Samsa," called out the middle lodger to the father, and pointed his index finger, without uttering a

further word, at Gregor as he was moving slowly forward. The violin fell silent. The middle lodger smiled,

first shaking his head once at his friends, and then looked down at Gregor once more. Rather than driving

Gregor back again, the father seemed to consider it of prime importance to calm down the lodgers, although

they were not at all upset and Gregor seemed to entertain them more than the violin recital. The father hurried

over to them and with outstretched arms tried to push them into their own room and simultaneously to block

their view of Gregor with his own body. At this point they became really somewhat irritated, although one no

longer knew whether that was because of the father's behaviour or because of knowledge they had just

acquired that they had had, without knowing it, a neighbour like Gregor. They demanded explanations from

his father, raised their arms to make their points, tugged agitatedly at their beards, and moved back towards

their room quite slowly. In the meantime, the isolation which had suddenly fallen upon his sister after the

sudden breaking off of the recital had overwhelmed her. She had held onto the violin and bow in her limp

hands for a little while and had continued to look at the sheet music as if she was still playing. All at once she

pulled herself together, placed the instrument in her mother's lap (the mother was still sitting in her chair

having trouble breathing and with her lungs labouring) and had run into the next room, which the lodgers,

pressured by the father, were already approaching more rapidly. One could observe how under the sister's

practiced hands the sheets and pillows on the beds were thrown on high and arranged. Even before the

lodgers had reached the room, she was finished fixing the beds and was slipping out. The father seemed so

gripped once again with his stubbornness that he forgot about the respect which he always owed to his

renters. He pressed on and on, until at the door of the room the middle gentleman stamped loudly with his

foot and thus brought the father to a standstill. "I hereby declare," the middle lodger said, raising his hand and

casting his glance both on the mother and the sister, "that considering the disgraceful conditions prevailing in

this apartment and family," with this he spat decisively on the floor, "I immediately cancel my room. I will,

of course, pay nothing at all for the days which I have lived here; on the contrary I shall think about whether

or not I will initiate some sort of action against you, something whichbelieve me will be very easy to

establish." He fell silent and looked directly in front of him, as if he was waiting for something. In fact, his

two friends immediately joined in with their opinions, "We also give immediate notice." At that he seized the

The father groped his way tottering to his chair and let himself fall in it. It looked as if he was stretching out

for his usual evening snooze, but the heavy nodding of his head (which looked as if it was without support)

showed that he was not sleeping at all. Gregor had lain motionless the entire time in the spot where the

lodgers had caught him. Disappointment with the collapse of his plan and perhaps also his weakness brought

on his severe hunger made it impossible for him to move. He was certainly afraid that a general disaster

would break over him at any moment, and he waited. He was not even startled when the violin fell from the

mother's lap, out from under her trembling fingers, and gave off a reverberating tone.

"My dear parents," said the sister banging her hand on the table by way of an introduction, "things cannot go

on any longer in this way. Maybe if you don't understand that, well, I do. I will not utter my brother's name in

front of this monster, and thus I say only that we must try to get rid of it. We have tried what is humanly

possible to take care of it and to be patient. I believe that no one can criticize us in the slightest." "She is right

in a thousand ways," said the father to himself. The mother, who was still incapable of breathing properly,

began to cough numbly with her hand held up over her mouth and a manic expression in her eyes.

The sister hurried over to her mother and held her forehead. The sister's words seemed to have led the father

to certain reflections. He sat upright, played with his uniform hat among the plates, which still lay on the

table from the lodgers' evening meal, and looked now and then at the motionless Gregor.

"We must try to get rid of it," the sister now said decisively to the father, for the mother, in her coughing fit,

wasn't listening to anything, "it is killing you both. I see it coming. When people have to work as hard as we

all do, they cannot also tolerate this endless torment at home. I just can't go on any more." And she broke out

into such a crying fit that her tears flowed out down onto her mother's face. She wiped them off her mother

"Child," said the father sympathetically and with obvious appreciation, "then what should we do?"

The sister only shrugged her shoulders as a sign of the perplexity which, in contrast to her previous

"If only he understood us," said the father in a semiquestioning tone. The sister, in the midst of her sobbing,

shook her hand energetically as a sign that there was no point thinking of that.

"If he only understood us," repeated the father and by shutting his eyes he absorbed the sister's conviction of

the impossibility of this point, "then perhaps some compromise would be possible with him. But as it is. . ."

"It must be gotten rid of," cried the sister; "That is the only way, father. You must try to get rid of the idea

that this is Gregor. The fact that we have believed for so long, that is truly our real misfortune. But how can it

be Gregor? If it were Gregor, he would have long ago realized that a communal life among human beings is

not possible with such an animal and would have gone away voluntarily. Then we would not have a brother,

but we could go on living and honour his memory. But this animal plagues us. It drives away the lodgers, will

obviously take over the entire apartment, and leave us to spend the night in the alley. Just look, father," she

suddenly cried out, "he's already starting up again." With a fright which was totally incomprehensible to

Gregor, the sister even left the mother, pushed herself away from her chair, as if she would sooner sacrifice

her mother than remain in Gregor's vicinity, and rushed behind her father who, excited merely by her

behaviour, also stood up and half raised his arms in front of the sister as though to protect her.

But Gregor did not have any notion of wishing to create problems for anyone and certainly not for his sister.

He had just started to turn himself around in order to creep back into his room, quite a startling sight, since, as

a result of his suffering condition, he had to guide himself through the difficulty of turning around with his

head, in this process lifting and banging it against the floor several times. He paused and looked around. His

good intentions seem to have been recognized. The fright had only lasted for a moment. Now they looked at

him in silence and sorrow. His mother lay in her chair, with her legs stretched out and pressed together; her

eyes were almost shut from weariness. The father and sister sat next to one another. The sister had set her

" Now perhaps I can actually turn myself around," thought Gregor and began the task again. He couldn't stop

Besides no on was urging him on. It was all left to him on his own. When he had completed turning around,

he immediately began to wander straight back. He was astonished at the great distance which separated him

from his room and did not understand in the least how in his weakness he had covered the same distance a

short time before, almost without noticing it. Constantly intent only on creeping along quickly, he hardly paid

Only when he was already in the door did he turn his head, not completely, because he felt his neck growing

stiff. At any rate he still saw that behind him nothing had changed. Only the sister was standing up. His last

glimpse brushed over the mother who was now completely asleep. Hardly was he inside his room when the

door was pushed shut very quickly, bolted fast, and barred. Gregor was startled by the sudden commotion

behind him, so much so that his little limbs bent double under him. It was his sister who had been in such a

hurry. She had stood up right away, had waited, and had then sprung forward nimbly. Gregor had not heard

anything of her approach. She cried out "Finally!" to her parents, as she turned the key in the lock.

"What now?" Gregor asked himself and looked around him in the darkness. He soon made the discovery that

he could no longer move at all. He was not surprised at that. On the contrary, it struck him as unnatural that

he had really been able up to this point to move around with these thin little legs. Besides he felt relatively

content. True, he had pains throughout his entire body, but it seemed to him that they were gradually

becoming weaker and weaker and would finally go away completely. The rotten apple in his back and the

inflamed surrounding area, entirely covered with white dust, he hardly noticed. He remembered his family

with deep feeling and love. In this business, his own thought that he had to disappear was, if possible, even

more decisive than his sister's. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower

clock struck three o'clock in the morning. From the window he witnessed the beginning of the general

dawning outside. Then without willing it, his head sank all the way down, and from his nostrils flowed out

Early in the morning the cleaning woman came. In her sheer energy and haste she banged all the doors (in

precisely the way people had already asked her to avoid), so much so that once she arrived a quiet sleep was

no longer possible anywhere in the entire apartment. In her customarily brief visit to Gregor she at first found

nothing special. She thought he lay so immobile there intending to play the offended party. She gave him

credit for as complete an understanding as possible. Because she happened to hold the long broom in her

hand, she tried to tickle Gregor with it from the door. When that was quite unsuccessful, she became irritated

and poked Gregor a little, and only when she had shoved him from his place without any resistance did she

become attentive. When she quickly realized the true state of affairs, her eyes grew large, she whistled to

herself, but didn't restrain herself for long. She pulled open the door of the bedroom and yelled in a loud

voice into the darkness, "Come and look. It's kicked the bucket. It's lying there, totally snuffed!"

The Samsa married couple sat upright in their marriage bed and had to get over their fright at the cleaning

woman before they managed to grasp her message. But then Mr. and Mrs. Samsa climbed very quickly out of

bed, one on either side. Mr. Samsa threw the bedspread over his shoulders, Mrs. Samsa came out only in her

nightshirt, and like this they stepped into Gregor's room. Meanwhile the door of the living room (in which

Grete had slept since the lodgers had arrived on the scene) had also opened. She was fully clothed, as if she

had not slept at all; her white face also seem to indicate that. "Dead?" said Mrs. Samsa and looked

questioningly at the cleaning woman, although she could check everything on her own and even understand

without a check. "I should say so," said the cleaning woman and, by way of proof, poked Gregor's body with

the broom a considerable distance more to the side. Mrs. Samsa made a movement as if she wished to restrain

the broom, but didn't do it. "Well," said Mr. Samsa, "now we can give thanks to God." He crossed himself,

Grete, who did not take her eyes off the corpse, said, "Look how thin he was. He had eaten nothing for such a

long time. The meals which came in here came out again exactly the same." In fact, Gregor's body was

completely flat and dry. That was apparent really for the first time, now that he was no longer raised on his

"Grete, come into us for a moment," said Mrs. Samsa with a melancholy smile, and Grete went, not without

looking back at the corpse, behind her parents into the bed room. The cleaning woman shut the door and

opened the window wide. In spite of the early morning, the fresh air was partly tinged with warmth. It was

The three lodgers stepped out of their room and looked around for their breakfast, astonished that they had

been forgotten. "Where is the breakfast?" asked the middle one of the gentlemen grumpily to the cleaning

woman. However, she laid her finger to her lips and then quickly and silently indicated to the lodgers that

they could come into Gregor's room. So they came and stood around Gregor's corpse, their hands in the

pockets of their somewhat worn jackets, in the room, which was already quite bright.

Then the door of the bed room opened, and Mr. Samsa appeared in his uniform, with his wife on one arm and

his daughter on the other. All were a little tear stained. Now and then Grete pressed her face onto her father's

"Get out of my apartment immediately," said Mr. Samsa and pulled open the door, without letting go of the

women. "What do you mean?" said the middle lodger, somewhat dismayed and with a sugary smile. The two

others kept their hands behind them and constantly rubbed them against each other, as if in joyful anticipation

of a great squabble which must end up in their favour. "I mean exactly what I say," replied Mr. Samsa and

went directly with his two female companions up to the lodger. The latter at first stood there motionless and

looked at the floor, as if matters were arranging themselves in a new way in his head. "All right, then we'll

go," he said and looked up at Mr. Samsa as if, suddenly overcome by humility, he was asking fresh

permission for this decision. Mr. Samsa merely nodded to him repeatedly with his eyes open wide.

Following that, the lodger actually went immediately with long strides into the hall. His two friends had

already been listening for a while with their hands quite still, and now they hopped smartly after him, as if

afraid that Mr. Samsa could step into the hall ahead of them and disturb their reunion with their leader. In the

hall all three of them took their hats from the coat rack, pulled their canes from the cane holder, bowed

silently, and left the apartment. In what turned out to be an entirely groundless mistrust, Mr. Samsa stepped

with the two women out onto the landing, leaned against the railing, and looked down as the three lodgers

slowly but steadily made their way down the long staircase, disappeared on each floor in a certain turn of the

stairwell and in a few seconds came out again. The deeper they proceeded, the more the Samsa family lost

interest in them, and when a butcher with a tray on his head come to meet them and then with a proud bearing

ascended the stairs high above them, Mr. Samsa., together with the women, left the banister, and they all

They decided to pass that day resting and going for a stroll. Not only had they earned this break from work,

but there was no question that they really needed it. And so they sat down at the table and wrote three letters

of apology: Mr. Samsa to his supervisor, Mrs. Samsa to her client, and Grete to her proprietor. During the

writing the cleaning woman came in to say that she was going off, for her morning work was finished. The

three people writing at first merely nodded, without glancing up. Only when the cleaning woman was still

unwilling to depart, did they look up angrily. "Well?" asked Mr. Samsa. The cleaning woman stood smiling

in the doorway, as if she had a great stroke of luck to report to the family but would only do it if she was

asked directly. The almost upright small ostrich feather in her hat, which had irritated Mr. Samsa during her

entire service, swayed lightly in all directions. "All right then, what do you really want?" asked Mrs. Samsa,

whom the cleaning lady still usually respected. "Well," answered the cleaning woman (smiling so happily she

couldn't go on speaking right away), "about how that rubbish from the next room should be thrown out, you

mustn't worry about it. It's all taken care of." Mrs. Samsa and Grete bent down to their letters, as though they

wanted to go on writing; Mr. Samsa, who noticed that the cleaning woman wanted to start describing

everything in detail, decisively prevented her with an outstretched hand. But since she was not allowed to

explain, she remembered the great hurry she was in, and called out, clearly insulted, "Ta ta, everyone," turned

"This evening she'll be let go," said Mr. Samsa, but he got no answer from either his wife or from his

daughter, because the cleaning woman seemed to have upset once again the tranquillity they had just attained.

They got up, went to the window and remained there, with their arms about each other. Mr. Samsa turned

around in his chair in their direction and observed them quietly for a while. Then he called out, "All right,

come here then. Let's finally get rid of old things. And have a little consideration for me." The women

attended to him at once. They rushed to him, caressed him, and quickly ended their letters.

Then all three left the apartment together, something they had not done for months now, and took the electric

tram into the open air outside the city. The car in which they were sitting by themselves was totally engulfed

by the warm sun. They talked to each other, leaning back comfortably in their seats, about future prospects,

and they discovered that on closer observation these were not at all bad, for all three had employment, about

which they had not really questioned each other at all, which was extremely favorable and with especially

promising prospects. The greatest improvement in their situation at this moment, of course, had to come from

a change of dwelling. Now they wanted to rent an apartment smaller and cheaper but better situated and

generally more practical than the present one, which Gregor had found. While they amused themselves in this

way, it struck Mr. and Mrs. Samsa almost at the same moment how their daughter, who was getting more

animated all the time, had blossomed recently, in spite of all the troubles which had made her cheeks pale,

into a beautiful and voluptuous young woman. Growing more silent and almost unconsciously understanding

each other in their glances, they thought that the time was now at hand to seek out a good honest man for her.

And it was something of a confirmation of their new dreams and good intentions when at the end of their