Overcast

     In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa wakes up one day to discover he was transformed into a giant bug. Being a traveling salesman and the source of income for his family, he is not concerned greatly about the fact that he is no longer a human being, but that it is a pain because he had to go to work today. "'O God,' he thought, 'what a demanding job I've chosen! Day in, day out, on the road...once I've got together the money to pay off my parents' debt...'" (Kafka 1). Right from the beginning of the story it is evident that Gregor is a selfless person. He works day in and day out in order to be able to pay off his parents large debt, which he later says might take him another five or six years. This is a largely ordinary problem and yet a problem he stays focused on for the rest of the story, as well as his family problems. "Gregor had no intention of opening the door, but congratulated himself on his precaution, acquired from traveling, of locking all doors during the night, even at home" (Kafka 2). Gregor's family and boss were all trying to get him to come out of his room, even though they had no idea what his current situation was. They couldn't get into his room themselves because, as Gregor said, Gregor had a habit of locking his door every night, even at home. Gregor had long since been isolated from the outside world and his family. "...it struck him how easy all this would be if someone were to come to his aid...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 suppress a smile at this idea" (Kafka 3). Gregor is laying in his room, fighting with his new body to get up and open the door. It could all have gone easily if he and his family didn't lack so much communication; his family could have easily opened the door for him.

     In The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses the settings in order to better explain the dysfunctional family's problems. There is a great imbalance of equality in duty in the Samsa family, and weather is used to show it. "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" (Kafka 1). This draws a rather depressing image, depressing like how the family's financial situation is. The Samsa family doesn't lift a pinky (except for Gregor, of course) and unfairly enough they are no longer grateful for Gregor's financial aid to them. "Once in the early morning--a hard downpour, perhaps already a sign of the coming spring, struck the window panes..." (Kafka 20). Gregor, observing the weather like always, noticed this hard downpour which was, in effect, foreshadowing the upcoming events for the Samsa household. The "hard downpour" may have very well been foreshadowing the upcoming fall of Gregor; his father threw an apple and hit him hard, having the apple sink into him and rot there, making Gregor weaker and weaker until his death. "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" (Kafka 27). By the end of the story, the weather has completely changed, going from dreary rain to blanketing the car with sunlight. This conjures a much more positive image and explains that equilibrium of family duties for the Samsas is very important and correlated it to the weather's transformations.