Metamorphosis Reading Response

Writing Instructions:

1. Italicize the novella title,  The Metamorphosis.

2. Please do not summarize the plot in this reading response.

3. Please do not use expressions, such as “I think,” “you,” or “we see” in analysis papers.

4. Do not cite more than 3 lines for each quote and use an MLA in-text citation, referring to the character/narrator. Put the page number after each quote in parentheses. Do not put a page or pg. in parentheses– (i.e.) Gregor thought, “What a grueling job” (753).

5. Please choose effective quotes to prove your point and make sure to add your detailed analysis after each quotation.

*Please read the following questions carefully and provide effective textual examples to support your interpretation.

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Analytical Reading Response to Kafka’s  The Metamorphosis (1915)

What caused (multiple causes of his metamorphosis) Gregor Samsa’s transformation into a beetle? What made him feel dehumanized and caused him to feel alienated from normal social bonds and activities (Please note that this question is not about after his metamorphosis)? What does the change of Gregor’s body into a subhuman form signify? Why did Gregor stay in his job? When does Gregor stop being treated as a human being by his family, and why? Why does Grete call Gregor “this monster” and “it”? Why does Gregor feel that “His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister’s”(780)? What caused Gregor to feel this way? What do you make of Gregor’s death? What does Kafka try to convey through Gregor’s metamorphosis and his conscious suicide? Please provide at least two textual examples (direct quotes) to support your analysis and add your detailed analysis after each quotation.