Metamorphosis
Gregor Samsa, the protagonist, works hard to run his family comprising of his parents and sister. He works as a travelling salesman to pay off his father's debt. He hates his job very much but compromises himself and tries to keep his family happy. One day he wakes up and realizes that somehow he's turned into a bug in while he is asleep. Initially he refuses to believe but as every minute passes he worries how will he go to his office and how will his boss react for being late. As he realizes that indeed he has turned into a bug and cannot control his own body. On the other side he feels scared of being late to the work and what would his family think about his new self. Still inside the room, he hears his parents knocking the door asking him to come out as he's getting late. Gregor panics, but refuses to open the door until he is threatened. Once he comes out of the room, everyone are frightened and run away from him in fear. Gregor tries to chase his boss, but all goes in vain. He thinks his family will understand his situation. But no one accepts him.
Besides being transformed into a huge bug, he changes in other ways as the story progresses. When he's first transformed, he had hope that he would be changed back to his human form and be able to go back to work and help his parents pay off their debts, even though he wants to quit his job as a traveling salesman. Unfortunately, he loses all sense of hope and falls into a deep depression and eventually thinks that he should disappear.
This book is a good reminder of the inherent nature of human beings, how we treat an asset and how our behaviour changes when the asset is no longer an asset but a mere liability. It’s a sad story. The exact portrayal of how some people behave when you cease to be useful to them is explained in a magical realism way. Gregor’s character seems like a symbol of people, who do a lot for others including one's own family. Such people are appreciated only till others get what they want. Once a person like Gregor stops being useful to people around the, then they start showing their true colors. Sometimes the nicer we behave, the more people around disrespect us and let us down. This one sentence explains why Gregor ended up dead.
Narration
The narration start with third person and as it continues, a kind of disconnection between the reader and the story is observed. But, the story telling is engaging.
Characters
All the characters are plotted with ample importance. The traits of each character is also very well explained.
Language and Grammar
A simple writing style with lucid language can be observed. No rich vocabulary is used. For these kind of dark genre stories, more decorative language will interest the reader.