Short Fiction: A Study of Genre

Readings and Materials

• How does the narrator characterize the family members’ feelings toward Gregor in the first paragraph of section 3? 
• What does the family’s decision to leave the door to Gregor’s room open imply? Explain (p. 32).
• Track the narrator’s descriptions on pp. 32–33 of how each family member has changed since Gregor’s transformation.
• In Gregor’s mind, what is holding the family back? What does this description on p. 33 seem to imply about humanity?
• How has Grete’s treatment of Gregor changed? Who seems to have taken on the role of caring for him according to pp. 34–35?
• Why has the family taken in boarders? How has their arrival impacted the family? Gregor? (pp. 35–37)
• What do we learn, from Gregor's daydream on p. 38, about his level of compassion towards his sister? Compare this to her level of compassion for him. What is ironic about this?
• What do the boarders declare after witnessing Gregor? How does their declaration impact the family’s treatment of Gregor according to pp. 39–41?
• What does Grete’s insistence that Gregor is no longer human seem to imply about what it means to be human? Explain?
• What factors would you say cause Gregor’s death on p. 42?
• How does his family seem to react to Gregor’s death? Why do their feelings of relief seem odd or absurd? What does Kafka’s message about sympathy and compassion seem to be?
• How does Gregor’s inability to communicate impact his family’s levels of compassion and sympathy? Explain.
• While the tone is matter-of-fact, the mood of this short novel can only be described as horrifying. How does the author build this mood? What is the impact of his decision to juxtapose the mood and tone?
• In the end, Kafka leaves a number of questions unanswered, as is common in absurdism. What questions does he leave unanswered? What is the impact of his choice on you, the reader? How does it develop his message(s) about what it means to be human?