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Gabriela Gonzalez

Professor Beadle

ESW 113A

09 July 2019

The Metamorphosis into Disability

The metamorphosis​ represents a larger issue, one well known would be people with

disabilities. The violence treatment they face is unfair as they have no control over the way they

were born. The society we live in has a tendency to look at them as not one of our kinds. Franz

Kafka was a German-speaking jewish novelist and short-story writer also well known for being

the author of “​The Metamorphosis”​ . In ​The Metamorphosis​ Gregor’s transformation into an

insect caused him to be treated terribly, and is a problem that the world has with people with a

disability that are treated inhumane. The way he is treated reflects how society sees and treats

people with disabilities as they are incapable of living on their own.

Our society sees people with disabilities differently than people without a disability.

Gregor didn’t want anyone to see him after he was transformed let alone the chief clark as he

knew that it would change the way he saw him and he would end up losing his job. When the

chief clark had barely heard his voice he got scared and said, “It was an animal’s voice”(Kafka

26). As his boss heard him speak he thought Gergor was ill and immediately assumed he needed

a doctor. The society we live in tries to avoid the situation they are in by just throwing a doctor

in front of the person who seems to be ill or just not normal. In an article by Canada and the

World Backgrounder states, “As recently as the 1960s they were simply locked up in large
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institutions, living in grim, overcrowded, and often-abusive conditions”. In those institutions

they treated the inmates like trash as if they weren’t human beings. Their Families would even

spend thousands of dollars to lock up their children when they would only see them as a burden.

Gregor’s mother was disgusted by the way he was eating therefore, she was frightened and

jumped into his father’s arms. That catastrophe lead into his father thinking that Gregor had done

something terrible to his mother and ended up in violence. After that situation they started to

treat gregor differently.

The treatment that people with disabilities faced weren't always the best. At first Gregor’s

sister, Grete, felt sympathy for her brother and gave him his favorite food which was milk and a

piece of bread. She later on found out that he could no longer eat due to his transformation and

“not from lack of appetite”(Kafka 43). She started to feed him rotten and leftover scraps. Gregor

felt sad but he knew that “Certainly they did not wish Gregor to die of hunger but perhaps they

preferred to know nothing about his meals except by harsay- they could not have borne to see

him- perhaps, also, in order to diminish their disgust, his sister was taking pains to spare them the

slightest trouble”(Kafka 45). His mother and father hardley wanted to see or hear of him so his

sister would bare the pain for them all treating him as if he was an animal. It was almost as if

they hated him for turning into this insect. Christopher Mikton has a Ph.D in Criminology and

Tom Shakespeare an English sociologist and broadcaster claims “... likely to include disability

hate crimes, financial abuse, over-medication of people with mental health conditions, violence

in institutions, and the greater role of dependency in perpetrator–victim relationships”(Mikton

and Shakespeare). All over the world people with disabilities have been treated with violence

and have been put in systems that don’t care for them as Gregor was treated similar when his
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family stripped him away from existence. They made him feel like he wasn’t part of the family

anymore and all he could do is stay in his room and hide under her sofa so that no one could see

him as he felt so ashamed to come out while they were around.

People with disabilities are shaped of their humanity. Gregor did everything possible to

not cause his sister more pain including “To spare her this sight, he took a sheet on his back,

dragged it to the sofa a task which occupied some hours and spread it in such a way that his sister

could see nothing under the sofa, even if she stooped”(Kafka 53). He started to isolate himself

from his family after watching his sister Grete struggle for a while he chose to take the time and

find a way that didn’t make it so difficult to see him in fact to not see him at all. As much as he

tried to listen to the conversations his family would have “no one, not even his sister imagined

that he could understand them”(Kafka 45). He never imagined that his family would turn against

him that they would talk about their financial problem as if was his fault thinking that he had no

idea what they were saying. He was so frightened by his father that “Soon Gregor had no choice;

for he realized with terror that he was going backward he was not master of his direction and,

still fearfully watching the attitude of his father out of the corner of his eye…”(Kafka 34). He

was fearful of what his father might do to him now that he is too helpless. People with

disabilities sometimes feel the same way which can bring their self esteem down.

The violence and unsupportive families that people with disabilities live with can drive

them into chaos. This was Gregor's big problem and when his sister started to acknowledge that

this was the way things were going to be from now on, she convinced his family to turn away

from him and let him be on his own in which abandoning him. As the article Canada and the

World Backgrounder states, “There have been numerous tragic cases of desperate parents killing
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their handicapped children, and themselves. Usually, this is because they couldn't get the

assistance they needed, or they simply wanted to end their child's suffering. But, advocates for

the disabled say these caregivers deserve no sympathy”. When families can no longer bare to see

their child in the misery that they live in it is sad but true that they decide to abandon them.

Unfortunately this is what drove Gregor to his death when he could no longer bare the pain he

was putting onto his family and himself.

Although Gregor didn’t live the best live after his transformation because his family

didn’t bother to give him the attention and love he needed. They’re more and more family

supportive groups that deal with people with disabilities. Canada and the World Backgrounder

enforce, “Starting in the 1950s, parents were encouraged to raise theft children at home, and

continue to do so when they became adults.” Many people who are now cared for by their

families would have been institutionalized had they been born a generation earlier”. Now in days

we support people with disabilities and we push them to strive towards their dreams. As long a

they have the right support and state of mind they can accomplish anything they set their minds

to. Therefore, Canada and the World Backgrounder state, “It took four years to develop the

program but as one parent says, it will mean that her daughter "will have friends and something

to look forward to each day”. The program Project Hope are what families strived for as they

want the best support for their children with disabilities.

Overall Gregor’s transformation reflects on a larger issue our society has. People with

disabilities all over the world have been dealing with violence and hatred for a long time. They

were put into institutions and treated terribly. Although Gregor didn’t have a disability his family

treated him as if he was disabled. Therefore, he was locked up in his room, hidden from the
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world incapable of doing anything for himself which drove his family into abandoning him then

into his death. Now our society has improved the way we see people with disabilities. They’re

new programs like the Heart Project that support people with disabilities and make them feel as

they can do anything possible. It also brings other people with disabilities together to make new

friends and build relationships.

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Work cited

Mikton, Christopher. and Tom Shakespeare. "Introduction to Special Issue on Violence

Against People With Disability". ​Journal of Interpersonal Violence​ 29.17 (2014): 3055-062.

Https://doi-org.libproxy.csun.edu/10.1177/0886260514534531. Accessed 9 July 2019.

"Looking for inclusion: as a minority group, people with disabilities, and their families,

are fighting to have their needs met, and to be seen as part of society". ​Canada and the World

Backgrounder,​ Oct. 2003, p. 14+. ​General OneFile​,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A110915132/ITOF?u=csunorthridge&sid=ITOF&xid=8d1bd

e1f. Accessed 9 July 2019.

Kafka, Franz. “​The Metamorphosis”​ . Vanguard Press, Inc. 1946.

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