In The Metamorphosis, Kafka illustrates the grotesque story of a working salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking up one day to discover that his body resembles to an insect. Through jarring and almost unrealistic narration, Kafka opens readers up to a view of Gregor's futile and disappointing life as a human insect. By captivating the reader with this imaginary world, Kafka manages to introduce the idea that Gregor's insect body resembles his human life. Through the use of improbable symbolism, Kafka tricks the reader into believing that Gregor's transformation into an insect is realistic and more authentic than his inauthentic life as a human. From the beginning of The Metamorphosis, Kafka offers a comic depiction of Gregor's “wriggling legs” ( Kafka 13) and a body in which “he could not control” (7). Gregor's first reaction to this situation was that he was behind in his unsatisfactory job as a salesman, but Gregor knows that he must continue his work in order to maintain his family's expectation of paying the eternal debt of the family. When Gregor's family finally realizes that Gregor is still lying in bed, they are confused because they expect Gregor to keep the family together by working. They know that if Gregor quit his job it would be a big disaster, because he is the glue that keeps their family out of debt. Communication between his family is quickly identified as meager and talking to each other from adjacent walls shows their disconnection with each other. Kafka presents the family as lacking in social skills in order to offer the reader the opportunity to criticize and sympathize with Gregor's family dynamic. Gregor's manager makes an appearance quickly after experiencing the dysfunction within the family...... middle of paper ......ent with the way his life is turning out. Kafka uses impractical symbolism in order to emphasize that Gregor's being authentic as a bug is still unsatisfactory because his inauthentic state as a human. The reason his family is continually unhappy with Gregor is why he never meets the expectations that he should pay off the family debt and stabilize the family through his hard work; the fact that his insect form allows him to provide for his family, they no longer consider him a burden. No matter what Gregor does to gain his family's approval, it either leaves him depressed because he's not being authentic, or his family is upset because he's not supportive of them. Regardless of how Gregor dominates, authentic or inauthentic, Gregor and his family are unhappy. Word Count: 1,293 Works Cited Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Trans. Stanley Corngold. New York: A Bantam Book, 1972. Print