An observation I made at the beginning of the novel was that the first section seems to be a sort of critique on modern corporate employment, and how it brainwashes you into succumbing to the whims of your employer over your own needs and desires. This fits pretty well with the first section, but once the chief clerk leaves Gregor’s home, not much more mention is made of his work, the focus is now on the development of the family, and his family’s work. Could it still be possible that Kafka is trying to make a comment about corporate employment even in the second and third sections?
Though this idea is a bit of a reach, it seems to come together if you consider the family to be a company. They’ve fired Gregor (somewhat unwillingly) after his transformation into an insect. He can no longer work or provide for the wellbeing of the unit. Not that he was doing excellent work… the chief clerk states himself, “...your work has been most unsatisfactory…”
Now that I’ve mentioned the chief clerk, let’s talk about the him for a moment here. Let’s take a brief pause. Why does he arrive to his home? Why is he so intimate with him? Without the chief clerk’s presence, Gregor’s anxieties and personality would still show through. I think it is a possibility that the chief clerk is a tool to connect home and business and emphasize more that, by being in the home with Gregor’s family as they see him for the first time after his transformation, he is taking part in a shocking, personal, family event. In that moment, he is a part of the family, and as such the family is a part of the business, and continues to function like a business after that moment.
Back to the meaty bits of the metaphorical business that is Gregor Samsa’s heartless family :) ! Once the family accepts his insect form, once they accept that he is no longer a functional part of the family, everyone moves on. Although the story progresses over the course of several months, the recovery of the family seems ridiculously fast. His dad gets a job, his mom gets a hobby, his sister essentially replaces him, until she surpasses him. A lot like after a company fires a lousy employee, Samsa Inc. turns over a new leaf and begins to improve by hiring a new, enthusiastic, employee, Grete. As well as fixing a couple of other departments that were neglected while good old Gregor was still at work. (His father especially).
The family company becomes successful, much more so than when Gregor was the only one working, much more so than when the faulty employee was preventing the progress of the other workers with his incompetence and mischief.
Even at the end of the novella, the family goes on a trip, and they don’t even think about Gregor once, they’ve forgotten him because he was just another worker in the house they’ve needed to let go.
It is weird that the family seems to recover so fast from his loss; it's almost like Gregor dying somehow indirectly causes them to improve. The only analogous situation I can think of to explain this is the evolution of ancient civilizations. In places with an abundance of food and water, civilizations were not very advanced. They didn't need order and structure to survive. In deserts, mountainous country, or swampy areas, people like the Egyptians, Greeks, and Italians needed to band together and come up with a set of rules that would allow them all to survive. Because resources were scarce, they needed to use them wisely, and so governmental structure was created. In the Samsas' case, they didn't really have any problems when Gregor was working, so they could lounge around and do pretty much whatever they wanted. When Gregor metamorphosed, however, Grete and her father had to become more responsible, and as a result, the family blossomed.
ReplyDeleteThis really gets at the idea that family and work discourses are impossibly merged in Gregor's mind--just as him not getting to work on time on the fateful morning is a family AND work issue, and just as he's being yelled at through the door by his boss AND his mom and dad. Your mention of Gregor being "fired" at the very end makes sense, and we see the father suddenly emboldened to go on something like a firing spree: he dispatches the lodgers (part of the new "company" in Gregor's absence, literally replacing him at the dinner table), and even takes some glee in declaring that the insolent charmaid will be given notice that night.
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