2025 Nov 25 to 28
“As GREGOR SAMSA awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.”
the famous last first words
“thought that he might get out of bed with the lower part of his body first, but this lower part, which he had not yet seen and of which he could form no clear conception, proved too difficult to move”
“Well, why was she crying? Because he wouldn’t get up and let the chief clerk in, because he was in danger of losing his job, and because the chief would begin dunning his parents again for the old debts?”
“Pitilessly Gregor’s father drove him back, hissing and crying “Shoo!” like a savage.”
“He had merely the fixed idea of driving Gregor back into his room as quickly as possible.”
“when from behind his father gave him a strong push which was literally a deliverance and he flew far into the room, bleeding freely.”
“In the early morning, when the doors were locked, they had all wanted to come in, now that he had opened one door and the other had apparently been opened during the day, no one came in and even the keys were on the other side of the doors.”
“he must lie low for the present and, by exercising patience and the utmost consideration, help the family to bear the inconvenience he was bound to cause them in his present condition”
“after another and with tears of satisfaction in his eyes he quickly devoured the cheese, the vegetables, and the sauce; the fresh food, on the other hand, had no charms for him, he could not even stand the smell of it and actually dragged away to some little distance the things he could eat”
“They had simply got used to it, both the family and Gregor; the money was gratefully accepted and gladly given, but there was no special uprush of warm feeling.”
“For in reality day by day things that were even a little way off were growing dimmer to his sight; the hospital across the street, which he used to execrate for being all too often before his eyes, was now quite beyond his range of vision,”
“as soon as she came out she had to tell them exactly how things were in the room, what Gregor had eaten, how he had conducted himself this time, and whether there was not perhaps some slight improvement in his condition”
“doesn’t it look as if we were showing him, by taking away his furniture, that we have given up hope of his ever getting better and are just leaving him coldly to himself? I think it would be best to keep his room exactly as it has always been, so that when he comes back to us he will find everything unchanged and be able all the more easily to forget what has happened in between”
“They were clearing his room out; taking away everything he loved; the chest in which he kept his fret saw and other tools was already dragged off;”
“Grete’s words had succeeded in disquieting her mother, who took a step to one side, caught sight of the huge brown mass on the flowered wallpaper, and before she was really conscious that what she saw was Gregor, screamed in a loud, hoarse voice: “Oh God, oh God!” fell with outspread arms over the sofa as if giving up, and did not move. “Gregor!” cried his sister, shaking her fist and glaring at him. This was the first time she had directly addressed him since his metamorphosis”
“there was nothing he could do but wait; and harassed by self-reproach and worry he began now to crawl to and fro, over everything, walls, furniture, and ceiling, and finally in his despair, when the whole room seemed to be reeling around him, fell down onto the middle of the big table.”
“he saw his mother rushing toward his father, leaving one after another behind her on the floor her loosened petticoats, stumbling over her petticoats straight to his father and embracing him, in complete union with him — but here Gregor’s sight began to fail — with her hands clasped around his father’s neck as she begged for her son’s life.”
“lying in the darkness of his room, invisible to the family, he could see them all at the lamp-lit table and listen to their talk, by general consent as it were, very different from his earlier eavesdropping”
“Even various family ornaments, which his mother and sister used to wear with pride at parties and celebrations, had to be sold,”
“At first she even used to call him to her, with words which apparently she took to be friendly, such as: “Come along, then, you old dung beetle!” or “Look at the old dung beetle, then!""
“we wouldn’t have any brother, but we’d be able to go on living and keep his memory in honor”
“Perhaps I can go on turning around now, thought Gregor, and began his labors again.”
“The decision that he must disappear was one that he held to even more strongly than his sister, if that were possible.”
“tore open the door of the Samsas’ bedroom and yelled into the darkness at the top of her voice: “Just look at this, it’s dead; it’s lying here dead and done for!""
“Well,” said Mr. Samsa, “now thanks be to God.”
“Just see how thin he was. It’s such a long time since he’s eaten anything. The food came out again just as it went in.”
“Mr. Samsa appeared in his uniform, his wife on one arm, his daughter on the other. They all looked a little as if they had been crying; from time to time Grete hid her face on her father’s arm”
“they all three left the apartment together, which was more than they had done for months, and went by tram into the open country outside the town”