Kafka of Franz

Why does Gregor transform into a bug?
The definite answer to this question is unknown. Literary experts still argue with each other about the reason Kafka decided to have Gregor transformed into a bug. The arguments range from many different spectrums such as: Gregor being turned into a bug represents the type of person he was, to Gregor was not happy with aspects of his current life and for this reason Kafka decided to turn him into a bug.
I do not know the true rational behind the metamorphosis, but I do have some opinions that may be true, but they may also be false. Maybe at the time Franz Kafka was thinking about writing the story he thought it would be cool if a person was transformed into a bug. He may have just wanted to talk about a person who woke up as a bug, a hypothetical circumstance. In some ways Kafka might have wanted to relate Gregor or the fact Gregor was some type of bug, or some aspect of the Samsa family back to some part of his life. Another rational may be that Kafka saw in his life how people react to bugs. This could have intrigued him to write a hypothetical story about not only how someone might react if they woke up as a bug, but how the family of that person and others who saw that person after the metamorphosis would react. I know that people are always thinking about the “what ifs,” in life. The metamorphosis could be a “what if,” that Kafka thought about one day as he was pondering life and everything in the universe. If I had to agree with an expert and defend his/her theory, I would pick expert # 3 without agreeing with the part that says Kafka is trying to foreshadow events such as WWI, the Holocaust, and other genocides.
What are some questionable aspects of the metamorphosis and is it realistic?
In my opinion, it seemed that Kafka wanted to make the story somewhat realistic. I think this is why he had the family react to Gregor the way they did and isolate him in his room for the majority of the book. They family even changed their thoughts about Gregor as the story progressed. They went from isolating him, to semi-accepting him as long as he stayed in his room, to wanting to get rid of him because of the burden placed on their shoulders to take care of him. This happens in everyone’s life. Everyday people change their opinion on something they previously commented on or did. It is actually the sister that does all of the steps more so than the family does. The sister leads the family in the way they viewed Gregor. I believe the way the family acted was somewhat realistic, and allowed for the story to go on. Many families would be so scared of a giant bug in their house they would either shoot it, or call the police. I found it a little surprising that the Samsa family did not try to go to the zoo or try to put Gregor into the zoo. The family could also have called a specialist or a scientist who would want to experiment on Gregor.
Another questionable aspect of the book is the type of bug Gregor is. The problem faced by students who read the book in English is that it was translated from German. It is for this reason the English version does not portray the same picture in some scenes as the original version. After reading the entire story I did not find myself convinced that Gregor was a certain type of bug. I found myself picturing him as a cockroach, a beetle, a giant ugly looking crawly figure, and other insects that had a bunch of legs. Since Kafka never tells the reader exactly what bug Gregor is, it is left up to the reader’s imagination. In some parts this is very cool because it makes every reader vision a unique picture of Gregor. Two examples are when Gregor is trying to open the door and he is bleeding his bug juice from his mouth, and the other is when the apple is embedded into his back and eventually starts to rot. Overall I do not know what Kafka was trying to achieve in the story, but literary experts will always be guessing the true meaning of the metamorphosis.
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