Sympathy in the Metamorphosis

In his short story, “The Metamorphosis,” Franz Kafka is very consistent about maintaining an ambiguous point-of-view; Kafka was very careful to keep who the protagonist and antagonist in the story are. Kafka intend for his readers to think and judge for themselves, to decided what they should get out of the story. However, every story should have an antagonist and protagonist and in this story, Kafka has given some hints and supports to the idea that Gregor is the antagonist of the story while his family (Grete, father, and mother) are the protagonists. Having the family take the role of protagonists, naturally readers are suppose to relate and sympathize with them, therefore, there is little or no sympathy left for Gregor. One strong support of the lack of sympathy for Gregor’s character can be distinguished from this paragraph:

“We must try to get rid of it,” his sister (Grete) now said explicitly to her father, since her mother was coughing too much to hear a world, “it will be the death of both of you, I can see that coming. When one has to work as hard as we do, all of us, one can’t stand this continual torment at home on top of it. At least I can’t stand it any longer.” And she burst into such a passion of sobbing that her tears dropped on her mother’s face, where she wiped them off mechanically” (133).

This paragraph emphasizes the pain and suffering of the family as Grete informs the readers of how she miserable she felt and what a burden the bug that use to be Gregor was on the entire family. Grete’s grievance definitely draws a lot of the reader’s sympathy. However, on another note, all of Gregor’s after suffering after the metamorphosis seems to be nonexistence after Grete’s speech. Gregor never gets a dialogue describing all of his emotions, sufferings, and pains. Gregor’s status and thoughts were reported and described from time to time but he never gets to speak for himself after he was completely transformed. As an effect, Gregor’s thoughts and emotions seem less emotional and more detached, and after all, Gregor was just a bug. Gregor’s sufferings were not only minimal because of his lack of dialogue but also because of the lack of emphasis on all that Gregor has done for the family before the metamorphosis. Before the metamorphosis, Gregor worked day and night in order to support his father’s laziness, mother’s feebleness, and Grete’s youth. In exchange, Gregor gave up his life, he had no life besides work. The narrator mentioned Gregor’s life and job before the metamorphosis there were no emotions neither involved nor stirred in those paragraphs. Beyond that, Gregor’s sacrifice was minimized if not at all absent. Kafka placed heavy emphasis on the family’s meager sacrifice and suffering as oppose to Gregor’s life-long sacrifice and suffering.