2 Matching Annotations
  1. Jun 2016
  2. May 2016
  3. www.seethingbrains.com www.seethingbrains.com
    1. However, now both his father and his mother often waited in front of Gregor’s door while his sister cleaned up inside, and as soon as she came out, she had to explain in detail how things looked in the room, what Gregor had eaten, how he had behaved this time, and whether perhaps a slight improvement was perceptible.

      This passage is important for the text as a whole because it really outlines the beginning of each character's development throughout the novella. It is through this passage that Gregor's family start to have some key realizations. First, this is probably the point where the parents begin to lose interest in Gregor, as they cannot bring themselves to walk in his room. By sending Grete in and having her relay Gregor's state to them, they become more detached to Gregor. Gregor has become a bit of a pet to them, but not one that they are taking care of but instead having Grete tale care of it for them. It is also the point where Grete becomes more valuable to the family. Since the father and mother cannot bring themselves to enter the room, they send Grete in. They previously conceived Grete to be a useless daughter, but since she is the only one willing to walk in the room and take care of Gregor she becomes more useful to the family.This becomes more important and apparent later in the novel as the family begins to rely less and less on Gregor as they accept that he is useless to the family. Essentially, Gregor's usefulness gets transferred to Grete and she becomes a more responsible and hardworking member of the family. This is also one of the final moments we can see the entire family, including the father, show some care for Gregor in this new state. At this point the whole situation is still new and the family doesn't quite know how to react to it or if it will be reversed someday. For this reason, no member of the family has given up hope quite yet. (Jeremy)