METAMORPHOSISBYFRANZ KAFKA

Chapter 1

One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, hefound himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay onhis armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see hisbrown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections.The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide offany moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of therest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked."What's happened to me?" he thought. It wasn't a dream. His room, aproper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully betweenits four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out onthe table - Samsa was a travelling salesman - and above it there hung apicture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine andhoused in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hatand fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered thewhole of her lower arm towards the viewer.Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops ofrain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad."How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense", hethought, but that was something he was unable to do because he wasused to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn't get intothat position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he alwaysrolled back to where he was. He must have tried it a hundred times,shut his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at the floundering legs,and only stopped when he began to feel a mild, dull pain there that hehad never felt before."Oh, God", he thought, "what a strenuous career it is that I've chosen!Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes muchmore effort than doing your own business at home, and on top of thatthere's the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections,bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so thatyou can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them. It canall go to Hell!" He felt a slight itch up on his belly; pushed himself slowlyup on his back towards the headboard so that he could lift his headbetter; found where the itch was, and saw that it was covered with lotsof little white spots which he didn't know what to make of; and when hetried to feel the place with one of his legs he drew it quickly backbecause as soon as he touched it he was overcome by a cold shudder.He slid back into his former position. "Getting up early all the time", hethought, "it makes you stupid. You've got to get enough sleep. Othertravelling salesmen live a life of luxury. For instance, whenever I goback to the guest house during the morning to copy out the contract,these gentlemen are always still sitting there eating their breakfasts. Iought to just try that with my boss; I'd get kicked out on the spot. Butwho knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me. If I didn't havemy parents to think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago,I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell himeverything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right off hisdesk! And it's a funny sort of business to be sitting up there at yourdesk, talking down at your subordinates from up there, especially whenyou have to go right up close because the boss is hard of hearing. Well,there's still some hope; once I've got the money together to pay off myparents' debt to him - another five or six years I suppose - that'sdefinitely what I'll do. That's when I'll make the big change. First of allthough, I've got to get up, my train leaves at five."And he looked over at the alarm clock, ticking on the chest of drawers."God in Heaven!" he thought. It was half past six and the hands werequietly moving forwards, it was even later than half past, more likequarter to seven. Had the alarm clock not rung? He could see from thebed that it had been set for four o'clock as it should have been; itcertainly must have rung. Yes, but was it possible to quietly sleepthrough that furniture-rattling noise? True, he had not slept peacefully,but probably all the more deeply because of that. What should he donow? The next train went at seven; if he were to catch that he wouldhave to rush like mad and the collection of samples was still notpacked, and he did not at all feel particularly fresh and lively. And evenif he did catch the train he would not avoid his boss's anger as the officeassistant would have been there to see the five o'clock train go, hewould have put in his report about Gregor's not being there a long timeago. The office assistant was the boss's man, spineless, and with nounderstanding. What about if he reported sick? But that would beextremely strained and suspicious as in fifteen years of service Gregorhad never once yet been ill. His boss would certainly come round withthe doctor from the medical insurance company, accuse his parents ofhaving a lazy son, and accept the doctor's recommendation not to makeany claim as the doctor believed that no-one was ever ill but that manywere workshy. And what's more, would he have been entirely wrong inthis case? Gregor did in fact, apart from excessive sleepiness aftersleeping for so long, feel completely well and even felt much hungrierthan usual.He was still hurriedly thinking all this through, unable to decide to getout of the bed, when the clock struck quarter to seven. There was acautious knock at the door near his head. "Gregor", somebody called - itwas his mother - "it's quarter to seven. Didn't you want to gosomewhere?" That gentle voice! Gregor was shocked when he heard hisown voice answering, it could hardly be recognised as the voice he hadhad before. As if from deep inside him, there was a painful anduncontrollable squeaking mixed in with it, the words could be made outat first but then there was a sort of echo which made them unclear,leaving the hearer unsure whether he had heard properly or not. Gregorhad wanted to give a full answer and explain everything, but in thecircumstances contented himself with saying: "Yes, mother, yes, thank-you, I'm getting up now." The change in Gregor's voice probably couldnot be noticed outside through the wooden door, as his mother wassatisfied with this explanation and shuffled away. But this shortconversation made the other members of the family aware that Gregor,against their expectations was still at home, and soon his father cameknocking at one of the side doors, gently, but with his fist. "Gregor,Gregor", he called, "what's wrong?" And after a short while he calledagain with a warning deepness in his voice: "Gregor! Gregor!" At theother side door his sister came plaintively: "Gregor? Aren't you well? Doyou need anything?" Gregor answered to both sides: "I'm ready, now",making an effort to remove all the strangeness from his voice byenunciating very carefully and putting long pauses between each,individual word. His father went back to his breakfast, but his sisterwhispered: "Gregor, open the door, I beg of you." Gregor, however, hadno thought of opening the door, and instead congratulated himself forhis cautious habit, acquired from his travelling, of locking all doors atnight even when he was at home.The first thing he wanted to do was to get up in peace without beingdisturbed, to get dressed, and most of all to have his breakfast. Onlythen would he consider what to do next, as he was well aware that hewould not bring his thoughts to any sensible conclusions by lying inbed. He remembered that he had often felt a slight pain in bed, perhapscaused by lying awkwardly, but that had always turned out to be pureimagination and he wondered how his imaginings would slowly resolvethemselves today. He did not have the slightest doubt that the changein his voice was nothing more than the first sign of a serious cold,which was an occupational hazard for travelling salesmen.It was a simple matter to throw off the covers; he only had to blowhimself up a little and they fell off by themselves. But it became difficultafter that, especially as he was so exceptionally broad. He would haveused his arms and his hands to push himself up; but instead of themhe only had all those little legs continuously moving in differentdirections, and which he was moreover unable to control. If he wantedto bend one of them, then that was the first one that would stretch itselfout; and if he finally managed to do what he wanted with that leg, allthe others seemed to be set free and would move about painfully. "Thisis something that can't be done in bed", Gregor said to himself, "so don'tkeep trying to do it".The first thing he wanted to do was get the lower part of his body out ofthe bed, but he had never seen this lower part, and could not imaginewhat it looked like; it turned out to be too hard to move; it went soslowly; and finally, almost in a frenzy, when he carelessly shovedhimself forwards with all the force he could gather, he chose the wrongdirection, hit hard against the lower bedpost, and learned from theburning pain he felt that the lower part of his body might well, atpresent, be the most sensitive.So then he tried to get the top part of his body out of the bed first,carefully turning his head to the side. This he managed quite easily,and despite its breadth and its weight, the bulk of his body eventuallyfollowed slowly in the direction of the head. But when he had at last gothis head out of the bed and into the fresh air it occurred to him that ifhe let himself fall it would be a miracle if his head were not injured, sohe became afraid to carry on pushing himself forward the same way.And he could not knock himself out now at any price; better to stay inbed than lose consciousness.It took just as much effort to get back to where he had been earlier, butwhen he lay there sighing, and was once more watching his legs as theystruggled against each other even harder than before, if that waspossible, he could think of no way of bringing peace and order to thischaos. He told himself once more that it was not possible for him to stayin bed and that the most sensible thing to do would be to get free of it inwhatever way he could at whatever sacrifice. At the same time, though,he did not forget to remind himself that calm consideration was muchbetter than rushing to desperate conclusions. At times like this hewould direct his eyes to the window and look out as clearly as he could,but unfortunately, even the other side of the narrow street wasenveloped in morning fog and the view had little confidence or cheer tooffer him. "Seven o'clock, already", he said to himself when the clockstruck again, "seven o'clock, and there's still a fog like this." And he laythere quietly a while longer, breathing lightly as if he perhaps expectedthe total stillness to bring things back to their real and natural state.But then he said to himself: "Before it strikes quarter past seven I'lldefinitely have to have got properly out of bed. And by then somebodywill have come round from work to ask what's happened to me as well,as they open up at work before seven o'clock." And so he set himself tothe task of swinging the entire length of his body out of the bed all atthe same time. If he succeeded in falling out of bed in this way and kepthis head raised as he did so he could probably avoid injuring it. Hisback seemed to be quite hard, and probably nothing would happen to itfalling onto the carpet. His main concern was for the loud noise he wasbound to make, and which even through all the doors would probablyraise concern if not alarm. But it was something that had to be risked.When Gregor was already sticking half way out of the bed - the newmethod was more of a game than an effort, all he had to do was rockback and forth - it occurred to him how simple everything would be ifsomebody came to help him. Two strong people - he had his father andthe maid in mind - would have been more than enough; they would onlyhave to push their arms under the dome of his back, peel him awayfrom the bed, bend down with the load and then be patient and carefulas he swang over onto the floor, where, hopefully, the little legs wouldfind a use. Should he really call for help though, even apart from thefact that all the doors were locked? Despite all the difficulty he was in,he could not suppress a smile at this thought.After a while he had already moved so far across that it would havebeen hard for him to keep his balance if he rocked too hard. The timewas now ten past seven and he would have to make a final decision verysoon. Then there was a ring at the door of the flat. "That'll be someonefrom work", he said to himself, and froze very still, although his littlelegs only became all the more lively as they danced around. For amoment everything remained quiet. "They're not opening the door",Gregor said to himself, caught in some nonsensical hope. But then ofcourse, the maid's firm steps went to the door as ever and opened it.Gregor only needed to hear the visitor's first words of greeting and heknew who it was - the chief clerk himself. Why did Gregor have to be theonly one condemned to work for a company where they immediatelybecame highly suspicious at the slightest shortcoming? Were allemployees, every one of them, louts, was there not one of them who wasfaithful and devoted who would go so mad with pangs of consciencethat he couldn't get out of bed if he didn't spend at least a couple ofhours in the morning on company business? Was it really not enough tolet one of the trainees make enquiries - assuming enquiries were evennecessary - did the chief clerk have to come himself, and did they haveto show the whole, innocent family that this was so suspicious that onlythe chief clerk could be trusted to have the wisdom to investigate it?And more because these thoughts had made him upset than throughany proper decision, he swang himself with all his force out of the bed.There was a loud thump, but it wasn't really a loud noise. His fall wassoftened a little by the carpet, and Gregor's back was also more elasticthan he had thought, which made the sound muffled and not toonoticeable. He had not held his head carefully enough, though, and hitit as he fell; annoyed and in pain, he turned it and rubbed it against thecarpet."Something's fallen down in there", said the chief clerk in the room onthe left. Gregor tried to imagine whether something of the sort that hadhappened to him today could ever happen to the chief clerk too; youhad to concede that it was possible. But as if in gruff reply to thisquestion, the chief clerk's firm footsteps in his highly polished bootscould now be heard in the adjoining room. From the room on his right,Gregor's sister whispered to him to let him know: "Gregor, the chiefclerk is here." "Yes, I know", said Gregor to himself; but without daringto raise his voice loud enough for his sister to hear him."Gregor", said his father now from the room to his left, "the chief clerkhas come round and wants to know why you didn't leave on the earlytrain. We don't know what to say to him. And anyway, he wants tospeak to you personally. So please open up this door. I'm sure he'll begood enough to forgive the untidiness of your room." Then the chiefclerk called "Good morning, Mr. Samsa". "He isn't well", said his motherto the chief clerk, while his father continued to speak through the door."He isn't well, please believe me. Why else would Gregor have missed atrain! The lad only ever thinks about the business. It nearly makes mecross the way he never goes out in the evenings; he's been in town for aweek now but stayed home every evening. He sits with us in the kitchenand just reads the paper or studies train timetables. His idea ofrelaxation is working with his fretsaw. He's made a little frame, forinstance, it only took him two or three evenings, you'll be amazed hownice it is; it's hanging up in his room; you'll see it as soon as Gregoropens the door. Anyway, I'm glad you're here; we wouldn't have beenable to get Gregor to open the door by ourselves; he's so stubborn; andI'm sure he isn't well, he said this morning that he is, but he isn't." "I'llbe there in a moment", said Gregor slowly and thoughtfully, but withoutmoving so that he would not miss any word of the conversation. "Well Ican't think of any other way of explaining it, Mrs. Samsa", said the chiefclerk, "I hope it's nothing serious. But on the other hand, I must saythat if we people in commerce ever become slightly unwell then,fortunately or unfortunately as you like, we simply have to overcome itbecause of business considerations." "Can the chief clerk come in to seeyou now then?", asked his father impatiently, knocking at the dooragain. "No", said Gregor. In the room on his right there followed apainful silence; in the room on his left his sister began to cry.So why did his sister not go and join the others? She had probably onlyjust got up and had not even begun to get dressed. And why was shecrying? Was it because he had not got up, and had not let the chiefclerk in, because he was in danger of losing his job and if thathappened his boss would once more pursue their parents with the samedemands as before? There was no need to worry about things like thatyet. Gregor was still there and had not the slightest intention ofabandoning his family. For the time being he just lay there on thecarpet, and no-one who knew the condition he was in would seriouslyhave expected him to let the chief clerk in. It was only a minordiscourtesy, and a suitable excuse could easily be found for it later on,it was not something for which Gregor could be sacked on the spot. Andit seemed to Gregor much more sensible to leave him now in peaceinstead of disturbing him with talking at him and crying. But the othersdidn't know what was happening, they were worried, that would excusetheir behaviour.The chief clerk now raised his voice, "Mr. Samsa", he called to him,"what is wrong? You barricade yourself in your room, give us no morethan yes or no for an answer, you are causing serious and unnecessaryconcern to your parents and you fail - and I mention this just by theway - you fail to carry out your business duties in a way that is quiteunheard of. I'm speaking here on behalf of your parents and of youremployer, and really must request a clear and immediate explanation.