Gregor and his Nonexistent Cure

A weird aspect of Gregor's transformation is that no one so far in the story tries to heal him and transform him back to being a human. If one of my family members all of a sudden turned into a giant bug, the first thing I would try to do is try to turn them back. I wouldn't even start to get into a rhythm with this new character in our lives, as my first instinct would be to repair it.

Additionally, if I were to turn into a giant bug overnight, I would immediately, instead of getting used to my new form, work on trying to become human again. Gregor does the opposite. When he wakes up and realizes he is a bug (which he also does in a weirdly calm way), Gregor immediately accepts that he was now a bug and that is who he would be for the rest of his life. Gregor obviously doesn't enjoy his new form, as it presents many issues and tears his family apart, so the question remains: why doesn't he try to get back to his human form?

Yes, one could argue that this isn't something that has happened before so there isn't really an instruction manual on what to do when you or your son turns into a bug. Even though there aren't  instructions for how to change back from being a bug, that still wouldn't normally mean that they just give up. If it were me in that position, I would definitely try out many things to see if there would be something I can do to change the situation. I would do research and see if there were instances in history where this had happened to others and I would use the help of others who might know more about the topic, such as entomologists.

This implies that the family has already lost hope about Gregor's situation. They don't think there is a way for him to be cured, so they don't even try to search for it. This raises some questions about Gregor's relationship with his parents because usually, a parent would not accept that their child is gone forever, but they would do everything in their power to get their kid back. Does this mean that Gregor's parents think that Gregor is dispensable and they would rather just accept that he is gone and learn to live with that rather than put so much effort into finding a cure? Or do they just want to spare themselves the disappointment when they get their hopes up for a cure but then are let down?



Comments

  1. Dale RobbennoltOctober 6, 2017 at 11:12 AM

    I agree that it is very strange how everyone accepts Gregor's transformation without more questions and more resistance. Gregor himself doesn't seem to care about being transformed except in how it effects his ability to provide for his family. I have also continued to wonder why the family doesn't try harder to communicate with him. They seem to accept that the insect is indeed Gregor, but don't try to do anything about it or even to determine whether he can understand them.

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  2. Gloria SunderlandOctober 8, 2017 at 1:35 PM

    I think the points you brought up are very interesting. The parents understand and just assume that Gregor is the giant insect, and then they just decide to roll with it! I don't know if the parents think he is dispensable or if they just don't have enough faith in Gregor to believe he could become human again. Gregor was the only one working, but at this point he worked long enough for the family to have savings they can live off of. That means that now they don't need Gregor to work, so maybe he would be more of a nuisance as a human than as a giant insect, and that's why they don't put any effort into making him human again.

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  3. UnknownOctober 10, 2017 at 11:17 AM

    I do not think that it is weird that Gregor's parents have given up on him. If you saw a person that got turned into an insect I think many people would do the same thing. As far as his parents know Gregor can not communicate with them and has no similarities to the real Gregor. Overtime they start forgetting that the insect is their son and have come to terms with him being a useless insect. Because of Gregor's loss of humaness I think it is natural to give up on him. Great post!

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  4. AlbertOctober 11, 2017 at 11:22 AM

    I don't find it surprising that Gregor's family members didn't do anything initially to revert Gregor back to his original state. If I were in that situation, I would be too startled to do anything. However, what is more troubling is that after a good amount of time, family members still refuse to help Gregor revert back to normal. I think the reason for this is that because they are uncertain of how human Gregor is. Perhaps they think that Gregor had lost all nature of humanity and turned into a "savage" insect that can cause harm and simply hasn't yet. Just an interesting thought

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  5. SophiaOctober 13, 2017 at 6:36 AM

    Interesting post! I think part of the reason no one questions Gregor's transformation or tries to turn him back into a human is the "dream logic" we've talked about a bit in class (at least in 2nd hour) where as in a dream people don't stop to question what's happening on but just accept it and keep going. Also, as others have mentioned, Gregor's family doesn't think he can understand them and isn't even sure if there are any traces of Gregor's humanity left.

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  6. Max E.October 13, 2017 at 3:23 PM

    This is an interesting point, especially considering that the mother does mention that it could possible for Gregor to turn human again. She claims that perhaps she and Grete should not remove the furniture from Gregor's room so that his insect days will be easier to forget when this is all over. However, you're right that no effort was actually made to help him, only to deal with him. Perhaps it was assumed that if he can randomly turn into an insect, then he can randomly turn back into a human, or maybe this is just another example of the strange logic all the characters have, where people just know things.

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  7. Abraham HanOctober 13, 2017 at 9:35 PM

    Great post! Raises good points.
    I'm personally of the opinion that Gregor's parents are evil socio/psychopaths, so maybe that skews my views. Anyways, therefore I think that the parents/family don't even try to help in any way, is because no matter if he would be trying to get better or not, he's failed his purpose: to provide the family with money to pay off the debt. Personally, I think that that is what Gregor is to the family, and that is the reason why the father gets so angry that Gregor has turned into a bug.

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  8. NishantOctober 14, 2017 at 5:23 PM

    I agree with you that even if a child gives up or does not try hard enough, parents don’t just give up.
    Is it possible that Gregor himself is resisting finding a cure? From what we read, he seems tired of working long hours at the job where he is routinely denigrated, accused of stealing etc. and providing for a family that has taken him for granted and become lazy and unproductive. Perhaps the feeling of being trapped in a life with no choice until the family debt is paid became too much for Gregor to deal with.

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  9. Aidan GarrettOctober 14, 2017 at 8:22 PM

    I agree that it is very weird that nobody in the book looked for or even thought about finding a cure for Gregor, not even himself. However, they all seemed to hold on to the idea that there was a chance he could get better even if they didn't do anything about it. I think this is just part of the dream logic that this book is full of and makes everything seem a little off.

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