Metamorphosis
By
Frank Kafka

Have you woken in the morning and instinctively knew it was going to be a bad day? 
So bad a feeling you didn't want to get up?
This is the premise of Metamorphosis.
Excluding the cat!
This is a statue in Prague.
What is it?
It's a gentleman riding on the shoulders of …somebody. It looks like a big empty coat.
It's Kafka. Who's supporting the suit? 
Strange. Bizarre. This is the tone of the story.
Based on this image...
What do you think will happen?
Author Background
Biographical elements in Metamorphosis
Born/Died: 1883 to 1924
From a middle class Jewish family in Prague which was then the capital of Bohemia. Now Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic. Between those times, we also knew it as Czechoslovakia.
Wrote in German–even though he could easily read, write and speak in Czech. He wrote in German because it was more easily assessible to readers.

Yeah, this means things that really happened to Kafka that are seen in the story...
Domineering Father
Traveling Salesman
Close to sisters
All 3 sisters died in concentration camps
As you read,
consider these
questions ...
Kafka takes a lot of time to explain how Gregor moves. How do these explanations help you visualize Gregor?
He doesn’t ever have the Gregor look into the mirror, and so we don’t get a visual from him looking at his reflection. But we get a sense of what he looks like through the way he moves.
Is Gregor shocked at having been transformed? Does he have a moment of disbelief?
Describe the Samsa family. What makes them unusual? There’s mother and father; Gret the sister.
Do you think the Samsa Family recognizes Gregor? Why or why not?
Why do you think Gregor has been transformed? Is there any explanation? Can you infer?