Gregor Samsa is a sympathetic character for many readers. Yet in some readings, he is guilty of complicity with a dehumanizing work environment, of participating in the survival of patriarchal control over families, and of exerting restrictive control over his father and his mother, and especially, his sister. Another accusation might be that he accepts the sacrifices he makes for his family as a way to avoid risk, to defer having his own life choices and his own personal agency. Write an essay that engages with some of these views of the character Gregor Samsa and make sure to establish a strong thesis/position of your own in the analysis of his behavior in the story. Is his transformation a kind of punishment that he deserved, an injustice, or simply a condition of modern life in Kafka’s time?
