Poor 'ol Gregor

In "The Metamorphasis", Franz Kafka creates a viewpoint that is close to a first person view from Gregor. By doing so, Kafka lets the audience sympathize and empathize with Gregor, and presents his alienation in such a light that lets the audience easily relate. By keeping the viewpoint consistently from Gregor, the audience empathizes with the attacks from Gregor's sister,
"...as it is, this creature persecutes us, drives away our lodgers, obviously wants the whole apartment to himself, and would have us all sleep in the gutter." After his sister attacks him, Gregor does not react angrily or bitterly, but instead takes reclusion into his room after expressing his good intent, "...Gregor had not the slightest intention of frightening anyone, far less his sister." Then, the audience is brought the possibility of the family heeding Gregor's pain, "His good intentions seemed to have been recognized; the alarm had only been momentary." However, our hopes are quickly shattered when, "Hardly was he well inside his room when the door was hastily bushed shut, bolted, and locked... It was his sister who had shown such haste." Kafka uses this series of expectations and disappointments to continually empathize the audience more for Gregor, and by doing so drags us further into his crippled condition. By helping us empathize with the condition of a bug in a manner that seems as natural as a human, Kafka allows the reader to reflect on the human condition, and the many ways in which we are alienated in our own existence. It is particularly effective that Kafka uses Gregor's sister Grete as the final word that that leads to Gregor's demise. It is also somewhat ironic that Gregor is the only one truly appreciating Grete's music, but the result is Grete's disgust at Gregor. It is this discrepancy or diversion from the relationship that a fan normally has with an artist that brings into question personal intentionality and the idea of determinism. Despite Gregor's best efforts to help his family, he ultimately is powerless and continually burdensome. As Kafka relates Gregor's experiences in an empathetic manner, the audience ultimately is drawn into sympathizing with alienation of a bug, and by doing so normalizes the extravagant which reinforces the normality of alienation.