The foreign eyes that control our individual minds. People today are deluded about how their society perceives them. The way others perceive us has become equivalent to how we perceive ourselves. This is one of the main themes of Franz Kafka's novel, The Metamorphosis. The protagonist, Gregor, is not bothered by his transformed abnormal physique and tries to continue his day as a street vendor, but is limited due to his cockroach-shaped body. The absurdity of the novel also adds a sense of slapstick humor along the way to the total chaos that… Gregor struggles as a normal human-minded horrible parasite dealing with his family and daily routine. His relationship between him and his family slowly uproots as it continues to become more and more apparent that he is inhumane to his family. The interaction between one's individual perception and how people are perceived by others is the focal point of Kafka's novel and the reality of everyday social life today. The story already begins with an absurd twist when Gregor realizes that he has transformed into a monstrous parasite but does not let himself be distracted by it and immediately continues to concentrate on his work as a traveling salesman. During his state of 'shock', Gregor reflects on the difficulties of being a street vendor and how he fails to create relationships and bonds between peers. At this moment Gregor is not impressed by the changes in his body and tries to get out of bed, but his new convex back prevents him from doing so. With everything that's going on, people would think that he would go into complete insanity, but instead Gregor is just focused on providing for his family. All seems to be calm and still until the revealed...... middle of paper ......repay their debt. Even when Gregor's death became a reality, the two simply discussed their finances, moving to a smaller apartment, and finding a husband for Grete, which would allow Grete to stress to Gregor now that he appears to be their future financial plan. In conclusion, Kafka had generated an exaggerated terrifying truth of man. The Metamorphosis portrays the selfish desires that we humans often have towards our peers, which are originally perceived as an act of kindness. Perhaps, a worker who gets closer to his higher-ranking boss just to increase his chances of promotion, or a son who shows compassion to his mother just to get a desired item or maybe even a student who just has a friendly relationship with a teacher just to increase their dissatisfaction score. Gregor's family certainly proves the point to be true, but again, it's fiction.