![]() ![]() His mother, believing him ill, sends Grete, Gregor's sister, for the doctor and Anna, the servant girl, for the locksmith. No one outside understands a word of what Gregor has said due to the change in his voice. The clerk's speech hits a sore spot, and Gregor begins to defend himself, telling the chief clerk that he is simply suffering from a slight indisposition but that he will soon be at work and that his business has, in fact, not been so bad lately. He also tells Gregor that he is acting disgracefully and that his position in the company is in jeopardy because his work lately had been unsatisfactory. There has been some suspicion that Gregor was absent from work because he was recently entrusted with some cash payments, and the clerk is now uncertain as to whether this really is the reason for Gregor's behavior. ![]() The chief clerk suddenly loses his temper and tells Gregor that he is shocked by his behavior. Gregor cannot understand why his sister is already crying, since he is not yet in serious danger of losing his job and only wants to be left alone. Gregor refuses the latest request to open the door, and his sister begins to sob in the next room. Gregor's father asks Gregor to open the door, while his mother is explaining to the chief clerk that Gregor must certainly be ill or he would never be late since he only thinks of his work and never goes out. In anger, Gregor swings himself out of bed, landing on the floor. Gregor is angered by the fact that, though he is only a little late, already the chief clerk has come to cast suspicion on him in front of the entire family. At this moment the doorbell rings, and the chief clerk comes into the apartment. He thinks that the help of two strong people would make this much easier, but ridicules the idea of calling for help to get him out of bed. Gregor then attempts to rock himself out of bed, hoping to land on his hard back. It is already past 7 a.m., and Gregor attempts to lie back and calm down, hoping this will resolve the situation. He then attempts to move the upper part of his body, which turns out to be easier, but then realizes that falling out of bed like that would injure his head. Unable to control his numerous legs, Gregor instead attempts to move the bottom part of his body out of bed, but this part of his body turns out to be the most difficult to move and is also the most sensitive to pain. As Gregor's sister attempts to come into his room, he is glad for his habit of locking all his doors. Realizing that he is still home, his father and sister also begin calling him through the doors, so Gregor tells them that he is getting up, trying to control the change in his voice, which he believes to indicate the start of a cold. At this point Gregor's mother begins to call to him, and as he answers her he senses that his voice is changing. In any case, Gregor feels well, if a little drowsy, and saw no reason why he couldn't go to work. He would certainly be late for work, which would create a scandal, but it would seem suspicious if he called in sick since he had never been sick in the five years he'd worked there. train, Gregor realizes that it is past 6:30 and he must have missed the alarm. His chief is overly tyrannical and Gregor would gladly have quit the job a long time ago if he didn't have to support his parents, who owe his chief a substantial debt. He goes back to thinking about his job and how much he hates getting up early. Then, finding an itch on his stomach, Gregor attempts to scratch it but dislikes the sensation. ![]() He hates the traveling, the worrying, and the fact that none of the acquaintances he makes are ever anything more than that. Gregor then begins thinking about his job as a traveling salesman. Wanting to go back to sleep, Gregor realizes that he cannot turn over on his side, which is the only position he can sleep in. His attention is quickly distracted as he observes his room, noting its small size and seeing on the wall a picture of a woman he had clipped out of a magazine and framed. After examining his new physiology, complete with numerous thin legs, a hard back, and a segmented belly, he wonders only momentarily what has happened to him. Gregor Samsa wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant insect. ![]()
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