Same mistake

In part one of ‘Metamorphosis’ by Franz Kafka, what struck me the most was the moment when Gregor’s family discovers that their loved one has transformed into a giant insect. On one hand, I find that this passage tells the readers a lot about the relationship between Gregor and his family, as well as about the different characters of the family. On the other hand, it seems improbable to me that the family could in fact believe in the metamorphosis, instead of just calling the zoo to ask them if one of their giant insects broke out. 

Assuming that it is flawlessly normal for the family to believe that the enormous insect is Gregor, the response to the phenomena reveals the true relations in this family, as well as the development of the story as it builds up. His mother sprang all at once to her feet, her arms and fingers spread wider, crying: “Help, for God’s sake, help!” His mother is shocked, which is understandable, but it foreshadows that she will be terrified of her own son for the rest of the story. She can’t be in command of her emotions when it comes to Gregor, as we discover in the second and third part of the piece. If she truly believed that the insect they are feeding was her own son, and if she truly cared for her son, then why would she show this much resentment at the sight of her dear loved one?  Throughout the story, it seems to me that the mother collapses quite often, even though she should have gotten used to the fact that her son is an animal (again, assuming that it is normal for the family to believe in the metamorphosis…). His mother is someone who’s unstable and most probably introvert. Possessing no control over her emotional outbursts, it bothers me how she acts around her son. The father’s reaction to the scientifically impossible transformation is even more bizarre. At first, he remains calm but then he violently pushes his son back into his room with a walking stick that the chief clerk left at his house, fleeing from the biggest insect he’d ever seen. During this act of deep disgust, he injures his son, causing a heavy bleeding. These few actions tell a story for their own. I interpreted Gregor’s father to be selfish, violent, irresponsible, lazy and ungrateful. Gregor’s sister Grete seems to be confused. She used to love her brother but now that he’s ‘gone’ and she’s got a brother that is an insect, she gives the impression to be lost.  With her fragile 16 years, she doesn’t know what to do; should she cry, like a girl her age or act normally like a grown up (her parents failing at setting a good example)? If it wasn’t for her, Gregor would have died much earlier.