VLADIMIR NABOKOV
359
by a certain hush when she enters the mysterious chamber. "Gregor's
sister, of course, went in first, to see tha t everything was in order before
letting his mother enter. In great haste Gregor pulled the sheet lower
and rucked it more in folds so tha t it really looked as if it had been
thrown accidentally over the couch. And this time he did not peer out
from under it; he renounced the pleasure of seeing his mother on this
occasion and was only glad that she had come at all. 'Come in, he 's out
of sight,' said his sister, obviously leading her mother in by the hand ."
The women struggle
to
move the heavy furniture until his mother
voices a certain human thought, naive but kind, feeble but not devoid
of feeling, when she says: "doesn't it look as if we were showing him,
by taking away his furniture , that we have given up hope of his ever
getting better and are just leaving him coldly
to
himself? I think it
would be best to keep his room exac tly as it has always been, so that
when he comes back
to
us he will find everything unchanged and be
able all the more easily to forget what has happened in between."
Gregor is torn between two emotions. His beetlehood suggests tha tan
empty room with bare walls would be more convenient for crawling
about-all he needed would be some chink to hide in, his indispen–
sable couch-but otherwise he would not need all those human
conveniences and adornments. But his mother's voice reminds him of
his human background. Unfortunately, his sister has developed a queer
self-assurance and has grown accustomed
to
consider herse lf an expert
in Gregor's affairs as against her parents. "Another factor might have
been also the enthusiastic temperament of an adolescent girl, which
seeks to indulge itself on every opportunity and which now tempted
Grete to exaggerate the horror of her brother's circumstances in order
that she might do all the more for him." This is a curious note: the
domineering sister, the strong sister of the fairy tales, the handsome
busybody lording it over the fool of the family , the proud sisters of
Cinderella, the cruel emblem of health, youth, and blossoming beauty
in the house of disaster and dust. So they decide to move the things out
after all but have a real struggle with the chest of drawers. Gregor is in
an awful state of panic. He kept his fretsaw in that chest, with which he
used to make things when he was free at home, his sole hobby .
Scene VIII:
Gregor tries
to
save at least the picture in the frame he
had made with his cherished fretsaw . Kafka varies his effects in that
every time the beetle is seen by his family he is shown in a new
position, some new spot. Here Gregor rushes from his hiding place,
unseen by the two women now struggling with his writing desk, and
climbs the wall to press himself over the picture, his hot, dry belly
