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PARTISAN REVIEW
father, since her mother was coughing too much to hear a word. ' It will
be the death of both of you, I can see that coming. When one has
to
work as hard as we do, all of us, one can't stand this continual torment
at home on top of it. At leas t I can't stand it any longer.' And she burst
into such a passion of sobbing that her tears dropped on her mother's
face, where she wiped them off mechanically. " Both the father and
sister agree that Gregor cannot understand them and hence no agree–
ment with him is possible.
"'He must go,' cried Gregor's sister, 'that 's the only solution,
Father. You must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor. The
fact that we've believed it for so long is the root of all our trouble. But
how can it be Gregor?
If
this were Gregor, he would have rea lized long
ago that human beings can 't live with such a creature, and he'd have
gone away on his own accord. Then we wouldn't have any brother, but
we'd be able to go on li ving and keep his memory in honor. As it is, this
creature persecutes us , drives away our lodgers, obviously wants the
whole apartment to himself and would have us a ll sleep in the gutter.'''
That he has disappea red as a human brother and should now
disappear as a bee tle deals Gregor the last blow. Painfull y, because he
is so weak and maimed , he crawls back to his own room . At the
doorway he turns and his last g lance falls on his mother, who was, in
fact, a lmost as leep . "Hard ly was he we ll inside his room when the door
was hastil y pushed shut, bolted and locked. The sudden noise in his
rear startled him so much that his little legs gave benea th him. It was
his sister who had shown such haste. She had been standing ready
waiting and had made a light spring forward . Gregor had not even
heard her coming, and she cried 'At last!' to her parents as she turned
the key in the lock." In his darkened room Grego r discovers that he
cannot move and though he is in pain it seems to be passing away.
"The rotting apple in his back and the inflamed area around it, all
covered with soft dust, already hardl y troubled him . He tho ught of his
famil y with tenderness and love. The decision that he must disappear
was one that he held to even more strongly tha n his sister, if that were
possib le. In this state of vacant and peaceful meditation he remained
until the tower clock struck three in the morning. The first broade ning
of light in the world outside the window entered his consciousness
once more. Then his head sa nk to the floor of its own accord and from
his nostrils came the last faint flicker of his brea th. "
Scene VIII:
Gregor's dead , dry body is discovered the next morn–
ing by the charwoman and a great warm sense of relief permeates the
insec t world of his desp icable famil y. Here is a point to be observed
