The Metamorphosis

Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman who supports his entire family, wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. His family — parents and sister Grete — initially attempts to cope, but as weeks pass they grow resentful, neglectful, and finally hostile. Gregor, who can still think and feel but cannot communicate, gradually loses the will to live. When he overhears his family say he must go, he obliges by dying. The family, relieved, takes a day trip and begins planning their bright future.

The novella opens mid-sentence, mid-transformation: 'As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.' No explanation is given. No cause is sought. Gregor's first thoughts are not about the horror of his condition but about his job ...