Physical State and Self-identity - Metamorphosis by Kafka

What would you do when you find yourself become a cockroach one day morning?

That's the beginning scene in Kafka's Metamorphosis.

"When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach in his bed."

Gregor, an industrious travel salesman, has been working hard to support a good home life for his parents and also planning to support his younger sister for a luxurious musical school study.

A sudden change in his physical state - his appearance, his habit, his food preference, his activity profile - brings a sudden halt to his life.  He has become valueless to the family and eventually a nuisance.  Like that of a cockroach.

Initially trying to avoid embarrassing his parents and sister, Gregor stays in the room and in the dark most of time.  Later on, he finds himself having got used to the dark environment also.  His food preference also changed to those of rotten food.

With time, the family finally considers Gregor has "changed" and therefore should not exit.  Despite the fact that, through Kafka's writing, we know that Gregor still has in the body of a cockroach, that of a loving son and brother.

The sad reality is that not only we are judged by others by our physical state, but also we judge ourselves by what and how we do among others.