The Metamorphosis: Section 1 Summary & Analysis

Gregor wakes up and finds that he's turned into a huge cockroach (or other vermin—the text doesn't specify exactly, though the descriptions match a cockroach's). The famous opening line: "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."

Gregor examines his body, immediately understanding that he isn't dreaming. He looks around his room, containing the cloth samples for his job as a traveling salesman, and a framed print of a lady wearing a muff. He looks out the window at the gray day and feels sad. He wants to go back to sleep, but his awkward new body prevents him from getting into a comfortable position. He tries a hundred times to roll onto his side and each time can't maintain the position.

Gregor frets about his exhausting job. He notices that his belly itches, but when he touches the area with a leg he feels "a cold shiver." He ruminates on the importance of sleep, and thinks about how he'd like to criticize his boss to his face, except for the fact that he has to keep working to support his parents. In a few years he will have paid off his parents' debt. Gregor notices that he slept through his alarm and now he's missed his five a.m. train. He worries about missing work, and doesn't think he can take a sick day, since he hasn't taken one in five years.

Gregor's mother knocks to wake him, and Gregor thanks her in a strangely squeaky voice. Gregor's father begins to knock to ask what's wrong, and then his sister Grete asks him if he needs anything and tells him to open the door. Gregor is glad that he locked the door the previous night.

Gregor expects that once he gets up he'll feel better. However, he finds it hard to control his new body, and injures himself attempting to get out of bed. He pauses and rationally decides that he simply can't stay in bed, then makes a new effort to get up.

Gregor's boss, the Chief Clerk, arrives at the door, just as Gregor falls to the carpet. Gregor hates that his absence has been noted so quickly, and feels that he should be given a break, especially in front of his family. Grete and Gregor's father tell Gregor that the clerk has arrived. Gregor hears his mother defending him to the clerk, saying that Gregor is always dutiful and singularly focused on work.

Gregor refuses to open his door for the Chief Clerk, and Grete begins to cry. The clerk calls Gregor "incredibly obstinate" and explains that Gregor's job may be in jeopardy. Gregor gives a long, polite speech, attempting to defend himself, then tries unsuccessfully to open the door.

The Chief Clerk doesn't understand Gregor's speech, and exclaims that a human couldn't have made such noises. Gregor's mother begins to cry, along with Grete, and calls for a doctor. In all the hubbub, Gregor is calm and optimistic that his family now realizes something is wrong and will take steps to help him. He awkwardly attempts to unlock the door with his mouth, drooling a brown liquid as he does so.

Gregor finally gets the door open, shocking the Chief Clerk, his father and mother. His father weeps. Gregor stays halfway in his room, noticing the rainy weather, the breakfast plates laid out, and a photo of himself when he was in the army.

In a long speech, Gregor states his loyalty to his company and asks the Chief Clerk, "Stand up for me in the firm." The horrified clerk backs out of the room. Gregor knows he can't let the clerk leave the house in such a state, so he approaches the clerk, finally dropping from an upright position onto his many legs, which he finds much more comfortable. Gregor underestimates the alarm he's causing his mother and the clerk, only noticing that his mother has spilled the coffee and that the clerk has fled the house.

Gregor's father tries to force Gregor back into his bedroom with a cane and newspaper. Gregor has trouble backing up, especially since his father keeps irritating him by saying "shoo." Gregor can't fit through the doorway, but understands that his father wants him in as quickly as possible. He painfully wedges himself into the doorway, staining it, and his father pushes him the rest of the way in and slams the door.