The Metamorphosis: Section 2 Summary & Analysis

Gregor wakes up at nightfall. He notices that his side and one of his legs still hurt from the morning. He finds milk and bread by the door, and hungrily attempts to eat them, but despite the fact that milk used to be his favorite drink he finds it distasteful.

Gregor notices that his father isn't reading to Grete, though it is a nighttime tradition. Gregor is concerned, but he thinks about how his family has been able to live in peace and quiet since he's been providing for them, and he's happy that he's been able to give them this comfortable lifestyle. His thoughts turn to concerns about whether "all the quiet, the comfort, the contentment were now to end in horror." He calms himself by crawling around his room. He hears his family going quietly to bed, then settles under the couch to rest. He barely sleeps, and plans to "help the family to bear the inconvenience he was bound to cause them in his present condition."

In the morning, Grete checks on Gregor, and is still shocked by his state. She notices the uneaten milk and bread and removes them, bringing instead rotting vegetables and other old food. She leaves, locking the door. Gregor ravenously eats the food, particularly enjoying the moldiest portions. When Grete returns to remove the leftovers, he hides under the couch so as not to disturb her.

Grete covertly feeds Gregor again in the afternoon, when their father, mother, and the servant girl won't notice. Gregor isn't sure why his family didn't ever bring a doctor in. His family members talk freely around him because they don't realize he can understand. He overhears their conversations in the dining room, including the cook's desperate request to quit her job. The family releases the cook, and Grete and her mother must cook instead.

Gregor overhears his father explaining the family's financial position, which is fairly stable because of their thriftiness. Gregor ponders how, at first, the family greatly appreciated all of Gregor's hard work as a commercial traveler, and then how they got used to it. Gregor also recalls how he'd hoped to support Grete's future studies in violin at the Conservatorium. Gregor's father decides that he must go back to work, as old as he is. Gregor's mother seems too old and unhealthy, and Grete is only 17. Gregor feels "shame and grief" thinking about his family having to work.

Gregor often has trouble sleeping, and his eyesight worsens, so he can barely make out anything outside the window. Grete is both attentive to his desires (leaving the chair by the window for him to sit), and abrupt and frantic when she cleans his room. Gregor wishes he could thank her for her work, but also feels upset about her behavior.

A month after Gregor's transformation, Grete enters to find Gregor on the chair instead of under the couch as usual, and gets so scared she leaves and doesn't come back for hours. Gregor knows he is "repulsive" and spends hours setting up a sheet to cover the couch so she won't see any of him.

Gregor's mother and father don't enter with Grete but they are curious about him. After two months, Gregor's mother wants to come in to see him. In the meantime Gregor has been amusing himself walking on the ceiling, and Grete has moved the furniture around so he has easier access. Gregor's mother enters the room to help Grete move a chest, but they are unable to do so. Gregor's mother says that moving all the furniture might suggest to Gregor that they never expect him to get better. With her words, Gregor realizes how close he'd come to forgetting his humanity.

Grete disagrees with Gregor's mother and they work to remove the chest. Gregor feels agitated by all the movement in his room, and sad that they're removing his possessions, including the desk he'd used since he was a child. While Grete and his mother are out of the room, Gregor runs out from under the couch and scuttles onto the print of the lady with the muff to protect it from being removed.

Grete returns, sees Gregor on the wall, and attempts to get their mother from the room without her noticing. However, Gregor's mother looks up, screams, and faints. Grete runs out to look for some smelling salts, and Gregor unsticks himself from the print and runs after her, hoping to help somehow. Grete is terrified to see him, drops some bottles, then runs back to his room, closing the door behind her so he can't enter. In desperation, Gregor climbs all over the ceiling and walls until he dizzily falls onto the table.

Gregor's father returns. Grete calls from Gregor's bedroom that Gregor has escaped, and Gregor's father responds that he expected such a thing all along. Gregor thinks that his father is assuming that Gregor committed some violent act, so Gregor goes to sit outside his bedroom door to demonstrate his good intentions.

Gregor's father, however, is "not in the mood to perceive such fine distinctions," and excitedly yells at Gregor. Gregor notices that his father looks livelier and younger than before he took his new job, and is well-dressed in his bank attendant's uniform. Gregor's father seems to want to stomp on Gregor, and Gregor flees from him, though neither of them seems quite sure if it's really a chase.

As Gregor gets tired of running, Gregor's father begins to throw apples at him. One apple hits Gregor's back and gets embedded, causing Gregor massive pain. Gregor notices, as he passes out, his mother running out of his room, half-undressed because of her fainting fit earlier, and begging Gregor's father not to kill Gregor. Gregor faints.