We’ve spent some time in class while reading The Metamorphosis discussing what kind of insect Gregor is, and the potential implications thereof. Although Gregor is often described as a cockroach in English translations, the type of insect he is is never mentioned in the original German text, and Russian author and scholar Vladimir Nabokov argued in a lecture on Kafka (link below) that Gregor is not transformed into a cockroach but rather a beetle. Nabokov argues:
A cockroach is an insect that is flat in shape with large legs, and Gregor is anything but flat: he is convex on both sides, belly and back, and his legs are small. He approaches a cockroach in only one respect: his coloration is brown. That is all. Apart from this he has a tremendous convex belly divided into segments and a hard rounded back suggestive of wing cases. In beetles these cases conceal flimsy little wings that can be expanded and then may carry the beetle for miles and miles in a blundering flight.
Gregor is in fact described on the first page as having a “hard shell-like back”, a “curved brown belly, divided by stiff arching ribs”, and “numerous legs, which were pathetically thin compared to the rest of his bulk” (64).
I was intrigued by this hypothesis and looked through the book and on the internet for further evidence to support or counter this argument. It took a while to find any information online on how to differentiate between a beetle and a cockroach based on behavior; I learned that both can and will climb on walls and the ceiling as Gregor did, and that you can keep a decapitated cockroach alive for over a month (tie off the head area with a tourniquet and keep it in a cool, humid area), but nothing particularly useful until I took a look at the life cycle of a beetle.
The life cycle of a beetle, coincidentally called a metamorphosis, is in some ways reflected in Gregor’s short life as an insect. The cycle begins when a female beetle lays “hundreds of tiny, oval white or yellow eggs”. Right after Gregor wakes up, he observes a spot on his stomach “covered with a mass of little white spots that he was unable to interpret” that could be intended to bring to mind eggs and show that this is a new state of being for Gregor (65). The second stage in the life cycle of a beetle is the larvae stage. Again, although Gregor is physically an adult, he exhibits some of the behavior typical of the larvae stage, such as eating copious amounts of food. Early in his transformation Gregor complains of extreme hunger and eats whatever he can of what his sister brings in. Later, his appetite diminishes until he barely touches his food at all. Next in the life cycle of a beetle is the pupal stage. During this stage the beetle creates a cocoon similar to that of the caterpillar and inside it grows into an adult. This could be represented in the novel by the hiding place under the couch with a sheet draped over it that Gregor creates for himself and spends most of his time in. The fourth and final stage of a beetle’s life is the adult stage. It is during this final stage that the beetle reproduces and then dies. Although Gregor does not reproduce as an insect, the reason he finally does burst out from his cocoon under the couch is to try and save the picture of the woman in furs he had framed and hung on the wall.
Kafka was not an entomologist, so these observations may be a bit of a stretch in trying to support an argument for what kind of insect Gregor is. Another interesting twist of Gregor potentially being a beetle is that, as in the Samsa and Seuss radio play, Gregor had wings the entire time without having any idea. This fact emphasizes the qualities in Gregor that made him insect-like in the first place. He was so willing to go with the flow, do exactly what he was told, and make himself as innocuous and helpful as possible that he never noticed the one thing that could have saved his life or at least made his predicament somewhat more enjoyable.
If you’re interested in reading more of Nabokov’s lecture on The Metamorphosis, or more about the life cycle of a beetle and how cockroaches don’t actually need their heads to survive, here are the links I got my information from:
