![]() This is mentioned only in passing when, as insect, Gregor makes one of his disastrous excursions out of his room: “On the opposite wall, hung a photograph of Gregor from his time in the military, showing him as a second lieutenant whose carefree smile as he rested his hand on his dagger commanded respect for his bearing and uniform.” When we think of Gregor Samsa, we think of someone who is the opposite of a soldier. Even more surprising is what this job was: a soldier. ![]() ![]() This is why I was startled to notice something I had never paid attention to: that Gregor once had a job he actually seems to have liked. ![]() SUSAN BERNOFSKY has chosen “The Death of a Salesman” as the title of the afterword to her excellent new translation of Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis.” In fact, Gregor Samsa does have a certain kinship with Willy Loman: they share Gregor’s pre-transformation job as traveling salesman and his post-transformation decision to commit suicide, which, in Bernofsky’s words, is “the final service performs for the benefit of his family.” Bernofsky notes that Gregor “is a salesman, but what he has sold is himself: his own agency and dignity, making him a sellout through and through.” This is all true and supports the standard and probably correct interpretation that Gregor is an insect before his transformation, a non-person with no important preferences of his own. ![]()
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