Acceptance In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

When initially diagnosed with an illness one goes through the 5 stages of acceptance; denial, anger, fear, grief and acceptance. In Kafka’s novel The Metamorphosis Kafka sequentially illustrates theses five stages of acceptance through the main character of his story, Gregor. Without delay in chapter one Kafka exemplifies the first stage of acceptance; denial. Gregor overlooks the fact that he had turned into a bug, by figuring out how he will make the next train to arrive on time to work (5). The voice coming through his walls from his sister urging him to get out of bed considering he had overslept, Gregor simply replied he'd just woken up (5). Dismissing his own situation Gregor’s thoughts go back to getting dressed, having breakfast, carrying on his life the way he had before his metamorphosis (6). Gregor’s denial soon slowly developed into anger in chapter two. Anger is the second stage of acceptance, Gregor displayed his anger in chapter two by clinging onto
Gregor’s room became the dumping grounds of “things” his family no longer used, including him. Spending a majority of the days and nights without sleep tangled in his thoughts (40). Gregor also began to lose his appetite (40). Finally the last stage of accepting an illness is acceptance. Gregor began to embrace his life as a bug. In one last effort to be “part of the family” again, Gregor failed. His family began to resent him more as a burden than the man they use to know. Gregor’s sister vocalized her hatred towards Gregor stating “we need to get rid of it” (51). Gregor finally accepted his unchanging fate, crawled back to his room and dies, for the sake of his family (51). Throughout this novel Kafka used Gregor to illustrate the five stages of acceptance. Starting sequentially with Gregor’s denial that came with turning into a bug. Next came anger about who he became, then fear about his fait. Followed by grief and accepting the