Why Is Grete Samsa so Crucial to the Success of the Novella?

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In “The Metamorphosis”, by Franz Kafka, Gregor’s sister, Grete, undergoes the responsibility of taking care of Gregor Samsa after he transforms into a vermin. Gregor considers Grete as the most important member of the family due to the simple fact that she is the only one who cares about him, thus making her the most important secondary character throughout the novella. The importance of Grete throughout the story can be seen as she is Gregor´s source of nourishment, since she undergoes a metamorphosis of her own, due to the fact that the conclusion gives us a symbolic hint of what will happen to her in the near future and how Grete, in a certain way, contributes to Gregor’s death. Another fundamental hint we are given by Franz Kafka about the importance of Grete Samsa to the rest of the characters is that she is the only character in the novella–apart from Gregor–who actually has a real name, and this gives her significant importance. After Gregor’s transformation, the young man refuses to eat, or to even get out of his own room, and if it weren’t for his sister, he probably wouldn’t have been able to survive. This is were Grete gains such importance, it is because she is the only one that makes Gregor get his mind off recent events and become distracted from his tough reality for at least a few moments (this and some other action the family members realized, such as the one I will explain now). What Gregor most enjoyed about Grete is when she played the violin, “[she] played so beautifully. Her face was tilted to one side and she followed the notes with soulful and probing eyes Gregor advanced a little, keeping his eyes lo so that they might possibly meet hers”, and it is here when we see that the only form of “nourishment” –we don’t speak of a physical nourishment, but more of a nourishment of the mind– Gregor had was to listen to her sister’s soothing

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