Kafka chooses the word Verwandlung rather than the usual German term for the biological process, Metamorphose.]

chutzpah : a young boy murders his parents, and then throws himself on the mercy of the court on the grounds that he is an orphan.

workshy

His only distraction is to get on with his fretwork.

Tactfully – for she knew he would not eat in front of her – she left quickly and even locked the door, just for him to know that he could make himself as comfortable as he wished.

But even for the short time his sister was in the room it cost him a great effort to stay under the sofa, because he had eaten so much that his body had become rather swollen, and he could hardly breathe in the confined space there. Between brief bouts of suffocation he watched with

directly, he learnt some things from the neighbouring rooms, and whenever he heard voices he would run straight over to that door and press his whole body up against it. For

Now Gregor was eating scarcely anything. Only if he happened to come upon the food that had been made for him he would try a mouthful just for something to do, keep it there for hours and then usually spit it out again.

first he was forced to do this because he had no space to crawl around, but later he did it with increasing pleasure, although after these exertions he felt tired to death and depressed, and would lie motionless for hours.

‘With pleasure,’ said the father’s voice, as if he were the musician.

surely Christmas was past by now? –