Chapter 3 Metamorphosis (3)

In a family where everyone was so busy working, who had time to care about Gregor unless absolutely necessary?The family budget is getting tighter and tighter, and the cook has already spent money. A tall, skinny old maid with white hair comes once in the morning and at the busiest time in the evening.Except for sewing, my mother did all the housework.Even the various jewelry that the mother and sister used to wear only for important events and holidays were sold, which Gregor heard when the mother and daughter mentioned the price of jewelry in their ordinary conversation.The biggest problem, however, was the impossibility of moving. The house was too large in its present condition, and it was impossible to move now because there was no way to find out how to move to Gregor.But Gregor saw clearly that it was not just about him, that the difficulty of relocating to Gregor did not prevent the move, because a suitable box could be found for Gregor, with a few holes drilled in it, and the transport could be easily transported. up.The main thing holding families back from changing houses is their utter desperation.They thought that no one in their circle of relatives and acquaintances at home had ever suffered so grave a misfortune as they had.Based on the situation, they also don't want to move.What the world asks of the poor, they have done, to the limit.The father had breakfast with the bank clerks, the mother made sacrifices to make underwear for outsiders, and the younger sister was busy inside the counter following the orders of customers.

But the strength of the family can only go so far, and Gregor only felt the wound on his back open again.When the mother and daughter returned after sending their father to bed, they stopped working and sat together, looking at each other.Now the mother pointed to Gregor's room and said, "Grete, close the door there." Gregor was in the dark again, while the mother and daughter next to each other exchanged tears, or stared at each other with dry tears . Gregor could not sleep day and night, and sometimes he thought that the next time he opened the door he would be responsible for the affairs of the house as before, and his thoughts, after a long time, reappeared.The boss, company representatives, clerks, apprentices, and a number of unresponsive servants, and he thought of two or three friends from other companies, and a live-in girlfriend at a hotel in the province.He also had a fond, fleeting recollection of the cashier at the shoe and hat company, to whom he had seriously proposed marriage, but it was too late—so it was all mixed up with strangers or forgotten people. No, these memories can't help him, and they can't help his family. They are meaningless. He would be really happy if he disappeared.Then he was in no mood to care about his family.He was outraged that his family had poorly provided him.Although he could not imagine his own appetite, he had a plan, how to get into the dining room, and even if he was not hungry, he would go there anyway to find something suitable to eat, without imagining how much help he might be able to do.Before my sister goes to work at the company in the morning and at noon, she always kicks some random food into Gregor's room with her feet, whether Gregor likes it or not--most of the time it is untouched--at night my sister Shake the broom and all the food will be swept out.The cleaning of the room always takes place at night, but it is no longer done quickly.A pile of dust here, a pile of waste there, dirty lines left along the walls.When his sister entered the room, Gregor climbed into a specially painted corner in order to make his sister feel guilty through this position.He may have been lying there for a week, and his sister wouldn't clean it for him. She saw the dirty things just like him, but she was determined to drive him away.The younger sister had a new feeling that cleaning Gregor's room was only her job, and so did the whole family.Once, my mother carried out a general cleaning of this room.It took her several buckets of water to clean it--the dampness in the room affected Gregor's health, he stretched himself, and lay motionless on the sofa in pain--this cleaning hurt the mother herself Punishment, before it was night, the younger sister had already noticed the changes in Gregor's room. She seemed to be seriously hurt, and despite her mother raising her hand to beg her not to do this, she rushed to the living room, trembling with anger and crying.Of course, the father on the sofa was taken aback. He was shocked at first, and then looked helplessly. When they recovered, the father on the right of the mother blamed the mother for not letting the sister clean the room by herself, and the person on the left shouted at the sister. Yelling, my sister is not allowed to clean that room in the future.Father was overwhelmed with excitement.Mother dragged him to the bedroom.The younger sister was sobbing.Gregor inside made the slightest noise out of anger.No one thought of closing the door, allowing him to see the turmoil in the family.

The younger sister was exhausted from work, but she continued to attend to Gregor as before, albeit impatiently.The mother never entered Gregor's room again for her sister, but he was not neglected.Because the old maid, the widow whose strength of strength she had gained in her long life, had taken up the burdensome work.Without any curiosity, she occasionally opened Gregor's door, and when she saw Gregor, she stood still with her hands crossed on her stomach in surprise.Gregor was also taken aback by being seen by strangers, and although no one chased him away, he started running here and there. Since then, she always opened the door a little in the morning or evening to see Gregor. Not delayed.At first she called him over too, and said something she thought was friendly, such as: "Come here, dung beetle!" or: "Look at this old dung beetle!" For such a greeting, Gregor He always refused to answer, but just stayed where he was, as if the door had never been opened.She didn't bother him arbitrarily, but cleaned his room every day!Once early in the morning, it was raining heavily outside, maybe it was a sign of the arrival of spring, the rain hit the glass window, at this time the maid began to call her what she thought was kind.Gregor was furious, and he turned slowly, staggeringly, towards the maid in an aggressive gesture, but the maid was not frightened, and simply lifted up a chair by the door and stood there with her mouth open. There, it seemed that her mouth closed only when the chair in her hand fell on Gregor's back.When Gregor turned the corner again, she said, "Ah! Don't you come here again?" She quietly put the chair back in the corner.

Gregor hardly eats anything now, and only occasionally when he passes by food, he tastes it as if it's fun, keeps it in his mouth for an hour, and then spits most of it out again.At first he thought it was the sadness of the state of his room, which overwhelmed him, but as the room changed, he was soon relieved.They are used to putting in food that other people don't eat.There are many such things.Because the family has rented a room to three people, the first tenants of this room. --Once Gregor saw through the crack of the door that all three were bearded--they were very particular about neatness.Because they rented a room, not only in their room, but also in the whole family, especially in the kitchen, were occupied by them.They cannot stand litter and waste.In addition, they brought with them some belongings of their own, and for these reasons there were many surpluses which were neither wanted nor willing to be thrown away.All these things have been moved to Gregor's room, and the ash box and waste box from the kitchen have also been moved here.The maid always moved all the things that were not in use now to Gregor's room.Gregor was always lucky enough to see the rubbish and the hand of the maid who was in his way, and the maid, perhaps thinking that there would be time or opportunity later, would take these things away, or clean them up altogether.But these things have remained intact since they were first moved in.At first he was compelled to give up crawling in the clearings among these rubbish, without which he could not crawl; then he wandered in these clearings for amusement, and then was too tired and sad to move. up.A break is a few hours.Because the tenants sometimes dined in the drawing room, the door leading to Gregor from the drawing room was often closed.But Gregor didn't care whether the door opened or not.Sometimes, the door was open, and he did not take advantage of the opportunity to observe, but hid in the darkest corners, and his family naturally did not notice it.Once the maid opened the door a little, and when the lodger entered the drawing-room at night and lit the lamp, it remained open.They sat high up at the table where father, mother and sister used to sit.The tenants unfurl their napkins, knives and forks in hand.Immediately through the door came the mother, carrying a bowl of meat, followed by her sister, carrying a bowl of potatoes, sliced ​​and stacked in many layers and high.The dishes were steaming hot, and the tenants bent over to inspect the dishes brought to them, as if to see what they were.The lodger in the middle actually cut a piece with a knife, as if to show the other two that he was an expert.He wanted to make sure if the meat was overcooked, and whether it still needed to be sent to the kitchen for processing. He was satisfied. After his mother and sister looked at each other nervously, they began to breathe a sigh of relief and smiled.The family eats in the kitchen.The father came back. Before he entered the kitchen, he took off his hat, went to the living room, made a graceful bowing gesture to the tenants to pay his respects, and circled around the table, all the tenants stood up.The bearded mouth murmured.When the father left, they all ate in silence.To Gregor's surprise, among the various eating sounds, the most prominent was the chewing sound. They seemed to show Gregor that if you want to eat, you must have teeth, and you can't eat anything with a beautiful toothless jaw. . "I want to eat," thought Gregor sadly, "but not these things, like the lodgers eat. I'm going to die!"

Exactly this evening. -- Gregor has no recollection of hearing the music of the violin throughout the evening -- the music came from the kitchen, the tenants had finished their supper, and the medium-sized tenant took out a newspaper.He gave one to each of the other two lodgers, who were reclining in their chairs reading a newspaper and smoking.When the violin began to play, their attention was concentrated, and they rose and tiptoed to the front door, where they huddled together, and there they listened to the music from the kitchen.The father was shouting: "Will playing the violin interfere with the rest of the gentlemen? Don't play it!" "On the contrary," said the middle-sized man, "may I invite this lady to come to our house and play in the room? Is it more comfortable and pleasant?"

"Ah! All right," cried the father, as if he were the violin player himself.The tenants retreated to their rooms to wait.Soon, the father was holding the music stand, the mother was holding the music, and the younger sister was holding the violin, and they came out together.The younger sister quietly made all preparations for the performance.Parents, who have never rented out a room before, dare not sit on the sofa in order to show politeness.The father was leaning against the door, with his right hand between the two buttons of his uniform, a lodger handed the mother a chair, and the mother put the chair where the lodger had occasionally left it, on the side, in a corner, where she sat down.

The younger sister began to play, and the father and mother watched her hand movements from both sides. Gregor was attracted by the sound of the piano and dared to venture in. His head had already appeared in the living room. Recently, he seldom cared about whether he would be seen by others, and he no longer cared about this.He had paid attention to it before, and was proud of it; in fact, he should hide it all the more now.Because there is dust everywhere in his room, and small movements also attract dirt all over his body.Mucus, hair, and leftovers covered his back and stained his body. He used to be timid on the carpet several times during the day. Now he is covered in dirt and is still cleaning in the living room He is too careless to move around on the floor.

Naturally no one noticed him, the family was completely occupied with the violin, the lodgers, on the contrary, began putting their hands in their trouser pockets and approaching the music stand from behind, so as to get a good view of the music, they noticed that there must be something interfering Sister, they immediately murmured, looking back at the window with their heads down, they noticed the situation, the tenants stopped at the window, and there was a clear scene: as if they were pretending to listen to a beautiful, light music-like violin Solo, but disappointed, they seem to have heard enough, just out of politeness, they are silently enduring, they smoke, the smoke comes out of their nostrils, they blow the smoke up into the air.Showed extreme impatience and seemed to ask to stop playing.But in fact, how well my sister played.She lowered her face to the side, looking at the score sadly and forensically.Gregor crawled forward again, keeping his head close to the floor so as to meet the eyes of the tenants.He thought, if he were a beetle, could the music feel him so?It seemed to him that crawling forward was crawling towards the food he had seen but didn't know.He decides to crawl up to his sister, tug at her skirt, imply that she should go back to his room, because she's not worth playing for them, and there's no one here who appreciates it as much as he does, he won't Let her out of his room again, as long as he lives, he will not let her out of his room again.For the first time his frightening appearance comes into play, as he appears at every door of his room and yells at tenants who are dissatisfied with his violin playing.

The sister was not forced to stay with Gregor voluntarily, she would sit on the sofa next to him and listen to his opinions, and he was willing to offer her his own opinions, as he had unswervingly asked Send his sister to study at the Conservatory of Music.If it hadn't been for this unlucky event, he must have been at Christmas--has Christmas passed?Announces his decision to everyone, regardless of any opposing views.After the announcement, my sister must have burst into tears with excitement.I'm going to get up and kiss her neck, which has neither collar nor sash since she came to work.

"Mr. Samsa," the middle-sized lodger called to his father, and without saying a word, pointed his index finger at Gregor, who was crawling slowly, and the violin fell silent.The middle-sized tenant shook his head and looked at his friends first, and then at Gregor. The father felt that the urgent thing to do now was not to drive Gregor away, but to appease the tenants first.Nevertheless, the tenants were no more eager to discuss Gregor's presence than to discuss the playing of the violin, and the father hurried up to them, trying to force the tenants back into their rooms with his This movement drew the eyes of the tenants to Gregor, which made the tenants a little annoyed.They didn't know in advance that there was a neighbor like Gregor. Were they angry about it, or because their father had a bad attitude?Unable to understand, they asked their father for an explanation, raised their arms, stroked their beards restlessly, and retreated slowly to their room, the sister in a daze from the sudden interruption of the violin, her hands dangling carelessly. Still holding the piano and bow, looking at the score, it seemed that she was still playing. It took her a while to recover, put the instrument on her mother's knees, and followed to the next room.Because of her asthma, the burden on her lungs was too heavy, so she still sat in her original position.The tenants were soon approaching the next room, pushed and pushed by their father.But just before they entered the room, they could see the quilt on the bed in this room. After the sister's skillful operation, it was lifted up, and it was quickly tidied up, and people slipped out. Because of the stubbornness, the father forgot to treat the bed. With due respect to the tenants, he continued to push and push them until he entered the door; the medium-sized tenant kept his father from going any further by throwing a fit of rage and stomping his feet.And he said: "I declare," at which point he raised his hands to look at his father, and at his mother and sister, "in view of this dwelling, the existence of such disgusting conditions in this family,"--he He spat firmly on the floor--"The rental agreement will be terminated from now on. Of course, no matter how many days I live, I will never pay less. However, I still consider whether to ask you some--please Believe—an understandable request." He was silent, looking ahead as if he was waiting for something.In fact, two of his friends also interjected: "We also terminate the agreement from now on." And the middle-sized tenant pulled the door handle and "slammed" the door shut.

Father staggered, groping with his hands to the sofa, and sat down.He stretched out like he was about to take a nap on the couch as usual.But his nodding and wobbling showed that he wasn't asleep at all.All the time Gregor lay quietly in the spot where the tenants found him.Gregor was disappointed that his plan did not come true.He felt very weak again, probably caused by hunger, disappointment and weakness made it impossible for him to act, and he feared that a storm would break out against him below, and he waited, confident.He didn't even care if something happened to his violin playing.Mother's trembling fingers shook the violin out of her lap, and the violin fell with a snap. "Dear Mom and Dad," said the sister, opening with a slap on the table with her hand, "this cannot go on. If you haven't seen it, I have. In front of this monster, I won't say Name my brother. All I say is that we must try to get rid of it. We treat it as a human being and tolerate it. No one will blame us, I trust." "You are absolutely right," said the father.The mother was still not breathing well, and with a panicked look in her eyes, she began to cough suffocatingly at the hand supporting her in front of her. The younger sister hurried to her mother, holding her forehead, and the father seemed to have a certain idea because of what the younger sister said.He sat down and fiddled with his page's hat on the table, which had been placed on the table between two teacups since the lodgers dined. From time to time he looked at the quiet Gregor. The younger sister specifically said to her father, "We'll try and get rid of him." Because my mother was coughing, she didn't hear anything. "He's going to kill you both. I've seen the day, and it's coming. We all work so hard, and we can't bear this endless pain at home. I can't bear it anymore. "As she spoke, she wailed so loudly that her tears flowed onto her mother's face, and she mechanically wiped the tears away from her mother's face with her hands. "Son," the father said sympathetically, with an expression of obvious understanding. "So what do we do now?" The younger sister shrugged her shoulders, indicating that there was nothing she could do.When she was wailing just now, she seemed very confident that she could get rid of Gregor, but now, on the contrary, she seemed helpless. "If only he could understand us," said the father half-questioningly."That's unthinkable," the younger sister raised her hand forcefully in her sobs. "If only he could understand us," the father repeated.He closed his eyes, and although he accepted his sister's words in his heart, he still said, "Then we may make an agreement with him, but this--" "He must go!" cried the sister, "It's the only way .Father, we can only find a way to get rid of him. For a long time we have thought that he is Gregor, and this perception is our misfortune. But how can he be Gregor? If he is Gregor, he will see It is impossible for man to live with such an animal, and he will go away voluntarily. We have no brothers, but we can go on living, and we will miss him with respect. But this monster stalks us, drives out the tenants, It is obvious that he wants to usurp the whole family and send us to spend the night in the street. Father, look!" She suddenly cried out: "He's started again!" At this point she even moved away with a frightening gesture that Gregor could not understand. After leaving her mother and walking away from the sofa, as if she would rather let her sacrifice than sit next to Gregor, she hurried up behind her father, who was agitated by her behavior and stood up too. , raised his arm half way to protect his sister.Gregor had no intention of frightening anyone.He just started crawling back to his room, and the movements were conspicuous.Because he's in pain, the head has to help out when cornering.He raised his head several times and knocked it to the floor again, he stopped and looked around, everyone seemed to understand that he was crawling back to his room, it was a pathetic moment.Everyone looked at him silently and sadly.The mother was lying on the sofa, her eyes almost closed from exhaustion.Father and younger sister sat together, with the younger sister's hand resting on the father's neck. "Now I may be able to turn the corner," thought Gregor, and began to turn back again.This movement made him out of breath, he had to rest here and there, and no one urged him, everything was arranged by himself.He wondered why the distance to his room was so far away. He couldn't figure out why he didn't notice the distance after climbing the same distance just now with such a weak body.He thought only of crawling quickly, and hardly noticed that the family was neither speaking nor shouting, and he could crawl undisturbed.He didn't turn his head until he climbed to the door, and he didn't turn around all the way, because his neck felt stiff.He was still watching to see if there was any change behind him, only his sister stood up.He took one last look at his mother, who had almost fallen asleep. Before he could enter the room, the door was closed, bolted, and locked.The series of movements behind him startled him, causing his calves to tighten inward.The person who closed the door so quickly was the younger sister.At this time she stood up straight, tiptoe to the ground, and jumped forward. Gregor didn't hear her coming at all. When she turned the key in the lock, she shouted to her parents: "Finally in." ." "What now?" Gregor asked himself, looking around.He realized right away that he was now unable to move at all, and he didn't think it was strange to crawl on those tiny legs before, which seemed unnatural to him now.In addition, he also felt very comfortable. He used to have pain all over his body, but now he feels that the pain is getting better and better, and finally disappeared.His back touched a rotten apple, and the apple's mildew spread around.He recalled his family with love and emotion, and with a conviction that he must disappear from it, no less than that of his sister.In this case, he fell into empty and quiet contemplation.The church bell rang the morning bell for the third time, dawn had begun, and he was experiencing the time of dawn outside the window, his head drooped unconsciously, and he was already dying. Early in the morning the maid came, and as usual, she knocked on the doors quickly and vigorously--someone had asked her not to do this before, and when she came, everyone couldn't sleep peacefully--the maid was like As usual, I went to Gregor's room to take a brief look first, and found nothing special.She thought that he deliberately lay there quietly, reminiscing about what happened to him.She believed that Gregor might have some understanding.She took the long broom in her hand and tried to use it to sweep Gregor from the door to the door, tickling him.She moved Gregor a little, but Gregor didn't respond at this time, he didn't resist, and he didn't move his position. Only then did the maid feel it.When she understood the truth, she opened her eyes wide and breathed a sigh of relief, but she didn't stay for long, and immediately slammed on the bedroom door, shouting loudly in the darkness: "Come and see, he's dead, he's lying on the ground, completely dead ." The Samsa and his wife sat upright on the bed. Before they could figure out what the maid reported, they sat upright on the bed and tried to calm themselves down.Then they each hurried out of bed on their own side.Mr. Samsa walked into Gregor's room together in his quilt and his wife in her pajamas.Then the door opened to the living room, where Grete had been sleeping since the house had taken in a tenant.She was dressed as if she hadn't slept at all.Her pale face seemed to bear it out. "Dead?" said Mrs. Samsa, and looked questioningly at the maid, though she had come to check herself, and in fact knew without checking. "That's how I see it," said the maid, and to prove her point, she turned Gregor's body a long way aside with the broom, and Mrs. Samsa made a movement as if to lift it up. Back to the broom, but finally did not get it back. "Now," said Mr. Samsa, "now we thank God!" He crossed himself, and the three women crossed themselves.Gretel, who kept her eyes on Gregor's body, said, "Look how thin he is! He hasn't eaten for a long time, and whatever food he takes in is returned untouched. "As a matter of fact Gregor's body was quite flat and dry.It was only now known that he could no longer stretch his legs or move his eyes. Mrs. Samsa said with a sad smile: "Grete, come in." Grete looked at the body and went into the parents' bedroom.The maid closed the door, opened the window, and left the sashes all open. Although it was early in the morning, there was still a warm breath in the fresh air, and it was the end of March. Three lodgers came out of their rooms, and they looked around in surprise, looking for breakfast. "Where's breakfast?" asked the housemaid, who was of medium height, with a sad face.The maid put her finger to her mouth and quickly and silently indicated to them that there was an accident, that they wanted to enter Gregor's room, and did. They put their hands in the pockets of their frayed waistcoats, and the room was completely bright by now.They stood in the room, around Gregor. At this time, the door of the bedroom opened, and Mr. Samsa was wearing his waiter's suit. On the left was his wife, and on the right was his daughter. There were traces of crying on her face. The daughter's face was sometimes pressed against the father's arm. superior. "Please leave my house immediately!" Mr. Samsa said to the tenant, pointing to the door, while the mother and daughter were still standing on his left and right sides. "What do you mean?" said the middle-sized lodger, somewhat alarmed, and smiling sweetly.The other two lodgers put their hands behind their backs and rubbed them against each other, as if expecting a great controversy which was sure to end in their favour. "As I said, I mean very well," replied Mr. Samsa.And form a line with the mother and daughter standing on the left and right, and walk towards the tenant together.The lodger first stood there quietly, then looked at the floor as if he were going to rearrange the whole thing in his head. "Let's go then," said the lodger, looking at Mr. Samsa as if in sudden humility he demanded a new reconciliation for his decision, and Mr. Samsa's eyes widened. , just nodding frequently.Immediately afterwards the lodger strode toward the front room.His two friends stopped moving their hands, listened for a while, and then followed the middle-sized lodger with a skip.Mr. Samsa was concerned, so he rushed into the front room before the two lodgers, thus cutting them off from the medium-sized lodger.In the front room, the three lodgers took their hats from the coat racks and their canes from their place, bowed silently, and left the house.An inexplicable sense of mistrust, as previously indicated, brought Mr. Samsa into the passage with the two women, and they leaned on the railing to watch the three lodgers descend, though slowly but in succession, the stairs, Watching them disappear around every corner and then reappear, the Samsa family loses interest in them the further down you go.At this time, facing the three tenants, a butcher's clerk, with a thing on his head, walked up the stairs proudly, and was on top of the tenants.Immediately Mr. Samsa and the women were off the railing, and everyone returned home with ease. They decided to rest and walk today, as they deserved today.It's even an absolute need.They sat at the table and wrote three letters, Mr. Samsa to the manager, the wife to the head of the household, and the daughter to the boss, and they all asked for leave.At this moment the maid came and told them that she was going away, for her morning work was over.At first, the three of them just nodded and didn't pay attention to anything.When the maid still didn't leave, everyone looked up angrily. "What's the matter?" asked Mr. Samsa.The maid stood at the door smiling, and if she wanted to ask what happened, it seemed that she had reported the good news to the family, and the matter was settled.A handful of chicken feathers on her hat dangled in all directions.Mr. Samsa hated the little feather on her hat the whole time she was helping, and Mrs. Samsa asked, "What the hell do you mean?" In front of Mrs. Samsa, the maid Generally speaking, it is still very self-respecting. "Well," replied the maid, with a friendly smile on her face, and she could not go on at once.She finally said: "About this, you don't have to think about what to do with the things next door. It's already packed." Grete and her mother bowed down on the letter paper as if they wanted to continue writing.Mr. Samsa noticed.The maid was about to describe the whole process in detail, but Mr. Samsa stretched out his hand and insisted that she stop talking.Because she was not allowed to speak, she became anxious. This is her traditional character. She looked angry and shouted: "Goodbye, everyone!" Turned around and left.Slamming the door shut, she left the house. "Fire her tonight," Mr. Samsa said, but neither his wife nor daughter answered him.Mr. Samsa wanted to fire her because he felt that the maid was disturbing their rare peace again.Mother and daughter got up and went to the window and stayed there holding each other while Mr. Samsa sat on the sofa and turned towards them and watched them both for a while.Then he shouted: "Come here, the past, let it go, you have to take care of me a little bit now." The two women immediately walked up to him to comfort him, and quickly finished writing the letter.Then the three of them left the house, putting aside what they hadn't done for months, and took the tram to the city.Warm sunlight poured into the tram.They leaned back comfortably in their seats and talked.Their prospects, on close scrutiny, aren't bad at all, since all three have jobs.This is not a problem, and it is beneficial, especially for the future; the best way to improve the situation at present is of course to change the house. They want a smaller, cheaper house, and the location of the house is better. .And it was more practical than the present apartment that Gregor was looking for.As they chatted, the Samsas saw their daughter, who had become more lively, almost at the same time remembering that her cheeks had become pale from the torments she had suffered of late, but she had nevertheless become prettier and more beautiful. plump girl.The Samsa couple turned from talking to silence. Their eyes met and they understood each other. They thought it was time to find a good partner for her.For them it was a testament to their new dream.When reaching the destination, the daughter stood up first, showing her young figure.