Sobbing on the Highway

Ever heard of "Metamorphosis" by Kafka? The other night I was listening to Book Radio on Sirius and they were playing an adaptation of it. The man doing the voice of the main character, Gregor Samsa, put so much into his performance that he made me feel so deeply for the man, and by the end I was full-on crying. Did I mention I was driving? And it was NIGHT?? On the interstate???? Those responsible for my despair and recklessness are "Night Kitchen Radio", who are now part of Yorinks Theater Group (found here).

Gregor Samsa awakes one morning as an insect. His family can't understand him, but try to protect him, at first. His sister seems to care the most about him, bringing him food and talking to him, but eventually just brings food, and then sometimes seems to forget. The family eventually has to all go get jobs, because Gregor was actually taking care of all of them. A word on that: their son/brother becomes a giant insect and all they can do is whine about their finances. And they actually seem to be mad at Gregor, like HE PURPOSELY BECAME A FUCKING INSECT!!!!! HEY I'M GREGOR I THINK I WANT TO BE TRAPPED IN MY ROOM AND FEARED BY MY FAMILY, JUST FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES!!!!

So they get jobs, start renting out some rooms, and largely try to forget him. His room is a sty, and he's not in good health. (During an earlier misunderstanding his father threw apples at him and one is stuck in his back. Not only is it an injury that is never treated, but also the apples rots and creates more infection.) One night he hears his sister playing violin, and she's talented, and it's beautiful, and he creeps forward a little from his room to listen. And then he actually crawls into the room behind her, and he's thinking about how he wanted to send her to school, to study violin, but the insect thing happened before he had a chance. When he's spotted, a raucous occurs, and his sister ends up screaming to his parents that they have to get rid of it, the "it" in question being her brother. She says that their lives are ruined enough, and the thing is not her brother because her brother would have left them ages ago to spare them this difficulty. Gregor hears this, and agrees, and he goes into his room and he dies. The story continues a tiny bit further, but I do not care to write about how his parents and sister cope with his death. I'm still angry with them. I first heard this story a week ago, and I still get a little choked up when I think about it. The guy doing Gregor's part just reads it as so.....pitiful. I don't know why this struck such a chord with me. It just.....makes me want to help him.