Gregor’s transformation in The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, is a metaphor for the limit of how kind one should be. After slaving away at a job he dislikes for five years just to pay off is his father’s debt, Gregor is turned into an insect, which represents what he has really become to his family: a worker bug, who is there to support and provide for the family, but is not an actual member of the family. To pay off the debt that his father accumulated (147) after his business collapsed (164), Gregor takes up a job as a traveling salesman (146). He describes his job as “exhausting,” “irritating,” and “[worrisome],” and he even says that “once [he’s] saved enough money to pay back [his] parents’ debt, [he]’ll [tell his chief] exactly what [he] think[s] of him.” He also explains that “at the time, [his] sole desire was to do his utmost to help the family” (164). All this makes it clear that Gregor is working as a commercial traveler not because he enjoys it, but because he is acting extremely nicely to his family. It would be alright if the family was sufficiently grateful, but they aren’t. “They had simply got[ten] used to [Gregor taking care of all the expenses]… there was no special uprush of warm feeling” (165). Although at first it seemed that the family was incapable of supporting itself, later Gregor’s sister, father, and mother all found jobs (175). Gregor’s metamorphosis turned him into what he was becoming from the family’s view: a worker bug that took care of all the expenses, but was barely a member of the family.