Find the perfect quote to float your boat. Shmoop breaks down key quotations from The Metamorphosis.
Man and the Natural World Quotes
He was lying on his back as hard as armor plate, and when he lifted his head a little, he saw his vaulted brown belly, sectioned by arch-shaped ribs, to whose dome the cover, about to slide off com...
Life, Consciousness, and Existence Quotes
When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams [...] "What's happened to me?" he thought. It was no dream (1.1-2)
Morality and Ethics Quotes
[The picture] showed a lady done up in a fur hat and a fur boa, sitting upright and raising up against the viewer a heavy fur muff in which her whole forearm had disappeared. (1.2)
Transformation Quotes
When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. (1.1)
Identity Quotes
On the wall directly opposite hung a photograph of Gregor from his army days in a lieutenant's uniform, his hand on his sword, a carefree smile on his lips, demanding respect for his bearing and ra...
Isolation Quotes
His room, a regular human room, only a little on the small side, lay quiet between the four familiar walls. (1.2)
Family Quotes
With a hostile expression his father clenched his fist, as if to drive Gregor back into his room […] (1.25)
Society and Class Quotes
Over the table, on which an unpacked line of fabric samples was all spread out – Samsa was a traveling salesman (1.2)