is job and if that happened his boss would once more pursue their parents with the same demands as before?

every evening. He sits with us in the kitchen and just reads the paper or studies train timetables. His idea of relaxation is working with his fretsaw. He’s made a little frame, for instance, it only took him two or three evenings, you'll be amazed how nice it is; it’s hanging up in his room; you'll see it as soon as Gregor opens the door. Anyway, I’m glad you’re here; we wouldn't have been able to get Gregor to open the door by ourselves; he’s so stubborn; and I’m sure he isn’t well, he said this morning that he is, but he isn't.” “I'll be there in a moment’, said Gregor slowly and thoughtfully,

“He isn’t well, please believe me. Why else would Gregor have missed a train! The lad only ever thinks about the business.

firm footsteps in his highly polished boots could now be heard in the adjoining room.

danced around.

he could not suppress a smile at this thought.

maid

His main concern

And by then somebody will have come round from work to ask what's happened to me as well, as they open up at work before seven o'clock.

sensible thing

peace and order to this chaos.

And he could not knock himself out now at any price; better to stay in bed than lose consciousness.

burning pain

This is something that can’t be done in bed”, Gregor said to himself, “so don’t keep trying to do it”.

voice was nothing more than the first sign of a serious cold, which was an occupational hazard for travelling salesmen.

cautious habit, acquired from his travelling, of locking all doors at night even when he was at home.

regor, Gregor’, he called, “what’s wrong?” And after a short while he called again with a warning deepness in his voice: “Gregor! Gregor!”

Yes, mother, yes, thank-you, I’m getting up now.”

Didn’t you want to go somewhere?” That gentle voice! Gregor was shocked when he heard his own voice answering, it could hardly be recognised as the voice he had had before.

ccept the doctor’s recommendation not to make any claim as the doctor believed that no-one was ever ill but that many were workshy. And what’s more, would he have been entirely wrong in this case? Gregor did in fact, apart from excessive sleepiness after sleeping for so long, feel completely well and even felt much hungrier than usual.

The office assistant was the boss’s man, spineless, and with no understanding. What about if he reported sick?

samples

alarm clock not rung?

and the hands were quietly moving forwards,

money together to pay off my parents’ debt to him—another five or six years

| ought to just try that with my boss; I’d get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me. If | didn’t have my parents to think about I’d have given in my notice a long time ago,

travelling salesmen live a life of luxury.

Hell!”

time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them.

“Oh, God’,

window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad.

It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.

Samsa was a travelling salesman

peacefully between its four familiar walls.

on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.

horrible vermin.

himself transformed in his bed