he was in danger of losing his job and if that happened his boss would once more pursue their paren

on his left his sister began to cry.

his mother to the chief clerk,

now why you didn’t leave on the early

From the room on his right, Gregor’s sister whispered to him to let him know: “Gregor, the chief clerk is here.” “Yes, | know’, said Gregor to himself; but without daring to raise his voice loud enough for his sister to hear him

he turned it and rubbed it against the carpet.

he swang himself with all his force out of the bed. There was a loud thump, but it wasn’t really a

usiness? Was it really not enough to let one of the trainees make enquiries—assuming enquiries were even necessary—did the chief clerk have to come himself, and did they have to show the whole, innocent family that this was so suspicious that only the chief clerk could be trusted to have the wisdom to investigate it?

ave to be the only one condemned to work for a company where they immediately became highly suspicious at the slightest shortcoming?

Despite all the difficulty he was in, he could not suppress a smile at this thought.

maid in mind

occurred to him how simple everything would be if somebody came to help him.

at had to be risked.

he

His back seemed to be quite hard, and probably nothing would happen to it falling onto the carpet.

Before it strikes quarter past seven I'll definitely have to have got properly out of bed. 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.”

back to their real and natural state.

t the same time, though, he did not forget to remind himself that calm consideration was much better than rushing to desperate conclusions.

burning pain he felt that the lower part of his body might well, at present, be the most sensitive

o he became afraid to carry on pushing himself forward the same way.

he could think of no way of bringing peace and order to this chaos.

his he managed quite easily, and despite its breadth and its weight, the bulk of his body eventually followed slowly in the direction of the head.

If he wanted to bend one of them, then that was the first one that would stretch itself out; and if he finally managed to do what he wanted with that leg, all the others seemed to be set free and would move about painfully.

he first thing he wanted to do was get the lower part of his body out of the bed, but he had never seen this lower part, and could not imagine what it looked like;

little legs continuously moving in different directions,

It was a simple matter to throw off the covers; he only had to blow himself up a little and they fell off by themselves.

pure imagination

Only then would he consider what to do next, as he was well aware that he would not bring his thoughts to any sensible conclusions by lying in bed.

Gregor, however, had no thought of opening the door, and instead congratulated himself for his cautious habit, acquired from his travelling, of locking all doors at night even when he was at home.

“Gregor, Gregor’, he called, “what’s wrong?” And after a short while he called again with a warning deepness in his voice: “Gregor! Gregor!” At the other side door his sister came plaintively: “Gregor? Aren’t you well? Do you need anything?”

“Gregor’, somebody called—it was his mother—‘it’s quarter to seven. Didn’t you want to go somewhere?”

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

Yes, but was it possible to quietly sleep through that furniture-rattling noise? True, he had not slept peacefully, but probably all the more deeply because of that. What should he do now?

Had the alarm clock not rung?

other five or six years | suppose—that’s definitely what I'll do. That’s when I'll make the big change.

e’d fall right off his desk!

If | didn’t have my parents to think about I’d have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what | think, tell him everything | would,

back to the guest house during the morning to copy out the contract, these gentlemen are always still sitting there eating their breakfasts.

You’ve got to get enough sleep.

can all go to Hell!”

h, God’, he thought, “what a strenuous career it is that I’ve chosen!

he didn’t know what to make of;

e always rolled back to where he was.

present state couldn't get into that position.

made him feel quite sad.

t 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.

brown belly,

Samsa was a travelling salesman

His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls.

size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.

hardly able to cover it and seemed ready

divided by arches into stiff sections.

ay on his armour-like back,

armour-like back,

he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.

troubled dreams,