a sister's struggle.

In Kafka's short story "Metamorphosis" Gregor discovered that…he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug. As his physical needs and abilities shift from human to animal Grete, the sister, takes on a new importance. Grete has developed a queer self-assurance and has grown accustomed to consider herself an expert in Gregor’s affairs. It is she who feeds the beetle; she alone enters the beetle's lair and is the sole caregiver to her brother. The sister has become, frankly antagonistic towards her brother. She may have loved him once, but now she regards him with disgust and anger. Grete as a provider becomes disenchanted with Gregor's care, and begins kicking some food into him daily. However, his sister does not understand that Gregor has retained a human heart, human sensitivity, a human sense of decorum, of shame, of humility and pathetic pride. She disturbs him horribly by the noise and haste with which she opens the window to breathe some fresh air, and she does not bother to conceal her disgust at the awful smell in his den. Neither does she conceal her feelings when she actually sees him. Grete continuously views Gregor as more of a creature, until Gregor comes out of his room to hear his sister play the violin and scares away the three lodgers. Grete says, "I won't utter my brother's name in the presence of this creature" (394). She continues to refer to him as a creature by referring to Gregor as "it" and, finally, questions whether the insect really is Gregor.