Said to be one of the most important works of the 20th century, this story mirrors the way humans to this day treat others who are different. This is especially true for people with disabilities. Imagine getting into a car accident and spending the rest of your life without the use of your legs, arms, and voice. How would people treat you? This is why it is highly important for us to be unconsciously competent in our relationships with people with disabilities. Even more important is to focus on our abilities (and everyone else's) and to forget that which disables us. Kafka's works certainly focus on the individual, almost all his protagonists represent himself. The word "Samsa" means alone in Czech.
Another parallel to today is with people whom have gone through sex-change operations, homosexuals, cross-dressers, racial differences, socio-economic class, or anyone who is different or participates in devious leisure. The devious leisure concept could be more fitting as at the bottom of the downward pyramid is death and the top of the upward pyramid is self actualization. This is interesting to consider since "Gregor" has been said to be Kafka's inner most self, one he can see and grasp and no one else seems to.
This is a good slice of German Literature. Even though Kafka is from Prague, he wrote in German as part of the "Prague Circle," a group of German, Jewish writers. Like many German works, the protagonist is faced with a depressing struggle. A timeless work which puts one in the eyes of the protagonist.