The Metamorphosis

by Franz Kafka

At the same time, however, he did not forget to keep reminding himself periodically of the fact that calm—indeed the calmest—reflection might be much better than confused decisions.

Earlier, when the door had been barred, they had all wanted to come in to him; now, when he had opened one door and when the others had obviously been opened during the day, no one came any more, and now the keys were stuck in the locks on the outside.

It was, on the contrary, a requirement of family duty to suppress one’s aversion and to endure—nothing else, just endure.

In this overworked and exhausted family who had time any longer to worry about Gregor more than was absolutely necessary?

The main thing holding the family back from a change in living quarters was far more their complete hopelessness and the idea that they had been struck by a misfortune like no one else in their entire circle of relatives and acquaintances.