The Metamorphosis

 A  novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world.

 "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes." 

 With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. 

It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing -- though absurdly comic -- meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction.
As W.H. Auden wrote, "Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man."

 I just read the novel on a recent vacation and my interpretation was the story is a metaphor for the way relationship dynamics change when a loved one is dying. Gregor's transformation into a bug is essentially analogous to receiving the news that one's life as they once knew it is now ever. As he transitions from capable provider to invalid imposition, we see the family proceed through the various stages of grief, finally getting on with their lives when they are no longer burdened with Gregor's death throes. In the novel, I believe Kafka, was commenting on the way in which society stigmatizes the terminally ill (i.e. hiding them away behind closed doors with only the immediate family exposed to their plight). Once Gregor finally accepts his impending death (i.e. transformation), he is freed as is the family.

 This story reminds me about people getting mental disordered and the family don't have a clue what's happening. Have you ever thought about how it would be if one of your family members would become mentally ill and act like another person one day?