"The Metamorphosis" Chapter 2

As Franz Kafka knew from his own life and as portrayed in "The Metamorphosis," families possess the power to both improve and injure the psychological well-being of their members. Discuss the ways that the Samsa family benefit and harm each other, citing examples from the text. Then, use the family in the novella, along with examples from real life, to create a set of FIVE important rules for creating and maintaining a healthy family life. Finally, grade (A-F) the Samsa family on how well they follow your rules and provide your reasoning.

Certain members of the family are benefited by other members, but the only people who seem to benefit the family as a whole is the mother and Gregor, until after the transformation when it moved to Grete. The mother would make dinner, along with the servant girl (who I don't consider part of the family). I assume she would perform other tasks involving cleaning the house and making sure the rest of the family could get along at home. Gregor went to work everyday, and, according to the entire fifth paragraph on page 10, it seems nobody else in the family helps provide. Gregor is also trying to pay off his parents' debt, so he's really trying to help the family out.

The only member of the family that really seems to harm everyone else is the father. He helps out in no way at all and is actually a problem to have around. The way he treated Gregor is dehumanizing, he brought about the debt and he just sits around, eating,reading his newspaper and drinking beers, as stated by the sixth paragraph on page 10. And now, when Gregor has become a monster, all he wants to do is kill Gregor, not settle it. 

Rules

1. Conversing

2. Knowing about others

3. Being open to ideas

4. Try to help others

5. Don't intentionally harm a situation

(These rules also apply to a regular group of people, not just a family)

I would give the Samsa family a C on how well they follow my rules. I counted how many of my rules they really follow versus how many they don't and I got 3/5, which seems to be around a C area. Not too good, but they aren't completely dysfunctional.