Page 42 - the-metamorphosis

however, they had to hold her back forcefully, and when
she then cried ‘Let me go to Gregor. He’s my unlucky son!
Don’t you understand that I have to go to him?’ Gregor then
thought that perhaps it would be a good thing if his mother
came in, not every day, of course, but maybe once a week.
She understood everything much better than his sister, who
in spite of all her courage was still a child and, in the last
analysis, had perhaps undertaken such a difficult task only
out of childish recklessness.
Gregor’s wish to see his mother was soon realized. While
during the day Gregor, out of consideration for his parents,
did not want to show himself by the window, he couldn’t
crawl around very much on the few square metres of the
floor. He found it difficult to bear lying quietly during the
night, and soon eating no longer gave him the slightest
pleasure. So for diversion he acquired the habit of crawl-
ing back and forth across the walls and ceiling. He was
especially fond of hanging from the ceiling. The experience
was quite different from lying on the floor. It was easier to
breathe, a slight vibration went through his body, and in the
midst of the almost happy amusement which Gregor found
up there, it could happen that, to his own surprise, he let go
and hit the floor. However, now he naturally controlled his
body quite differently, and he did not injure himself in such
a great fall. His sister noticed immediately the new amuse-
ment which Gregor had found for himself (for as he crept
around he left behind here and there traces of his sticky
stuff), and so she got the idea of making Gregor’s creeping
around as easy as possible and thus of removing the furni-

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