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Chapter 1

This novella opens up with Gregor transformed into a giant bug. His body included numerous thin legs, a hard back, and a segmented belly. Gregor has problems moving with his newly changed body. Gregor thinks about how much disdain he has for his job. He hates his boss, and we learn that Gregor’s father owes a debt to Gregor’s boss. Gregor’s family begins to call for him to wake up because he is late for his job. Gregor attempts to get out of bed with his newly formed body, however cannot. Gregor’s boss shows up at his house, and he demands to know of Gregor’s whereabouts. His boss tells him that his job for the company is in jeopardy because of his work and work habits. Gregor speaks back, but no one can understand him clearly because his voice has begun to change. Worried, his mother calls for a doctor. Upon first sight, Gregor’s mother faints, his boss backs away, and his father gets angry and starts to cry. Gregor begins to defend himself saying that his work has not been bad, and that he works very hard. Gregor explains that he needs to provide for his family. Gregor’s boss leaves frightened, and Gregor’s mother knocks over a coffee table in shock. Gregor’s father picks up a stick and starts waving it around at Gregor. Terrified, Gregor backs up and gets stuck in the door frame. His father pushes him inside, and the chapter ends.        

Chapter 2

The second chapter begins with Gregor waking up, believing that he heard someone entering and leaving his room. His body is badly bruised from his father shoving him through the door earlier that day. After he realizes this, his sister, Grete, brings him food, where he soon finds out that milk, which he used to love, is repulsive and undrinkable. The entire apartment is filled completely with silence. Also, the doors of Gregor’s room are kept locked now and nobody enters, as everybody is afraid of him. Gregor realizes that he must do all he can to help him family overcome this dilemma.

Gregor also relocates from the center of his room to under his couch, where Grete discovers that Gregor can only eat spoiled food. Gregor continues to hide under the couch so that his sister won’t have to see him in his new insect form, and even with this his sister continues to care for him even in this dire situation. Gregor’s family assumes (wrongly) that he cannot understand what they are saying. Gregor realizes that there are always at least two people at home since everyone is afraid to be left alone with him in the apartment, and after a bit of time, the family’s cook finds out about Gregor's change to an insect and after pleading is dismissed.

The financial situation of the family is also explained in the chapter. Gregor’s father now is forced to use the money (which Gregor is unaware of) he had saved from his old business, which had fallen apart. We learn that after Gregor's father had failed, Gregor was thrown into the business world to provide for his family. After initially being appreciated, Gregor's family became used to having him being the main moneymaker of the family. His relationship with his family has now deteriorated, where he is only close with his sister.

Gregor's family, still thinking he cannot understand them, talks about how they have put aside some of Gregor's earnings of the past. After hearing this, Gregor is initially upset, as he realizes that he could have paid off his debt that he owed his boss and therefore quit his tough job. After a while, he changes his mind and thinks that now his money can be used to help the family in their current time of need. learns that in addition to money left over from his father's business, the family had also saved a good deal of Gregor's salary that had been put aside.

Physically, Gregor is still changing, as his vision has gotten so bad that he can't see the houses in his street from his window. Gregor talks about how his sister can only be in his room with the windows open, and this bothers him a lot. However, he realizes how his appearance as an insect must really upset her, and following this realization he covers himself with a sheet so that his insect body is completely invisible to her. He only does this for her, as his parents never come into the room, even though his mother really wants to enter.

Gregor realizes his new hobby in this chapter as well: he enjoys climbing on the walls and on the ceiling of his room. The furniture in his room restricts his movement, so his sister decides to move all of the furniture to help him out. Gregor's mother offers to help Grete, but then decides that moving the furniture would mean that the family has given up on Gregor returning to human form. Gregor, hearing this, agrees with his mother mentally as his furniture is the only part of him that remains from his pre-insect form. He then decides that he must stop his mother and sister from moving the furniture. There is a picture of a woman in fur hanging on his wall, and once his mother and sister exit briefly, he crawls out of his spot from under his couch, climbs up his wall, and uses his insect-abilities to stick to the picture. Once his mother enters the room, she faints at this sight, and Gregor immediately feels terrible and wants to help out. He runs out of his room, following his sister, who then locks him out of his own room. When his father returns home, he also finds out of Gregor causing his mother to faint. His father then chases Gregor around the living room, throwing apples at him. One apple sinks into Gregor's back, which immobilizes Gregor. To end the chapter, Gregor begins to lose his consciousness while seeing his mother begging his father to not kill Gregor.

Chapter 3

After realizing Gregor realized his injury prevented him from climbing walls, his father comes to a realization that he should treat Gregor as part of the family. Thus, Mr. Samsa leaves the door open to Gregor’s room; this allows Gregor to witness the activities of his family. Gregor begins to notice the deterioration of his family, through his mother’s lack of cleanliness and his family’s overall apathy towards him. One sign of this is that Grete no longer cleans his room meticulously, as she once did. Also, the charwoman, who was hired to replace the servant girl, is annoyed but not disgusted by Gregor. Gregor’s room is transformed into a storage room for the lodgers extra furniture, leaving Gregor with little room to roam. Since the lodgers are obsessively concerned with cleanliness, Gregor’s door largely remains closed. One day, Gregor’s door is left open, and he observes the lodgers eating with his family. Gregor rarely eats and yearns for food, although he would have tremendous difficulty eating it.

Grete plays the violin in the kitchen, in the presence of the lodgers, who show little interest in the performance. Conversely, Gregor is engaged by her playing and fantasizes about his plans to send Grete to the Conservatory. Since the door is ajar, the lodgers notice Gregor; this leads them to boldly declare that they would not pay due to the housings terrible conditions. This leads to Grete imploring to her family to dispose of Gregor, on the account of that he has caused them too much harm. Grete declares that the insect is no longer Gregor, since Gregor would have left them out of love and thus taken their burden away.

Gregor then returns to his room and collapses, which is most likely caused by his starvation. Gregor’s father tells the lodgers to leave, although they are reluctant to do so. Upon the discovery of the corpse, the family feels an enormous weight has been lifted from their shoulders. They start collectively planning for the future again while evaluating their present. They all are optimistic that they will be successful in their careers and advance in their jobs. The end of the book mirrors the beginning, as we see a physical transformation with Grete as we previously did with Gregor. Gregor’s parents come to the realization that their daughter, Grete, has matured into a “good looking, shapely” girl, who will soon be ready for marriage.  