Similarities Between Gregor Samsa and “Watashi” in Sleep- Carly

After reading The Metamorphosis and Sleep, I found that I interpreted both stories as being about repression rather than typical depression. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa was the breadwinner of his family because of his father’s failed business and his mother's inability to work. It is undeniable that Gregor lived a dull life, with a grueling job, but he accepted his role and played it well. He even planned for the future, hoping to send his sister to the conservatory so she could pursue the violin. This hope seemed to keep him going. It seems that Gregor’s parents placed him in the role of the caretaker for his family, and he was expected to fulfil it without question. This becomes even clearer when the family becomes disgusted with Gregor once he is no longer able to work and perform this role. Their attitude is finally solidified when the parents discuss Grete’s prospects and think about marrying her off,  revealing the strict expectations the parents envisioned for their children. This theme of repression appears again in Samsa in Love. When Gregor asks the locksmith if they can meet again, he allows himself to experience human emotions. Unlike in The Metamorphosis, where Gregor never got to choose the person he wanted to be, this version of himself shows how having the ability to choose makes him more human. 

In Sleep, Watashi wakes up from the dream with the man pouring water on her feet. I feel like Watashi waking up from this dream prematurely prevented her from seeing whatever she had been repressing. Her body’s only way of forcing her to confront what she didn’t want to see was to stop letting her sleep. Up until this point, Watashi also fulfilled her role well. She was a mother and wife; she maintained the house when her husband and son were away, and she took care of her son when he returned. However, throughout the story, it becomes clear that Watashi has changed in ways she never intended since taking on her role, and she had been ignoring this. Watashi briefly mentions how she stopped seeing her husband as her protector, yet even after admitting that, she still jokes with him and stops eating chocolate simply because he is a dentist. These disconnections with her mind and her actions show how she suppressed herself in order to maintain the image of a “good housewife.” 

In both The Metamorphosis and Sleep, Gregor and Watashi live on autopilot, carrying out their roles as the breadwinner and the housewife. Neither expresses their worries to anyone around them; instead, they are both pushed out of their daily routines by forces they cannot control. Gregor had to transform into a bug so he could stop performing the role he never chose. Watashi had to stop sleeping to regain the parts of herself she let slip away as she sank further into her assigned role.