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But at Gregors first words the manager had already
turned away, and now he looked back at Gregor over his
twitching shoulders with pursed lips. During Gregors
speech he was not still for a moment, but was moving
away towards the door, without taking his eyes off
Gregor, but really gradually, as if there was a secret ban on
leaving the room. He was already in the hall, and after the
sudden movement with which he finally pulled his foot
out of the living room, one could have believed that he
had just burned the sole of his foot. In the hall, however,
he stretched out his right hand away from his body
towards the staircase, as if some truly supernatural relief
was waiting for him there..The Metamorphosis
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Gregor realized that he must not under any
circumstances allow the manager to go away in this frame
of mind, especially if his position in the firm was not to be
placed in the greatest danger. His parents did not
understand all this very well. Over the long years, they
had developed the conviction that Gregor was set up for
life in his firm and, in addition, they had so much to do
nowadays with their present troubles that all foresight was
foreign to them. But Gregor had this foresight. The
manager must be held back, calmed down, convinced, and
finally won over. The future of Gregor and his family
really depended on it! If only the sister had been there!
She was clever. She had already cried while Gregor was
still lying quietly on his back. And the manager, this friend
of the ladies, would certainly let himself be guided by her.
She would have closed the door to the apartment and
talked him out of his fright in the hall. But the sister was
not even there. Gregor must deal with it himself.
Without thinking that as yet he didnt know anything
about his present ability to move and without thinking
that his speech possibly (indeed probably) had once again
not been understood, he left the wing of the door, pushed
himself through the opening, and wanted to go over to
the manager, who was already holding tight onto the.The Metamorphosis
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handrail with both hands on the landing in a ridiculous
way. But as he looked for something to hold onto, with a
small scream Gregor immediately fell down onto his
numerous little legs. Scarcely had this happened, when he
felt for the first time that morning a general physical well
being. The small limbs had firm floor under them; they
obeyed perfectly, as he noticed to his joy, and strove to
carry him forward in the direction he wanted. Right away
he believed that the final amelioration of all his suffering
was immediately at hand. But at the very moment when
he lay on the floor rocking in a restrained manner quite
close and directly across from his mother (apparently
totally sunk into herself) she suddenly sprang right up with
her arms spread far apart and her fingers extended and
cried out, Help, for Gods sake, help! She held her head
bowed down, as if she wanted to view Gregor better, but
ran senselessly back, contradicting that gesture, forgetting
that behind her stood the table with all the dishes on it.
When she reached the table, she sat down heavily on it, as
if absent-mindedly, and did not appear to notice at all that
next to her coffee was pouring out onto the carpet in a full
stream from the large overturned container.
Mother, mother, said Gregor quietly, and looked over
towards her. The manager momentarily had disappeared.The Metamorphosis
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completely from his mind; by contrast, at the sight of the
flowing coffee he couldnt stop himself snapping his jaws
in the air a few times . At that his mother screamed all
over again, hurried from the table, and collapsed into the
arms of his father, who was rushing towards her. But
Gregor had no time right now for his parents: the manager
was already on the staircase. His chin level with the
banister, the manager looked back for the last time.
Gregor took an initial movement to catch up to him if
possible. But the manager must have suspected something,
because he made a leap down over a few stairs and
disappeared, still shouting Huh! The sound echoed
throughout the entire stairwell.
Now, unfortunately this flight of the manager also
seemed completely to bewilder his father, who earlier had
been relatively calm, for instead of running after the
manager himself or at least not hindering Gregor from his
pursuit, with his right hand he grabbed hold of the
managers cane, which he had left behind with his hat and
overcoat on a chair. With his left hand, his father picked
up a large newspaper from the table and, stamping his feet
on the floor, he set out to drive Gregor back into his
room by waving the cane and the newspaper. No request
of Gregors was of any use; no request would even be.The Metamorphosis
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understood. No matter how willing he was to turn his
head respectfully, his father just stomped all the harder
with his feet.
Across the room from him his mother had pulled open
a window, in spite of the cool weather, and leaning out
with her hands on her cheeks, she pushed her face far
outside the window. Between the alley and the stair well a
strong draught came up, the curtains on the window flew
around, the newspapers on the table swished, and
individual sheets fluttered down over the floor. The father
relentlessly pressed forward pushing out sibilants, like a
wild man. Now, Gregor had no practice at all in going
backwards; it was really going very slowly. If Gregor only
had been allowed to turn himself around, he would have
been in his room right away, but he was afraid to make his
father impatient by the time-consuming process of turning
around, and each moment he faced the threat of a mortal
blow on his back or his head from the cane in his fathers
hand. Finally Gregor had no other option, for he noticed
with horror that he did not understand yet how to
maintain his direction going backwards. And so he began,
amid constantly anxious sideways glances in his fathers
direction, to turn himself around as quickly as possible
(although in truth this was only very slowly). Perhaps his.The Metamorphosis
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father noticed his good intentions, for he did not disrupt
Gregor in this motion, but with the tip of the cane from a
distance he even directed here and there Gregors rotating
movement.
If only there hadnt been his fathers unbearable hissing!
Because of that Gregor totally lost his head. He was
already almost totally turned around, when, always with
this hissing in his ear, he just made a mistake and turned
himself back a little. But when he finally was successful in
getting his head in front of the door opening, it became
clear that his body was too wide to go through any
further. Naturally his father, in his present mental state,
had no idea of opening the other wing of the door a bit to
create a suitable passage for Gregor to get through. His
single fixed thought was that Gregor must get into his
room as quickly as possible. He would never have allowed
the elaborate preparations that Gregor required to orient
himself and thus perhaps get through the door. On the
contrary, as if there were no obstacle and with a peculiar
noise, he now drove Gregor forwards. Behind Gregor the
sound was at this point no longer like the voice of only a
single father. Now it was really no longer a joke, and
Gregor forced himself, come what might, into the door.
One side of his body was lifted up. He lay at an angle in.The Metamorphosis
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the door opening. His one flank was sore with the
scraping. On the white door ugly blotches were left. Soon
he was stuck fast and would have not been able to move
any more on his own. The tiny legs on one side hung
twitching in the air above, the ones on the other side were
pushed painfully into the floor.