Short Changed

While Gregor has undergone a life changing and startlingly physical transformation, he essentially remains the same person underneath barring a few physiological changes. So it is interesting to note that despite his own metamorphosis he dwells on the personality changes of  his father and sees them as a landmark:

"Now he was standing there straight as a stick, dressed in a smart blue uniform with gold buttons such as bank attendants wear, his strong double chin bulged over the stiff high collar of his jacket, from under his bushy eyebrows his black eyes darted fresh and penetrating  glances, his formerly tangled white hair had been combed flat on either side of a shining parting," (Kafka 89).

His father has made a radical change from being a lazy laid back man who did very little, as he had become accustomed to his son Gregor providing financially for the family and being able to relax and afford a nice lifestyle without any effort on his part. For example, his father is described as "the man who used to lie wearily sunk in bed whenever Gregor set out on a business trip," and "who could not really rise to his feet but only lifted his arms in greeting," is now sprucing himself up and going to a menial, demeaning job where he has to serve others. His careful grooming completes the process of the changed man which now shows that he means business. His father now has a low tolerance of Gregor and wants to inflict violence on him and after attempting to stomp on him resigns himself to throwing apples which hurts Gregor. The father has changed not willfully but due to the circumstances that he finds himself under he needs to transform himself into a new character which does not please him. Further, upon his return from a job he resents the slightest provocation makes him turn on Gregor on an assault as retaliation. The father blames Gregor for his new downfallen circumstances and therefore takes out his frustration on him. He does not stop and think that this is not really his son's fault and assigns blame and condemns him and is repulsed by him without realizing what Gregor is able to see with crystal clear clarity, that his father has undergone a transformation himself. On the contrary he interprets his every innocent move as "wicked behavior" when it is actually the father carrying out wicked behavior against his own son.

Gregor's father is blinded to the truth by his own shortsightedness while the hapless Gregor confined in a jail by his own body is unable to convey to his father the truth that it is him and not Gregor that has changed the most, as essentially the real Gregor holds true to his former self albeit trapped in a new body. Gregor focuses on his father's change to take his mind of his own circumstances.