The setting of room can represent the nature of its inhabitant. Thus the changes occurring in a room can reveal certain transformations in the life of the occupant. With this in mind, we travel to the heart of 19th century Europe, steal deep into the bureaucratic labyrinth of Prague, and finally tiptoe into a room with three doors and a window. There dwells a human being entrapped in the body of a monstrous insect. The transformations that occur over the course of Kafka's novella "The Metamorphosis" can be revealed by mapping out the changes that occur in the protagonist's room from his awakening as an insect to his very death.

The opening sentence of the novella instantly describes the change that has occurred in Gregor's physical state, and thus we must begin with the initial setting of his room. The room is first mentioned at the beginning of...