The Nightmare of Noncommunication

It's pretty well-established in our class that The Metamorphosis is dreamlike, if not nightmarish. It's surreal, everyone jumps to conclusions (dream logic), and of course there's the giant bug thing. However, I think the most terrifying, nightmarish part about the whole affair is Gregor's inability to communicate.

Think about it: Say Gregor had kept his human face, like in Kuper's comic adaptation. Or maybe he kept his ability to speak.

His family understands all the excuses he gives when they first see him. Maybe he asks a family member to dial the telephone for him, so he can talk to his boss. He and his sister sit in his room, talking, while he explains how nice it feels to hang from the ceiling. Maybe he even gains more sympathy from his family, who realize how terrible they've been to Gregor. (Okay, maybe that one is a stretch.) My point is that with the power of communication, Gregor's dehumanization grinds to a stop. His physical disabilities can be overcome by help from family, who wouldn't be disgusted by him if they could know for certain that he understands them, and can know what he's thinking.

The Metamorphosis is nightmarish because Gregor has lost all that power. He's surrounded by family, but can't talk to any of them. He feels unimportant and useless, moping in his room as he is unable to talk to anyone. In Act III, he fantasizes about [dragging his sister into his room and] whispering in her ear about his plans to send her to Conservatory. He's dreaming about communication! Does he know that his family can't understand him? I honestly can't tell. We can infer that they probably can't- he talks to them enough, and they always respond with the same revulsion and terror.

And isn't that a nightmarish idea? Inability to communicate, while everyone thinks you're too far gone and revolting to be saved. Gregor can't even use his writing desk, and because of that dream logic nobody ever tries any "blink twice for yes" stuff on him.

In the Samsa-Seuss communication we talked about in class, Gregor says he has communicated to Seuss by means of beating a typewriter repeatedly with his face (and still talks loquaciously, which was amusing to imagine). In that 'alternate world' in which Gregor writes to Seuss, he can use a typewriter. More importantly, he managed to get someone to fold up the letter, address it, and send it off to Seuss. If you think about that too closely, some holes develop in the story. Would Gregor's family still have abandoned him if they could understand him?