The Metamorphosis: Irony

After reading my book, The Metamorphosis it's been really hard to decipher which is the most dominant literary element. Although, after thinking it over and changing my mind several times I've come to the conclusion that irony is the most dominant literary element. In this book the main character Gregor leads a rough life where he works a very hard job, but it seems it's all worth while, because he comes home to a very appreciative family. Over night all of this changes, Gregor turns into a human sized cockroach and not only does his family find his appearance absolutely rancid, but they give him no respect now that he's not bringing home a pay check.

In this book the author uses irony in many circumstances to get across the point of how much Gregor cared for his family and at the time when Gregor needs care the most, his family completely disregards him. Here is an example of the differences of care for each other between Gregor and his family. All of Gregor's life before he went through the metamorphosis he had worked and saved toward being able to fulfil his sisters dream by sending her to a musical conservatory. A couple days before Gregor would have originally announced his plan (if he were human) his sister decides that the bug has become such a nuisance it's time they get rid of it (kill it). This just goes to show the irony of how differently Gregor treats his family compared to how they treat Gregor.