Gregor has been turned into an insect. There's no reason, or explanation for it, he simply wakes up one morning to discover he's a multi-limbed bug. 
 Now one might think his family would be worried about him, and his boss would be startled and want to know how this could happen. One might be wrong to think this, for this is Kafka's world. All his family can think of is their loss of income, and all his boss can think of is the loss of an employee. Heartless? Yes. Realistic? Yes! 
 If it happened in the real world, we'd be concerned for the person at first but soon the practical reality would hit us, and all of a sudden because a person can't pull his own weight he's worthless. The reason his family loved Gregor in the first place becomes clear now that he no longer is able to perform his function for the family. Did they really love him, or was the love dependent on his ability to support them? 
 It is a masterpiece of absurdity, more so for its ability to show reality so clearly. Why is it we can only see reality when presented in such unreal ways? His family's reaction to Gregor's death is absolutely unreal, but strangely realistic. In the real world, value is in function, not identity. Love comes second to survival, and each depends on the other to exist. Ouch.