"Gregor Samsa was right. We are all bugs."

How Kafka presents Gregor's family and boss in Metamorphosis is incredible, in terms of how fucking awful they are, especially when in contrast to Gregor's loyalty to his parents and drive and desire to do this thing for them. His manager, when yelling to Gregor behind the door, " 'I thought I knew you as a calm, reasonable person, and now you appear suddenly to want to start parading around in weird moods... I see here your unimaginable pig headedness, and I am totally losing any desire to speak up for you in the slightest. And your position is not at all the most secure. Originally I intended to mention all this to you privately, but since you are letting me waste my time here uselessly, I don’t know why the matter shouldn’t come to the attention of your parents as well. Your productivity has also been very unsatisfactory recently' " (Kafka 5). We see the boss shrieking at Gregor, being mean, and terrible, and condescending. Gregor responds to his manager with, " 'There is really no basis for the criticisms which you’re now making against me. Nobody has said a word to me about that. Perhaps you have not read the latest orders which I sent in. Besides, now I’m setting out on my trip on the eight o’clock train... I will be at the office in person right away. Please have the goodness to say that and to convey my respects to the Chief' ” (Kafka 5) He is cordial, and polite, and keeps his head cool, and defends himself quietly and civilly. His boss yells and screams and insults, and Gregor responds with kindness and gentle retaliation.

Gregor's parents, also, are terrible people. They're lazy, and will not pay off their own debt. They even have servants of their own, whom they pay instead of paying off their debt. Gregor is forced to work indentured for many years to pay off the debt. As he sits, mulling, in his bed, "If I didn’t hold back for my parents’ sake, I’d have quit ages ago. I would’ve gone to the boss and told him just what I think from the bottom of my heart. Once I’ve got together the money to pay off my parents’ debt to him—that should take another five or six years—I’ll do it for sure" (Kafka 1). He will have to work years of his life at a job he absolutely despises, underneath a boss whom he hates with a passion. But even through this, even though his parent's debt is his parents' fault, he even seems to consider the debt his own, his responsibility. As he talks to his boss, after they get into his room, " 'I am really so indebted to Mr. Chief—you know that perfectly well. On the other hand, I am concerned about my parents and my sister' " (Kafka 7). He considers the debt to be his own, and he's even worried about his family, despite the fact that he has been turned into a bug and is being forced to work against his will by his parents. The debt is not his own, and yet he sees his own responsibility to pay it off.