The Lodgers in Metamorphosis

Who is The Lodgers?

The Lodgers are three male boarders who rent a room in the Samsa flat, bringing badly needed income and a formal, exacting presence. Their arrival reorganizes household priorities: cleanliness, propriety, and the ability to host paying guests take precedence over caregiving. They require a quiet, respectable environment and thus limit the family's options for managing Gregor’s presence and the disorder his condition creates. When Grete plays the violin for them, they show little appreciation and their composure evaporates upon discovering Gregor; they promptly give notice and leave. Though their screen time in the story is brief, they function as external social standards imposed on the household: their tastes, demands, and reactions heighten the Samsas’ anxiety about reputation and further isolate Gregor by turning the home into a space governed by outside expectations rather than family compassion.

In the book: The Lodgers are three boarders who move into the Samsa household, bringing rent money and a rigid, exacting presence. Their arrival shifts the family dynamic, heightens the pressure for order and propriety, and indirectly intensifies Gregor’s isolation by turning the home into a space governed by outsiders’ expectations, thereby advancing the novella’s themes of dehumanization and social conformity.

Personality

Exacting

They demand cleanliness and a respectable household, causing the family to prioritize order after they move in.

Unimpressed

They respond coolly to Grete’s violin and are not placated by entertainment when assessing the household.

Practical

They pay rent and thereby change the family’s economic calculations and daily routines.

Judgmental

On discovering Gregor they immediately give notice, refusing to tolerate what they view as an unacceptable disturbance.

Character arc

The Lodgers enter the Samsa household as a solution to economic strain: tidy, polite men whose rent promises relief. Their presence quickly shifts the flat’s atmosphere from private family chaos to a quasi-public space governed by standards of cleanliness and respectability. Initially they function as silent pressure—an expectation the family must meet—so the household dismisses the maid and tolerates new routines to comply. Their arc climaxes when Grete’s violin and the accidental discovery of Gregor expose the fissures their presence creates; rather than negotiate, they withdraw their tolerance and give notice, choosing to leave rather than adapt. Their departure is practical and final: they remove the external pressure they introduced but simultaneously cement the family’s decision to reject Gregor. The Lodgers thus remain externally consistent—concerned with propriety and comfort—while their brief stay catalyzes lasting consequences for the Samsas’ choices and Gregor’s fate.

Relationships

• Gregor Samsa Their discovery of him triggers their immediate rejection and contributes to his intensified isolation.
• Grete Samsa They judge her musical performance and their reaction helps precipitate her public demand that the family be rid of Gregor.
• Mr. Samsa Their rent provides Mr. Samsa with economic relief and justifies his and the family’s adjustments to household order.
• Mrs. Samsa Their presence pressures her to conform to tidy domestic standards and adds to her anxieties about respectability.
• The Charwoman Their insistence on cleanliness helps institutionalize the charwoman’s role in managing the household’s mess, which partly affects Gregor’s living conditions.

Quotes by The Lodgers

““Listen”, said the chief clerk in the next room, “he’s turning the key.””

IMarks the moment Gregor shows agency by opening the door, immediately followed by the family’s shocked, fearful reaction.

Why The Lodgers matters

The Lodgers embody external social norms—cleanliness, respectability, and economic utility—that the Samsa family adopts at the cost of compassion. By enforcing a domestic standard the family must meet to keep paying guests, they transform the home into a site of social judgment rather than private care. Their quick rejection of Gregor when he fails to conform dramatizes the novella’s critique of dehumanization: community standards and financial concerns override empathy. They also illustrate how social conformity and fear of exposure can accelerate the marginalization and eventual eradication of what a society deems unacceptable.

Chapters with The Lodgers

• I
• III

More Metamorphosis characters

• Gregor SamsaProtagonist
• Grete SamsaMajor character
• Mr. SamsaAntagonist
• Mrs. SamsaMinor character
• The CharwomanMinor character
• The Chief ClerkMinor character