The tale of Gregor Samsa who awakens after night of terrible dreams to find that he has turned into a vermin, probably a beetle.  Yuck!  The reactions of his parents and sister speak to their alienation from their son in his new aspect and he gradually starves to death and they go on with their lives.  Kafka’s stories are bizarre and reflect a constant theme of not belonging, of looking out to a world which does not recognize, accept, or embrace you—-The Judgment, The Stoker, and others.  A common setting is looking out of a window—easily seen through but separate and separated from others.  Prague, Jewish, WWI, alienated, small corpus of work, but still read as a classic.