Desperation

Thoreau's assumption that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" means that most people live their lives in quiet fear that something bad is going to happen to them. Kafka demonstrates this in the way that Gregor thinks. He is in constant fear that what he is doing to support his family is not enough or that if something should happen to him that they will not be able to support themselves. Even after he is turned into a bug he worries that his family may not survive. The form of a bug represents Gregor's insignificant life, and as he constantly worries he wastes away and becomes even less signifiant in the families lives until he dies.