Life of Desperation

As a young person it is easy to feel that life is open to many possibilities. However, once people settle into a certain lifestyle, it is hard to change. Thoreau points out that the emotions of people who are not content with their mundane lives, may go unnoticed by others around them. Despite the fact that Gregor hates his job, he has many different outside pressure forcing him to stay. He first needs to pay off his parents debts, and then he wants to send his sister to boarding school. It may take years to accomplish, but he still goes to work without fail. He is stuck, therefore, and has no choice or motive to look elsewhere for a job. When he turns into a cockroach, though, he is even more dissatisfied with his life and can do even less about it. He never realized how good it was to be human, until he became a burden upon he family. He mundane life became a misery until he finally gave up and starved to death.