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First complete this sentence with appropriate names/words of your choice: "As [name of character] awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found...

It sounds like you've been given a creative assignment as a response to reading Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis! The Metamorphosis is a novella which follows the transformation of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who morphs into a "monstrous vermin" (sometimes represented as a cockroach or beetle). Gregor struggles to deal with this change, especially since it has inspired revulsion in his family; the novella closes with his death, which at long last restores some peace and relief to the household. It is ultimately an absurd story which remarks upon the nature of estrangement and the limits of human sympathy. 


The assignment you have been given--with the direction to have a character find him or herself changed in his or her bed into an "[adjective][creature]" and to then have him/her go about her his/her daily activities  and encounter another person--absolutely mirrors the plot of The Metamorphosis. I can't complete your creative writing assignment for you, as that would involve you committing an act of plagiarism, which I'm sure your school and teacher would not be pleased with! However, I can help give you some sample ideas to get you creative juices flowing:



  • "As Montana awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, she found herself  transformed in her bed into a purple hamster." You could then explore how some of Montana's former habits--brushing her long, blonde hair one hundred strokes before bed, putting on her fuzzy slippers, sipping a cup of tea--are no longer possible. When Montana tries to go to work as a real estate agent that afternoon to sell a single story mid-century home recently placed on the market, her potential buyers leave in a huff because they don't recognize her in her new hamster form.


  • "As Cristiano awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a fat anteater." You could then follow up with the harrowing tale of how this destroys Cristiano's underwear modeling career. He no longer has an interest in drinking his morning protein shake, in attending his CrossFit session with his trainer, Julio, or in showing up on time to his 10:00 AM spray tan appointment. When Cristiano finally manages to drag himself to his photo shoot that afternoon--which was to be staged at a local park--he ends up blowing the whole thing by scarfing down the ants which have invaded the picnic basket instead of posing in his boxer briefs. 

Kafka's work is surreal and strange, and I would not hesitate to mimic those qualities in your own assignment. Get quirky or funny--the weirder, the better!

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