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It's always bothered me that when people adapt Kafka's Metamorphosis they depict Gregor Samsa as a roach. Cockroaches do not undergo metamorphosis. They are born as nymphs which are just smaller wingless versions of the adult form.
Kafka writes that Gregor can only enjoy rotten food. Which also makes him not at all roach-like. Roaches strongly prefer fresh vegetables to rotten ones.
I always imagined him as a beetle. Which implies that the man Gregor was a larvae for all his pre-bug life.
@futurebird I wonder if Kafka got it all wrong. Great take.
It's more the common illustrations of the story that have it wrong than Kafka. I thought the story was about how disappointing it is when your kid turns out to be a useless writer. Autobiographical about metamorphosis into the wrong sort of creature. A useless and horrible creature if it lives in your house rather than under a log in the woods, or flying through the forest.