Even in his human form he felt alienated which aided in his conversion disorder. Stable relationships are a basic need for a human in order to be a fully functioning individual. Gregor, though a hard-worker and a loving person, did not have this basic necessity. As he was alone in his room, Gregor has some time to make a brief reflection on his life; "I've got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate"(Kafka 4). Throughout the remainder of the novel there is no evidence that Gregor ever had any relationships that lasted. Through Gregor's thoughts, the reader is lead to infer that Gregor felt alone and not capable of being loved. Another reason why the reader is lead to believe this is because Gregor never truly enjoyed his job. He, again, thinks "If I didn't hold back for my parents' sake, I would have quit long ago"(Kafka 4). His job, obviously, did not give him the satisfaction that he needed in order to continue on with his life. Instead, his anxiety and feelings of worthlessness turns into a physical ailment: his conversion. .
According to Freud there are three different levels of consciousness: the id (unconscious), ego (conscious), and superego (subconscious). Gregor's superego, throughout the novel, is the strongest of his levels of consciousness. The superego operates on the morality principle, meaning that it focuses on the "I should" statements (Myers). Gregor's family relies on him to continuously do better; especially with his job and getting them out of their debt; this is why his superego is the most powerful and controls most of his actions. He feels that he cannot meet up to what his superego expects of him, he then feels inferior and cannot go on with normal functioning. Through these thoughts, we are able to see how Gregor feels about his life.
