{"id":"01KG16PR527GC1887C04TDVA1X","cid":"bafkreicet6s5jh3boblaonfwequm57l2fedwahabaqllk4crdru53iebpy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":519,"extracted_at":"2026-01-28T02:25:17.181Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 10","source_file":"01KG0K71QM71M0G20X5B9DHB1X","start_line":462,"text":"took two steps forward towards Gregor and sank down onto the floor into\r\nher skirts that spread themselves out around her as her head\r\ndisappeared down onto her breast. His father looked hostile, and\r\nclenched his fists as if wanting to knock Gregor back into his room.\r\nThen he looked uncertainly round the living room, covered his eyes with\r\nhis hands and wept so that his powerful chest shook.\r\n\r\nSo Gregor did not go into the room, but leant against the inside of the\r\nother door which was still held bolted in place. In this way only half\r\nof his body could be seen, along with his head above it which he leant\r\nover to one side as he peered out at the others. Meanwhile the day had\r\nbecome much lighter; part of the endless, grey-black building on the\r\nother side of the street—which was a hospital—could be seen quite\r\nclearly with the austere and regular line of windows piercing its\r\nfaçade; the rain was still falling, now throwing down large, individual\r\ndroplets which hit the ground one at a time. The washing up from\r\nbreakfast lay on the table; there was so much of it because, for\r\nGregor’s father, breakfast was the most important meal of the day and\r\nhe would stretch it out for several hours as he sat reading a number of\r\ndifferent newspapers. On the wall exactly opposite there was photograph\r\nof Gregor when he was a lieutenant in the army, his sword in his hand\r\nand a carefree smile on his face as he called forth respect for his\r\nuniform and bearing. The door to the entrance hall was open and as the\r\nfront door of the flat was also open he could see onto the landing and\r\nthe stairs where they began their way down below.\r\n\r\n“Now, then”, said Gregor, well aware that he was the only one to have\r\nkept calm, “I’ll get dressed straight away now, pack up my samples and\r\nset off. Will you please just let me leave? You can see”, he said to\r\nthe chief clerk, “that I’m not stubborn and I like to do my job; being\r\na commercial traveller is arduous but without travelling I couldn’t\r\nearn my living. So where are you going, in to the office? Yes? Will you\r\nreport everything accurately, then? It’s quite possible for someone to\r\nbe temporarily unable to work, but that’s just the right time to\r\nremember what’s been achieved in the past and consider that later on,\r\nonce the difficulty has been removed, he will certainly work with all\r\nthe more diligence and concentration. You’re well aware that I’m\r\nseriously in debt to our employer as well as having to look after my\r\nparents and my sister, so that I’m trapped in a difficult situation,\r\nbut I will work my way out of it again. Please don’t make things any\r\nharder for me than they are already, and don’t take sides against me at\r\nthe office. I know that nobody likes the travellers. They think we earn\r\nan enormous wage as well as having a soft time of it. That’s just\r\nprejudice but they have no particular reason to think better of it. But\r\nyou, sir, you have a better overview than the rest of the staff, in\r\nfact, if I can say this in confidence, a better overview than the boss\r\nhimself—it’s very easy for a businessman like him to make mistakes\r\nabout his employees and judge them more harshly than he should. And\r\nyou’re also well aware that we travellers spend almost the whole year\r\naway from the office, so that we can very easily fall victim to gossip\r\nand chance and groundless complaints, and it’s almost impossible to\r\ndefend yourself from that sort of thing, we don’t usually even hear\r\nabout them, or if at all it’s when we arrive back home exhausted from a\r\ntrip, and that’s when we feel the harmful effects of what’s been going\r\non without even knowing what caused them. Please, don’t go away, at\r\nleast first say something to show that you grant that I’m at least\r\npartly right!”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 10"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG16NYWC39TXGGYV7QX3CSQ0","peer_label":"I","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG0K71QM71M0G20X5B9DHB1X","peer_label":"metamorphoses.txt","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG16PR45EV2K4372N6JW1042","peer_label":"Chunk 9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG16PR4H7XZ6RTNNY8Q5ZRQV","peer_label":"Chunk 11","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-28T02:25:17.560Z","ts":"2026-01-28T02:25:18.887Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}