The central symbol of a novel often reveals the deeper meaning of the story. Show how this is true in "The Metamorphosis."

The central symbol would be the metamorphosis itself. Gregor transforms into an insect; the family transforms when it learns to stand on its own two feet (this was a forced issue as Gregor could no longer do it for them); Greta's metemophosis is to change from girl to woman (we might also see that Greta's physical changes somewhat mirror Gregor's physical changes), and at the end we see that the entire group has completed an emotional metamorphosis. Thus, we see that the symbol of metamorphosis encompasses the entire story and applies to each of the characters individually in its own way.