The Metamorphosis

This short story is very confusing to comprehend the meaning of after one reading.  I understand the fact that he was the sole supporter of the family and the pressure got too extreme to handle anymore, but why did they choose a bug to represent the change? After meeting with our groups in class on Wednesday, one of my classmates gave me a better understanding of the meaning behind everything.  He told me that when they analyzed this story in high school they came to the conclusion that Gregor had a mental breakdown and his change was to a mentally handicapped person.  This makes more sense to me because he could no longer take care of himself, he couldnt communicate well, and they couldn't leave him alone.  I definitely think is was necessary to reread this story again to catch the points that didn't jump out during the first time reading.  After understanding what to look for from the analysis of a classmate there were many things that made this meaning much more clear.