The novelist Richard Gwyn came up with a list of "books in which things end badly" for the Guardian.He suggests that "our predilection for the sad ending can be traced to the stories of Greek mythology and ... to the Bible, in which I read Christ's torture and execution as an allegory of human suffering in general."
Number four on Gwyn's list:
Metamorphosis by Franz KafkaRead more about the list.
You would have thought it was bad enough to wake up and find oneself transformed into a huge bug, but for Gregor Samsa worse was to come. His first concern is that he has turned into woodlouse-man, but is rapidly overtaken by the fear that this might make him late for work. Because of his condition, he is forced to remain in his room, and his family has to take in lodgers to compensate for the loss of income. Thus abandoned, he dies a miserable death, alone and neglected.
--Marshal Zeringue
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