Gregor's serious wound, from which he suffered for over a month--since no one ventured to remove the apple, it remained in his flesh as a visible reminder--seemed by itself to have reminded the father that, in spite of his present unhappy and hateful appearance, Gregor was a member of the family, something one should not treat as an enemy, and that it was, on the contrary, a requirement of family duty to suppress one's aversion and to endure--nothing else, just endure.