This is a case of "negative reinforcement". The term was created by B.F. Skinner, and it is about not doing something in order to avoid suffering or pain (physical or psychological). A good example of negative reinforcement can be seen in the movie "A Clockwork Orange", directed by Stanley Kubrick. The main character goes to a correctional facility where he's forced to watch violent movies while experiencing an unimaginable sensation of nausea. The goal of the institution was to turn him into a non-violent individual by conditioning his brain to associate violence with feeling sick to his stomach. In fact, after such experiment he wasn't even able to enjoy Beethoven's music anymore, since it was played throughout the whole "therapeutic" movie sessions. In Herbie's case, he could no longer eat his daily chocolate chip cookies, since he didn't want to get nauseated again. It doesn't mean he would necessarily feel that way if he actually had the cookies, but he refused to eat them anyway, since he'd already been negatively reinforced not to eat them.
The author compares countries to eggs.
"third"
President Reagan signed the proclamation officially declaring that the 3rd Monday of the first month, January, be the MLK Jr. Day.
After Gregor has died and freed his family of his horrendous presence, they can now take a rest for a while and get back to their normal lives. Gregor had been a burden for them in every way, as he stopped providing for them because of his new condition. Because of him, they couldn't leave the apartment and find a smaller one. Because of him, they had to rent a part of the apartment. His unwilling transformation had changed their lives for the worse. Now that he's gone, they have a hope for a better life. They even start pondering on their daughter's potential marriage.
