The second short story that I read of Franz Kafka's is "A Country Doctor". For this specific short story Kafka wrote in first person. This shows that Kafka possibly connected to this story in some way or it could relate to his life. The main character is a country doctor and the story opens with the doctor facing a dilemma. The doctor's horse has died and he has been called to see a patient. Kafka demonstrates the stress that the doctor is under during this part of the book with his use of short, choppy sentences. The writing style during this part of the short story helps readers to relate effectively with Kafka's protagonist. It is also an interesting stylistic choice on Kafka's part to switch from past to present tense in his short story "A Country Doctor".
Amazingly, a groom arrives with a horse for the country doctor to seemingly solve all of his problems, yet this gift does not come without a price. As the doctor rides away on the horse he knows that the groom is attempting to break into the house to rape the maid yet he does not go back to help his maid. When the country doctor arrives to the patients house the young boy seems to be perfectly okay, yet he begs the doctor to let him die. The boys sister shows the country doctor a bloody towel making the doctor take one more look at the boy resulting in him finding a large wound infested with worms on the boys side. The doctor realizes at this point that he cannot do anything for the boy. The family then strips the doctor of his clothes and make him lie with the boy. The boy dies and the doctor leaves the patient's house yet the doctor cannot return home because he can't go back to being the person he was after this experience.
After reading this short story it makes me wonder what relation it may have to Kafka's life. The fact that the story is written in first person makes me think that there must be some significant relation between this story and Kafka's life or experiences. In my research paper I will look to explore the possible connection. Does Kafka see himself as the country doctor?
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