Notes

Where was Kafka born? Kafka was born in Prague which was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. What do you know about his experience here? Kafka had to live in a ghetto away from other races.
What do we learn about Kafka’s relationship with his father? Kafka’s father raised him with a domineering manner. How did it affect him? This lead Kafka to resent him.
Who is Max Brod? Max Brod was Kafka's close friend during college. What does he have to do with Kafka’s literary career? Later in life Max became Kafka’s literary executor.
What features characterized Kafka’s early writing? Kafka’s first pieces were short fictional stories that had narrative features and were written in the first person.
How old was Kafka when he died? What killed him? Kafka was forty years old when he died from tuberculosis.

THE TRIAL PROMPTS DIVERSE CRITICAL COMMENTARY & KAFKA’S METAMORPHOSIS
What do many critics say The Trial is about? Many critics who have read The Trail believe it is about a man who feels guilt.
How does Hermann Hesse explain the basic meaning of Kafka’s The Trial? Herman Hesse describes The Trail as “none other than the guilt of life itself. The `accused' are the afflicted ones among the unsuspecting, harmless masses that have a dawning awareness of the terrible truth of all life, an awareness that is gradually strangling their hearts.”
What does The Trial symbolize? The Trail symbolizes alienation.
What “seems to have been [Kafka’s] intention” when creating the trial? To show how alienated and guilty someone can feel while in a society different than themselves.
What does Vannatta say that Kafka “dramatizes” more than any other writer? Vannatta says that Kafka dramatizes the “alienation of the individual in a fathomless world than Kafka in his short fiction” more than any other writer.
What do Kafka’s stories “strain with”? Kafka’s stories strain with “seeking, searching, questing, asking.”
Summarize the basic plot of The Metamorphosis. The Metamorphosis is about Gregor Samsa, an ordinary man who wakes one morning to discover himself inexplicably transformed into a giant insect. Although Gregor and his family try to deal with this horrific situation, things do not improve.
What is odd about the way the author depicts Gregor’s transformation? What is odd about the way Kafka depicts Gregor's transformation is that there is no explanation on how or why it happened. The only things we learn from this experience is how he is seen by both his family and boss.
After reading the biographical information, what prominent themes do you expect to encounter in The Metamorphosis? I expect to see the struggles of Gregor dealing with this new transformation and how it will all eventually lead to him dying. I also expect to see how his father will most likely disapprove of him and how Gregor's mother may be more comforting. I think there will also be themes of alienation when compared to the rest of society.