World Literature

Franz Kafka
(1883 – 1924)
 Franz Kafka was a German language writer of novels, short stories and one of the most
influential authors of the 20th century.
 Most of his works such as “The Metamorphosis”, “The Trial”, “The Castle” are filled
with the themes of archetypes of alienation, physical and psychological brutality, parent-
child conflict, characters on a terrifying quest, etc.
 Kafka was born into a middle class German speaking Jewish family in Prague, part of
Austro-Hungarian empire, now a days in Czechoslovakia.
 Only a few of Kafka’s works were published during his lifetime; the story collection
“Contemplation” and “A Country Doctor” were published in literary magazines.
 Kafka’s troubled relationship with his father is evident in his “Letter to His Father” in
which he complains of being profoundly affected by his father’s authoritarian and
demanding character.
 Kafka considered Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Grillparzer and Heinrich Von Kleist to be
his true blood brothers.
 Brod coined the term “The Close Prague Circle” to describe the group of writers which
included Kafka, Felix Weltsch and himself.
 In 1911, Kafka, immersed himself in Yiddish language and Yiddish Literature for six
months.
 Kafka was never married.
 Kafka died in 1924, while he was editing “A Hunger Artist”.
 All his works are written in German except few letters that he wrote in Czech.
 Kafka burned around 90% of his works.
 His earliest published works were 18 stories which appeared in 1908 under the title
“Contemplation” or Meditation.
 Kafka wrote “The Judgment” in 1912 and dedicated it to Felice Bauer. It deals with the
troubled relationship of a son and his dominant father. Kafka described this work as “A
complete opening of body and soul “and a story that “Evolved as a true birth, covered
with filth and smile”
 The Metamorphosis or The Transformation was published in 1915. The story begins with
a travelling salesman waking to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect
(unwanted and uncleaned animal) or Giant insect. His family horrified and disowns him
and he dies of neglect.
 Kafka began his first novel in 1912 “The Man who Disappeared” or “The Missing Man”.
It remained
unfinished and was published posthumously under the title “America”.
 During 1914, Kafka began the novel “The Trial” the story of a man, arrested and
prosecuted by a remote,
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inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor to the
reader. Kafka did not complete the novel rather finished the final chapter.
 The term Kafkaesque is very famous concerned with his name.

Important Works
1. The Trial (1925)
2. The Metamorphosis or The Transformation (1915) Story
3. Before the Law (1915) Story
4. In the Penal Colony
5. A Hunger Artist (1924)
6. The Judgment (1916) Story (1913)
7. The Great Wall of China (1931): Short Story call
8. The Castle (1926)
9. Amerika (1927)
10. Meditation (1913)
11. Contemplation or Meditation (1912): Story collection
12. Jackals and Arabs (1917) Story
13. Prometheus (1931) Story
14. Franz Kafka Diary (1948)

The Metamorphosis

MCQs SET-1 a. An unspecified bug

b. A dung beetle
1. What does Gregor Samsa do for a c. A gypsy moth
living? d. A gigantic maggot
a. Office clerk 4. What does the picture on Gregor’s wall
b. Factory worker depict?
c. Traveling salesman a. Grete with her violin
d. Biology teacher b. His smiling family
2. Where does all of the action of the story c. A can of bug spray
take place? d. A woman in furs
a. Prague 5. Why has Gregor stayed in his job?
b. The family’s apartment a. He loves his line of work.
c. Gregor’s workplace b. He cannot find a better position.
d. An insane asylum c. He thinks it will impress Grete.
3. What kind of creature has Gregor d. His parents owe his employer
become? money.
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6. What does the office manager accuse a. Grete

Gregor of? b. The mother
a. Turning into a giant bug c. The father
b. Shoddy work and possibly theft d. The office manager
c. Falsifying reports and 13. What was Gregor’s dream for Grete?
insubordination a. To pay for her secretarial training
d. Lying about his whereabouts b. To send her to music school
7. Why does it take Gregor so long to c. To turn her into a giant bug
answer the door when the office d. To see her happily married
manager arrives? 14. How does Gregor feel when he learns
a. He is ashamed of his new body. that the family will need to work?
b. He slept through the office a. Guilty and ashamed
manager’s knock. b. Proud and vindicated
c. He has trouble maneuvering his c. Resentful and angry
body. d. Sad and frightened
d. He is molting. 15. What does Gregor do to spare Grete’s
8. How does the office manager react feelings when she is in his room?
when he sees Gregor? a. Stands on a chair
a. He flees the apartment. b. Hangs from the ceiling
b. He fires Gregor. c. Rolls into a ball
c. He attacks Gregor with his cane. d. Hides behind a sheet
d. He sprays Gregor with insecticide. 16. Why does Grete want to remove
9. How does Gregor react to the milk and Gregor’s furniture from his room?
bread in his rooom? a. To keep it for herself
a. He hates it. b. To fumigate the room
b. He eats it all. c. To sell it
c. He knocks it over. d. To give Gregor more space
d. He lays eggs in it. 17. What does Gregor try to prevent from
10. Where does Gregor feel most being taken from his room?
comfortable? a. A picture
a. In his bed b. A sofa
b. On his back c. A wardrobe
c. In the parlor d. A cocoon
d. Under the sofa 18. Why doesn’t Grete want others to help
11. How does the mother react when she her take care of Gregor?
sees Gregor? a. She doesn’t think they’ll do a good
a. She laughs until she cries. job.
b. She hits him with a newspaper. b. She wants to spare them the sight of
c. She passes out. Gregor.
d. She runs away in fear. c. She likes being the only one to do
12. Who is Gregor’s primary caretaker? so.
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d. She fears they will kill Gregor. b. He lies down in exhaustion and
19. How does the father react when he dies.
thinks Gregor attacked the mother? c. One of the boarders steps on him.
a. He kicks Gregor out of the house. d. Grete poisons his food.
b. He chases Gregor and throws fruit 25. How does the family feel after Gregor
at him. dies?
c. He attacks Gregor with a giant fly a. Relieved and happy
swatter. b. Bitter and resentful
d. He breaks down and weeps. c. Confused and angry
20. What serious injury does Gregor d. Sad and depressed
sustain?
a. His wings get bent. MCQs SET-2
b. His antennae are torn off. 1. Gregor deals with all of the hardships in
c. An apple becomes lodged in his his life ___.
back. a. By taking action
d. A fall breaks his legs. b. By resisting everything
c. With contempt
21. Who takes care of Gregor when Grete
d. Without complaint
begins to lose interest? 2. Once Gregor is used to his new insect
a. The cleaning lady body, where is he most comfortable?
b. The boarders a. Under the couch
c. The downstairs neighbor b. In bed
d. The queen of Gregor’s hive c. Next to the refrigerator
22. What small concession does the family d. In the cupboard
3. What is in the photograph that Gregor
make to Gregor after the father injures
refuses to let anyone take away?
him? a. Gregor as a boy
a. They take him for walks. b. A woman wearing fur
b. They leave his door open c. His mother
occasionally. d. Elementary school classmates
c. They wash and groom him regularly. 4. Who is the only character besides
d. They help find him a mate. Gregor that has a first name in the story?
a. His mother
23. How does Gregor react when he hears
b. His cleaning lady
Grete’s violin? c. His sister
a. He sings along with her playing. d. His father
b. He hides under the sofa. 5. From whose point of view does the
c. He crawls toward her in the reader see Gregor’s father?
parlor. a. Gregor
d. He decides to send her to music b. The mother
c. The sister
school.
d. The cleaning lady
24. How does Gregor die?
a. He jumps out the window. MCQs SET-3
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1. What cause is given for Gregor’s 3. How did Kafka view sexual intercourse?
transformation? a. The highest physical pleasure
a. Greed b. A disappointing necessity
b. Adultery c. A kind of punishment
c. None d. A spiritual experience
d. Jealousy 4. How did Kafka’s severe tuberculosis
2. What event convinces Gregor that he eventually kill him?
will never be physically and emotionally a. Suffocation
comfortable in insect form? b. Starvation
a. Drinking the milk c. Dehydration
b. The furniture removal d. Internal bleeding
c. Eating the scraps 5. How did Kafka want his writing dealt
d. Laying under the sofa with after his death?
3. How does Gregor often refer to his a. Sold at auction
transformation? b. Given to his relatives
a. “Imprisonment” c. Published in America
b. “Entrapment” d. Destroyed
c. “Freedom”
d. “Absurdity” MCQs SET-5
4. Besides Gregor, who goes through a sort 1. Why does Gregor feel that he must keep
of metamorphosis of their own during the job he dislikes?
the story? a. His Grandmother’s rent
a. The father b. His father’s debt
b. The mother c. His sister’s schooling
c. The boarders d. His son’s piano lessons
d. The sister 2. How long does Gregor live as a bug after
5. The father’s dignity is symbolized by he is transformed?
___. a. Rest of his life
a. His cigarette case b. A day
b. His uniform c. A month
c. His walking stick d. Until his father dies
d. His pistol 3. Gregor’s father is forced to ___ after
Gregor’s transformation.
MCQs SET-4 a. Move to another city
1. Where was Franz Kafka born? b. Change his name
a. Prague c. Change his appearance
b. Moscow d. Return to work
c. Berlin 4. Who is the “charwoman”?
d. Warsaw a. Gregor’s grandmother
2. When Kafka was 28, what business did b. Gregor’s mother
his father pressure him into helping to c. Gregor’s cleaning lady
open? d. Gregor’s sister
a. A liquor store 5. What do the boarders in the Samsa
b. A tobacco farm house greatly value?
c. A paint-mixing plant a. Cleanliness
d. An asbestos factory b. Entertainment
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c. Money
d. Law and order