1. A Country Doctor
Franz Kafka

2. Summary
• Doctor loses his horse
• He needs to treat a young sick boy
• Meets groom in pigsty, and uses his horses to reach
patient
• The groom follows a scared Rosa into the house after he
sends off the doctor
• He arrives at the patients’ house, at first believing there
is nothing wrong then noticing the “rose red bloom”-
worms coming out of his side
• The doctor wants to return to check on Rosa, and
escapes without treating the patient

3. Existentialism (Alienation)
• He is the only doctor in the village
• The villagers have expectations of him
that he cannot fulfill
• No one understands his desire to return
home
• In the end, he’s in despair and alone’
– “my flourishing practice is lost; my successor
will rob me…the nasty groom is rampaging
through my house; Rosa is his victim.”

4. Existentialism (Absurdity)
• He randomly loses his horse
• The horses emerge from the pigsty, one
their knees like camels
• He has to climb into bed naked with the
patient for unknown reasons
• The audience is unsure if its real life or a
dream

5. Existentialism (Death)
• The sick patient, who is relying on the
doctor, is dying and he is not treated
• The villagers believe that he’s worthless if
he can’t save the boy and would deserve
to die
– “First undress him, then he’ll cure us, if he
doesn’t, then we’ll kill him! He’s a doctor, just
a doctor.”

6. Existentialism (Choice)
• There is a lack of choice/control throughout the
story, which brings him challenges
– Severe snowstorm
– Mysterious groom
– Dying patient
– Torment he feels for Rosa
• He is spurred on by the groom to leave Rosa, he
is unable to leave the patient to return, he can’t
stop the groom from raping Rosa

7. Religion
• The groomsman seems to possess devil-
like qualities (emerges from pigsty, brings
trouble to doctor)
• The villagers view the doctor with the
regard of worshippers to a god
• He is unauthoritative, and possesses no
god-like qualities
• The wounds is like Jesus’ wound