Fun Trivia : Kafka, Franz

Structure Sub-topic of: Authors H-K Quizzes Interesting Questions, Facts and Information There are a total of 10 general entries. Special Topics Kafka's "Metamorphosis" The World of Kafka

Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

Kafka, Franz

In the Kafka novel "The Trial" Joseph K is offered help with his 'case' from an unusual extralegal source. What was the occupation of this person who offered to help Joseph K out with his case?

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The Court Painter. Titorelli the Court painter offered his services to Joseph K. He stated he could help him get an "ostensible acquittal" or "indefinite postponement" of his case but not a "not guilty" or "innocent' verdict because to his knowledge they did not exist.



In the short story "The Penal Colony", an inmate was being sentenced to death. What was his crime that earned this sentence?

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Not waking up every hour on the hour and saluting the door of the officer's home he was supposed to be guarding.. Yes, he was sentenced to death for not waking up and saluting the officer's door on the hour. How else can you keep discipline and order?



In the novel "The Trial" Joseph K opened an old lumber room at the bank where he worked, and to his surprise saw the two deputies who arrested him along with another man, also a court officer. What were they doing?

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The two deputies were being whipped by the third man, a court officer, for stealing Joseph K's breakfast and some of his clothes when they arrested him.. Only in a Kafka story would you run into this bizarre turn of events. The deputies begged Joseph K to help them and stop the whipping, and he in fact offered a bribe to the officer, who turned it down because he felt if he accepted it he would be the next one being whipped.



In the short story "The Metamorphosis " we all know that Gregor Samsa awoke and found that he had turned into a giant insect. What however was his occupation before this happened?

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He was a commercial traveller (salesman). Yes, Gregor was a salesman until that morning, supporting his mother, father, and sister, who eventually abandoned him. That's some gratitude.



In Kafka's short story "The Great Wall of China" what was the reason given for not building the Great Wall in a straight unbroken line but rather in short unconnected stretches that were gradually all connected together by continually filling in the gaps?

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Building the wall in a straight line would cause too many feelings of hopelessness and despair among the workmen who would believe it could never be finished.. In the story anyway, the fact was that the emperor or "high command" felt (probably correctly) that the workers would be overwhelmed at the size of the task if the wall was built from one end to the other. They decided on the piecemeal strategy, so that as the workers were moved from one location to the other they would be heartened and uplifted seeing the other portions of the wall going up all around them.



We all know in the short story " A Report to the Academy" that the "report" is given by an ape who through his own efforts became more human than ape, and indeed learned to speak and became accepted as a phenomenon. What part of the body did he state that apes construct their thoughts with?

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Their bellies.. Yes, as part of his lecture to the academy this ape stated that apes construct thoughts in their bellies.



In the short story "The Hunter Grachus", what problem did the hunter face?

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He was dead but could not get to the next world.. The poor hunter could only travel the earth on his ship, and could not make it to the next world because of an error of the ships pilot. He was doomed to wander the earth forever on his bier.