Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka Biography

Franz Kafka born in Prague, July 3, 1883, the son of Hermann and Julie Kafka. The oldest, he had three suriving younger sisters. Valli, Elli, and Ottla. His father was a self-made middle class Jewish merchant, who raised his children in the hopes of assimilating them into the mainstream society of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The official ruling language of the empire was German, so Franz attended German grammar school (Volksschule am Fleischmarkt), and later the German Gymnasium (Altstädter Deutsches Gymnasium). He finished his Doctorate of Law in Prague, studying at the German language University (Die deutsche Universität) there. He initially gained employment at a private insurance firm Assicurazioni Generali and then with the Arbeiter-Unfall-Versicherungs-Anstalt für das Königreichs Böhmen in Prag

His Job at the Worker's Accident Insurance provided him with a steady income and "regular" office hours, so that he could dedicate his evenings to writing. His diaries contain continuing accounts of his restlessness and sleeplessness as he would work all night writing, only to return to the office for the next day of work, throughly exhausted.
Although he spoke and wrote Czech fluently throughout his life, his literary work was all completed in German.

He is known to have started writing at an early age, but all of his earliest attempts were later destroyed. His first pulished work came in 1907, and he continued to publish throughout the next seventeen years, but most of his works were published posthumously by his friend Max Brod.

Kafka's relationship to his father dominates all discussions of both his life and his work. See his Brief an den Vater to get a feel for the relationship between the thin, intellectual, and awkward Franz, and the robust, loud, and corporal Father. The ideas of "father" and "family" permeate the fabric of many of Kafka's texts, either directly as in Das Urteil or Die Verwandlung or more abstractly as in the cases of his two novels Der Proceß and Das Schloß (which remained unpublished during his lifetime).

Source: http://www.pitt.edu/~kafka/kafkabio.html

Analysis:

A REPORT TO AN ACADEMY is a piece of literature which focuses on man’s struggle for survival and his journey on finding his place in the society. Though it is ambiguously written, it can be deduce that its main point is heading towards man’s realization of his goal towards his totality. It describes the hurtful and tragic events that the ape encountered in his life. The story is also rammed down by the idea of confinement and inequality, which is seen on the moment the ape was caged on a ship with rudeness revolving in his atmosphere. The ape itself symbolizes a beginner, a neophyte, a child, that is being victimized by the illnesses of society. Sad, heartbreaking and melancholic – that is the best way to describe the first part of the story.

On the latter part, the ape finds its way to get out of his distressful existence because he already learned the concept of ego, freedom, self-reservation and progress. The story gives a clear distinction between a man and an ape and a man with a man. It also considered that in order for any creature to grow, many external and internal factors are involved. External includes the environment and society while internal is the self or the mental and emotional structure of man himself.

To survive in any society, one needs to get out of the cocoon, and fly. How can progress be achieved if you are confined in your own dungeon? Like the ape that though being misled and confused he managed to find his way out and triumph over the uncertainties.

Lessons are learned in an odd way, the going gets tough, but being tough you should get going, development and success cannot be achieved overnight, it takes a lot of hardships and struggles. There are times that the society will make fun of you, circumstances will play with your fortune, influences are just inches away, but know the virtue of courage, dictate your fate and if ever you’ve reached the stars, be a light to influence and help others.

The story imparts knowledge on getting through the odds, on surviving the misery, on knowing how to deal with influences, moreover, it simply inspires. To sum up, “A Report To An Academy” is not only on development, it teaches on how to be a real human – that is in an adjectival sense.

Plot:

In a scientific academy, a former ape presents his report regarding his experiences and struggles. Less than five years ago, he was shot and captured in the jungles of West Africa. He was caged on a ship on his way to Europe and he realized that there was no way out. Even if he should get out of his cage, he knew there would be no way to go back home.

His keen observation on the way of living of the crew and the other people around made it easy for him to imitate them. Finally, the ape realized that the only way to escape from the zoo was to become human and so he did.

Summary:

The narrator, speaking before a scientific conference, describes the life he formerly led as an ape. His story begins in a juggle in a West African jungle, in which a hunting expedition sent out by the firm of Hagenbeck shoots and captures him. On his way to Europe, he finds himself “pinned down,” without the freedom to move as he will. Needing to escape from this situation, he studies the habit of the crew, learns the way of human being and copy imitate them with surprising ease. The first things he learned were to give a handshake, to spit in other’s faces and smoke a pipe. He reports encountering particular difficulty only in learning to drink alcohol.

One of the ship’s crew acted as his teacher and helped him learn all of those things. Another surprising event was when he called a brief and unmistakable ”Hallo!” before a large circle of spectators.

Upon arriving in Europe, the ape had to choose between the Zoological Garden and the Music Hall. He shows his utmost to get onto the variety stage because the Zoological Gardens means only a new cage. He devotes himself to becoming human so that he can gain his way out by performing. He undergoes trainings and accomplishes this with the help of many teachers, becoming more confident of his abilities, as the public took an interest in his progress. The narrator reports to the academy that his transformation is so complete that he can no longer properly describe his emotions and experiences as an ape. As a conclusion, the ape expresses a degree of satisfaction with his destiny.

Setting:

Inside a cage on a ship

- it was not a four-sided barred cage; it was only a three-sided cage nailed to a locker; the locker made the fourth side of it. The whole construction was too low to stand up in and too narrow to sit down in.