A Reaction Paper On A Country Doctor English Literature Essay

A Reaction Paper On A Country Doctor English Literature Essay Franz Kafka’s A country doctor is a story about a doctor who is called upon in the middle of the night to attend to a seriously ill young man .Hampered by lack of transport means and extreme weather conditions, the doctor is at pains to come up with solutions to his problems. This essay paper will attempt to systematically examine the challenges and frustrations that the doctor encounters as the story unfolds. This essay will also answer the questions as to why the story may be referred to as a nightmare as well as explore the major themes brought out in this artistic tale that is indeed a replica of Franz Kafka’s generation and the current modern society. Challenges and Frustrations The doctor is in a dilemma He is challenged by the fact that he has no means of transport to take him to the home of the gravely ill young man, ten miles away. The doctor’s horse had died due to the icy winter. â€Å"My own horse had died the previous night as a result of overexert ion in this icy winter.† The doctor is frustrated at this point because no one in  Ã‚   the village was willing to assist him. â€Å"My servant girl was at that very moment running around the village to see if she could borrow a horse but it was hopeless-I knew that.† Out of frustration the doctor risks hurting himself by kicking the pigsty’s door. â€Å"I kicked my foot against the cracked door of the pigsty which had not been used for years.† The severe weather conditions pose a challenge to the doctor too. He has to endure the chilly snowstorm to go and attend to a patient. The doctor says, â€Å"A severe snowstorm filled the space between him and me.† The doctor does not hide his dilemma when he says, † I stood there useless ,increasingly covered by snow , becoming all the time immobile.† After treating the sick young man the doctor attempts to make his way home but the once strong and fat horses are old and tired, they move at a s low rate at which the doctor feels he will never reach home. Consider, â€Å"We dragged slowly through the snowy desert like old men.† The doctor is evidently frustrated when he says, â€Å"I’ll never come home at this rate. He becomes sad when he thinks of his home which was occupied by the Groom. â€Å"In my house the disgusting groom is wreaking havoc, Rosa is his victim.† The third challenge that the doctor encounters is the Groom. The doctor does not know how to deal with this stranger. First, when the groom brutally bites Rosa on her cheeks, the doctor only threatens the groom with words and calms down at once because he wanted to borrow a horse from the groom. At that moment, the doctor is almost the groom’s slave. The groom eventually offers his horses to the doctor but decides to stay with Rosa instead of traveling with the doctor.   The doctor is therefore at crossroads. He does not know whether he should stay and protect Rosa from the brutal groom or go ahead and attend to the seriously ill Youngman. The doctor chose the later. However, as the story unfolds the frustrations of the doctor concerning this decision become apparent. Consider, â€Å"I had to sacrifice Rosa as well, this beautiful girl, who lives in my house all year long and whom I scarcely notice-this sacrifice is too great.†