Resumo de Supernaturalism In Kafka's The Country Doctor

Franz Kafka?s A Country Doctor is one of Kafka?s shorter stories; however, this fact should not mislead the reader. This story has all the elements of a nightmare; it is surrealism in its finest form. Time, space and natural elements are all altered in this strange tale.

The story takes place in a rural setting. A Doctor is summoned to a poor family in a village some ten miles away from his home. Il-boding signs are present just before the doctor?s journey; he discovers that his horse has died during the night and a blinding snow storm has raged up in almost a matter of minutes. His servant girl, Rose, has gone looking to the neighbors for a horse for the doctor to borrow, but has no luck.

Magically, a strange man appears in the barn on all fours, he is asking the doctor if he should yoke up the two powerful horses that have just manifested out of thin air. A gleeful shout from a ghostly groom asking for assistance in harnessing the horses to the gig, prompts Rose to go and help. As she approaches, the groom tries to kiss her. Immediately, the doctor threatens to whip the man if he tries to molest Rose again and temporarily subdues him. Rose quickly flees to the house and locks the door. When the doctor decides that the groom is coming with him, the groom has other plans. He resists and announces that he is not going with him but staying with Rose. This announcement strikes fear within the doctor. Anguish rises up in the doctor?s heart for he knows that Rose will be raped while he is gone. Rose pleads with the good doctor not to leave her alone with this scoundrel. However, there is a strong supernatural force that is powerfully compelling the doctor to leave against his will.
As he is swept away, the last scene he witnesses is the groom breaking down the door and Rose screaming.

Blinded by the snow, the doctor is literally swept away by the same supernatural force that created the sudden snow storm. He has magically arrived in the yard of the sick family in a matter of seconds. The moment he arrives, the storm disappears. The night becomes clear with a midnight-blue sky and the moon and stars shining above. As the doctor descends from the gig, the parents of the sick man lift the doctor up and rush him through the door. T The air in the small house has a stench; it is thick with sickness and humidity. The young man who is sick has no fever but is gaunt and pale. He begs the doctor to let him die. Upon the first examination of the boy, the doctor finds nothing wrong. The boy?s father is pouring the doctor a glass of rum simultaneously while the sister is taking the doctor?s fur coat off. Meanwhile, the doctor?s two horses are poking their heads in the open window and neighing. This seems like a sign to the doctor that it is time to return home. He is worried about poor Rose.
The boy?s parents demand that the doctor cure their son. When the doctor examines the boy again, he notices a large wound in his side the size of the palm of a man?s hand. The wound is a deep red like some huge blossom with variations of deep red and pink throughout. On closer inspection, the doctor finds huge worms with white heads and many legs, inside the wound. The wound with its deep red and pink hues, reminds the doctor of Rose and her probable rape and he panics. As the doctor hurriedly tries to clean up the wound, the boy is pleading with the doctor to save his life now and the parents are greeting guests that have come to see how the boy is doing. The family of the boy and the village elders strip the doctor of his clothes. As they sing an old song of healing, like in some primitive age-old ritual, they take the naked doctor and place him on the bed of the boy and on the same side as his wound. They then stop singing and leave the room. The doctor manages to climb out the window and onto the gig, he is naked but is able to recover his fur coat. As he grabs the reins, he tries to get the horses to take flight but they are like old men and barely move. The story ends with the poor anxiety-ridden doctor trying to get the horses to move.

Kafka wrote The County Doctor around the late 19th century, when all around the world and especially in Europe, science was replacing religion as a new faith. He uses symbolism and metaphor to create a story of supernaturalism and fantasy. Symbolism gives the boy?s wound a double-meaning. It is not only a vivid red and pink wound but also a blossom that denotes sexuality like the name Rose. It represents the fusion of violence and sexuality, albeit Rose?s sexual assault. The doctor is viewed by the village people metaphorically like some quasi-religious figure, a doctor-priest or a shaman.

This story is still effective in creating horror in the mind of the reader. It is indeed one of Kafka?s finest.

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