A careful and reflective reading of A Country Doctor unlocks the kind of society to which Franz Kafka (1883-1924) belonged. The first quarter of the twentieth century was a time most associated with uncertainties, meaninglessness and nothingness, especially for intellectuals seeking life's ultimate purpose, like Kafka (Kreis).
Many, if not all, intellectuals during this era tried to ask questions related to the human existence. Kafka was among the European existentialist thinkers who braved to raise questions on the meaning, if indeed there was, of life. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Kafka did not pose a direct question; rather, he used literary methods loaded with philosophical inquiries about the reality of human life during that time. A very perfect exposition on the reality of human existence that Kafka used is the literary article entitled, "A Country Doctor."
The story attempts to explore the value of human existence despite being at the brink of death, as seen in the opposing characters of the doctor and his patient. Kafka, more importantly, attempts to present what is supposed to be life's ordinary appearance into something extraordinary and surreal. Though he successfully presented a rather intellectual narrative based on the doctor's point of view, Kafka also faithfully presented the humanity of his intellectual discourse, as seen in the story itself and the characters.
In going into the detail of the story, the doctor encountered four challenges before he finally was able to successfully accomplish his mission. Just as the doctor battled with each and every challenge, he too was constantly being haunted by corresponding frustrations as he physically was willing to take the challenge, yet he was also being hindered by forces other than his own.
It was winter and the severe weather condition was his first obstacle in his deepest efforts to help a patient in need of his services. In frustration and helplessness, the doctor gave a rather negative and yet descriptive statement facing him right at that moment: "A severe snowstorm filled the space between him and me." Nonetheless the doctor moved on to look for other means, just so that he can attend to the needy patient.
Unfortunately, he realized that his horse died the night before and, so, here again the doctor is seemingly helpless. He was forced by his calling to help sick people, but he just can't traverse the space between him and the patient precisely because he was alone and the weather was terribly deadly. In an almost human way of expressing frustration, the doctor in his narration had this to say, "I kicked my foot against the cracked door of the pig sty."
Then, when everything seems ready, the doctor was again confronted, this time, by no less than his provider. He may have a batch of beautiful horses in his midst, but he was forced by his conscience to rescue Rosa, his servant. Though the doctor chooses his patient over Rosa, he was constantly reminded of her as seen throughout the story.
Finally, the doctor, no less than, was challenged by his own wrong judgment over the patient that he is not sick and the ironic willingness of the patient to die. Thin, without fever, not cold, not warm, with empty eyes, without a shirt, the young man under the stuffed quilt heaves himself up, hangs around my throat, and whispers in my ear, "Doctor, let me die."
There is a strong indication that Kafka's, "A Country Doctor," has nightmarish characteristics. The evidence is obviously strong given the fact that the story was composed during the time of profound shock brought about by wars and chaos in many places in Europe. Man was isolated and constantly subjected to unknown and terrifying forces - forces without direction, forces without control (Kreis). It was indeed a nightmare world and, as a consequence, Kafka projected this world in his stories, particularly in "A Country Doctor."
Kafka relates his story in a series of rational, realistic, recognizable images embedded in an almost, but not quite, nightmarish texture; and the story's form, its movement from phrase to phrase, sentence to sentence, scene to scene, is consistently logical (Leiter, 337).
The most dominant theme in "A Country Doctor" is the philosophical theory of existentialism. From the beginning to the end, Kafka exposes the reality of human life that most of us do not even bother to realize. The doctor, a profession very much associated with saving life, has been confronted with challenges, not only about saving himself in the merciless winter, but, importantly, he is challenged to save the life of a patient, whom he alone can save. The patient's wound, pictured in the story as a flower - a symbol of beauty - is a total negation of a painful reality that needs ultimate acceptance (Guth.
References
Guth, Hans P. Symbol and Contextual Restraint: 'Kafka's Country Doctor.' PLMA 80 (1965): Prenhall. Web. 28 Nov. 2009.
Kreis, Steven. The Existentialism Frame of Mind. The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe, 3 Aug. 2009. Web. 28 Nov. 2009.
Leiter, Louis H. A Problem in Analysis: Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor.' The Journal of Aesthetic and Art Criticism 16.3 (1958): 337-347. JSTOR. Web. 28 Nov. 2009.