Amerika: The Missing Person

Karl Rossmann proves an innocent man lacking street smarts. This characterization is quickly established through the loss of his suitcase as well as his interactions with the stoker. Upon asking the stoker why he doesn’t just speak to Schubal himself, Karl feels worse than before because the other man considers this useless advice. Karl does not yet realize how the world works, still believing that goodness and honesty win the day. His vacillations from hope to despair are presented in the form of internal monologues. These vacillations govern how Karl interacts with the world and often cause him to overthink situations and make mistakes.

As Karl cycles between hope and despair, adoption and abandonment, he learns more about himself. The novel is propelled by this pattern—providing a sense of intention that balances its meandering sensibility. The novel’s cyclical nature is also reflected in subtle moments such as Karl reading about a man who “spent his days working in a business and his nights studying, and in the end he became a doctor” (6)—a man who resembles a neighbor at Brunelda and Delamarche’s apartment (Chapter 7). Such connections reveal that Franz Kafka likely intended Amerika to be far more structured than it is.

Speaking of connections (or there lack of), Karl has little instinct for social situations. This trait is evident in an anecdote of Karl’s father, whom Karl recalls gave cigars to junior employees to curry favor with them (7). Karl wishes he could give the stoker some salami because “his sort are easily won over by some small present” (7). He sees his father as an example to follow rather than realizing this sort of manipulative behavior is transparent, especially to streetwise people such as the stoker. Karl still idealizes his parents despite them banishing him.

Karl’s rootlessness is connected to his difficult relationship with his parents and the burden he feels from disappointing them. His inability to compartmentalize family matters and work, or follow the rules of social hierarchy, causes him trouble. The very incident that led to Karl’s exile to America (impregnating a family employee) illustrates his confusion and boundary-crossing.

The fragmentation of family is captured in many ways. Karl quickly takes a liking to the stoker because he feels he will not “find a better friend in a hurry” (5). The stoker functions as a temporary father figure, and Karl feels dejected upon leaving him. He is uncertain as to whether or not his blood relative, Edward Jakob, will be able to replace the stoker in his heart.

The scene in which the stoker attempts to air his grievances to the captain and chief cashier echoes a later one at the Hotel Occidental (Chapter 6). The stoker is treated in a degrading manner, just as Karl will be later on. The captain is inclined to believe the stoker over Schubal, but the latter fumbles his opportunity. Work-oriented scenes in which people of different social statuses interact follow a pattern of “triangulation”—two listeners judging a low-ranking employee. This echoes a dynamic similar to that of a dysfunctional family. This connection between family and work is reiterated in the unfair judgments passed onto workers, which is similar to Karl’s exile by his parents.

Upon departing with his uncle, Karl looks back at the ship in sadness. Through his kinship with the stoker and attempts to help him improve his situation, Karl makes a social faux-pas. His ignorance leads him to cross the entrenched class boundaries that form the backbone of American society. The shift in Karl’s treatment once his relation to Jakob is revealed shows just how much class determines one’s fate: The dismissive captain and other passengers suddenly act kind to Karl, putting American society’s obsession with status on full display.

Through a window, Karl sees everyone who witnessed his reunion with Jakob, but “[i]t really was as though there was no stoker” (27). Karl is struck by the fleeting nature of life in America: His connection with the stoker vanishes the moment his fortune takes a turn. Karl’s homesickness is evident in his tears. It is not clarified whether Karl is sad because he misses home, or sad because he misses the stoker. For Karl, with his child-like emotionalism, these feelings might be one and the same.