The Unconscious Revealed: A Freudian Analysis of Kafka’s ‘A Country Doctor
Christopher Velez
Professor Alyssa Yankwitt
FIQWS 10008 (Writing Section)
11/2/23
The Unconscious Revealed: A Freudian Analysis of Kafka’s ‘A Country Doctor
Freud’s dream work and the painful journey in Franz Kafka’s short story “A Country’s doctor” revolves around a doctor. He gets called to an odd house at the beginning. Throughout the narrative, we learn that he is an experienced physician who has a passion for his patients and takes his work very seriously. Also throughout, these internal struggles and fears start to show. He serves as a metaphor for how life can occasionally be overwhelming and confusing because of his strong sense of loneliness and helplessness.. Using the story’s exploration of the unconscious mind; a dreamlike narrative; displacement; and condensation offer possible venues for insightful interpretation of his analysis. In addition, Freud’s theories help us understand the story better although Kafka most likely did not mean for it to have been interpreted in that way. Considering Kafka’s story has dreamlike aspects, Kafka’s story aligns with Sigmund Freud’s idea of dreamwork.
In this case, the manifest content consists of related events like the doctor’s visit with the patient. In order to understand the differences between manifest and latent content it is needed to know what they mean and according to Freud manifest content is “the distorted substitute for the unconscious dream thoughts and this distortion is the work of the ego’s forces of defense…” & the latent content is “the patient’s hidden complexes from his associations to his symptoms and memories”(Freud 2222). Despite this, the story’s latent content contains deeper psychological aspects. The doctor’s dream journey serves as a metaphor for his inner conflicts and anxieties. As he struggled with his powerlessness and need for authority, he displayed his emotions onto the horse. According to Freud’s theories, the doctor’s dream trip symbolizes his unconscious conflict and the unconscious reality. Moreover, the story suggests that condensation occurs Condensation is one of the methods by which the repressed returns in hidden ways. Moreover in the dream, he is forced to perform an impossible medical task for a young boy, which merges his feelings of helplessness, guilt, and control. Due to Freud’s dream theory, this overwhelming situation connects all of these complex feelings and anxieties, giving the story a tone similar of a nightmare.
Although there is a deeper message from the horse, despite it being the tangible object in the dream. To elaborate, the horse represents the doctor’s obsession with Rosa, or more precisely, his sexual urge for her. When the groom arrives with two horses that are described as having “powerful flanks,” “long legs,” and “their bodies streaming thickly,” the unnamed doctor encounters a problem with his horse that results in the horse being dead (Kafka1). Specifically, there is a sexual tone to the horse’s descriptions. A comparison between the groom’s and the unidentified doctor’s horses’ sexual structures and genitalia is made. favoring the groom’s description. “Dead”(Kafka2) refers to either his lack of sexual drive or the fact that his sexual standing isn’t as strong and visually appealing as the groom’s. In short, Freud’s dream work concepts both manifest and latent content are applied to “A Country Doctor” through the horse’s metaphor.
Furthermore, by using displacement and condensation, Freud’s dream work concepts can also be used to further interpret and comprehend Franz Kafka’s “A Country Doctor.”, The sick boy asks the doctor if he can save him as the doctor continues to examine him towards the middle of the story. At the end of the story, we learn that the doctor was unable to save the sick boy, On his way out, he believes that Rose may have been raped or even seduced into falling in love with the groom. This demonstrates displacement and condensation because he states, “Naked, exposed to the frost of this most unhappy of ages, with an earthly vehicle, unearthly horses, old man that I am, I wander astray”(Kafka2 ). Moreover, he believes that he is a shame, pathetic, useless, and unworthy of Rose’s love because he lacks physical attractiveness, is unable to save Rose from the groom, and is unable to heal the boy’s wound. In addition, he worries that the groom’s sexual appeal and stature may cause Rose to develop feelings for him.
Lastly, A Country Doctor by Franz Kafka is an intriguing narrative that examines the human mind through the perspective of Freudian analysis. Freud’s theories on dreamwork, condensation, displacement, and manifest and latent content provide a good basis for exploring the narrative from the psychological perspective. Although Kafka may not have purposely written his story as a Freudian analysis, the parallels between Freud’s theories and “A Country Doctor” show how psychoanalytic concepts can be applied anywhere to help understand the complexity of human behavior.
Freud, Sigmund. Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. W.W. Norton & Co, Inc., 1961. Semantic
Kafka, Franz, et al. “A Country Doctor”. Selected Short Stories of Franz Kafka
(Modern Library). Reissue, Modern Library, 1993. bbhosted.Cuny.edu/bbcswebday/CTY01_FIQWS_HA8_12/19_1/A%20Country20%
Doctor.pdf.
