Point of View

The writings of Franz Kafka, collected in "The Basic Kafka," are primarily told from a first or third person point of view. For the more traditional short stories that Kafka writes, he primarily relies on a third-person limited narrator, meaning the reader only has access to the narrator's thoughts about the action. For example, in "The Metamorphosis," Gregor Samsa is the primary focus, and we see his interactions with his family only through his own eyes. This technique allows the reader to get a better impression of Samsa's inner feelings about his family's treatment of him. Some of his shorter parables and stories also use this type of narration. However, in other short stories, such as "The Burrow," Kafka uses a first person limited narrator, who tells the story in his own words but does not have access to the thoughts of others. In a story...