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Section 1: Chapter I, "The Stoker"

• The following version of this book was used to create this Lesson Plan: Kafka, Franz. Amerika. Translated by Mark Harman. Schocken Books, 2008. First Paperback Edition.

• Chapter I, "The Stoker," opens as Karl Rossmann, 17, sails into New York Harbor aboard a passenger ship.

• Karl has been sent to America by his parents after a sexual encounter between Karl and a servant resulted in the servant's pregnancy.

• He sees the Statue of Liberty; the statue holds a sword in her upraised hand.

• Karl asks a shipboard acquaintance to watch his trunk for him while he goes below to retrieve his umbrella.

• He finds that the route he is used to walking is blocked by disembarking passengers, and he ends up getting lost as he winds his way through a maze of corridors and small rooms.

• He knocks at random on a door and goes in...

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