Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka Study questions

The Metamorphosis
The Judgment

Facts about Franz Kafka

➾ Kafka requested his long-time friend Max Brod to burn all his letters, diaries, and unpublished manuscripts, but Brod ignored him and published them posthumously.

➾ His famous novella The Metamorphosis features a man who wakes up one morning transformed into a giant insect.

➾ He worked full-time as a clerk for an accident insurance office, composing his entire literary oeuvre largely in his spare time.

➾ While working in insurance, he implemented policy changes credited with saving the lives of numerous workers.

➾ He was engaged and disengaged twice to Felice Bauer over five years, maintaining the relationship mostly through letters.

➾ He fathered a son with Grete Bloch, a relationship he kept brief, and he never knew about the child, who died young.

➾ Haunted by his father’s powerful build, Kafka pursued various diets and health regimens to improve his own physique.

➾ His “Letter to His Father,” a deep analysis of their conflict, was given to his mother but never actually reached his father.

➾ He belonged to a doubly marginalized group in Prague—German-speaking Jews—who were neither fully German nor Czech.

➾ All three of his most famous novels (The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika) were left unfinished and in disarray upon his death.

➾ He found true independence and lived with a woman he was not related to (Dora Dymant) for the first time in his life just before he died in 1924.

Franz Kafka MCQs

1. What is Franz Kafka best known for combining in his signature literary sensibility?

A. Romanticism, classicism, realism
B. Allegory, realism, history
C. Realism, absurdism, surrealism, humor
D. Gothic, satire, stream

C. Realism, absurdism, surrealism, humor
Kafka’s unique style blends mundane reality with bizarre, dreamlike, and absurd situations.

2. Kafka’s thematic interests include alienation, guilt, existentialism, and what other pervasive concept often seen in his work?

A. Industrial automation
B. Oppressive bureaucracy
C. Revolutionary politics
D. Religious dogma

B. Oppressive bureaucracy
His work often features characters lost in vast, impersonal, and illogical bureaucratic systems.

3. What was Franz Kafka’s profession after he completed his legal education?

A. University professor
B. Self-made storekeeper
C. Insurance company clerk
D. Political journalist

C. Insurance company clerk
He worked at an insurance institute, a job that gave him direct experience with bureaucracy.

4. Where was Franz Kafka born?

A. Vienna
B. Budapest
C. Prague
D. Berlin

C. Prague
He was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, the capital of Bohemia.
5. How did Kafka manage to compose his oeuvre (body of work)?

A. Full-time writer, family funded.
B. In spare time due to full-time insurance work.
C. Took long leaves to write.
D. Wrote only in sanatoriums.

B. In spare time due to full-time insurance work.
His writing was confined to his spare time, mostly late at night, after his demanding office job.

6. Who was responsible for compiling, editing, and publishing most of Kafka’s writing posthumously, despite Kafka’s request that the manuscripts be burned?

A. Dora Dymant
B. Hermann Kafka
C. Felice Bauer
D. Max Brod

D. Max Brod
His friend Max Brod defied his wishes, believing the work was too important to destroy.

7. Which of the following novels did Kafka request his literary executor to burn?

A. The Trial, Amerika, The Man Who Disappeared
B. Metamorphosis, Judgment, Castle
C. Country Doctor, Penal Colony, Before the Law
D. Description of a Fight, Report to an Academy

A. The Trial, Amerika, The Man Who Disappeared
He requested all his unpublished manuscripts, including his major novels, be burned.

8. What ultimately led to Kafka’s widespread popularity and established his prominence as an influential figure of twentieth-century literature?

A. Initial public readings.
B. Publications during his lifetime.
C. Posthumous publications
D. Policy changes as a lawyer.

C. Posthumous publications
His fame rests almost entirely on the works Max Brod published after Kafka’s death.

9. What specific condition characterized the German-speaking Jews of Prague, including Kafka, in relation to the local population?

A. Fully assimilated into Czech culture.
B. “Doubly outsiders” (German speakers in Czech city)
C. Comprised the population majority.
D. Non-believers who rejected assimilation.

B. “Doubly outsiders” (German speakers in Czech city)
They were isolated from the Czech-speaking majority and distinct from the Austrian rulers.
10. What was the primary origin of the neurótic tension found in Kafka’s writing?

A. Isolation in an ivory tower.
B. The events of his life
C. Study of quantum theory.
D. Service during World War I.

B. The events of his life
His personal life, including family conflicts and isolation, was the main source of his literary themes.

11. Kafka’s ambivalent take on authority, characterized by the ability to respect, rebel against it, and blame himself, is primarily traced back to his relationship with whom?

A. Max Brod
B. Felice Bauer
C. Hermann Kafka (his father)
D. Milena Jesenska

C. Hermann Kafka (his father)
His domineering father created a lifelong complex regarding authority, guilt, and self-blame.

12. How did Kafka’s father, Hermann Kafka, regard his son’s writing?

A. Highly respected profession.
B. Enthusiastic early editor.
C. Waste of time; thought Franz a disappointment.
D. Encouraged full-time writing.

C. Waste of time; thought Franz a disappointment.
His father viewed his literary pursuits as a failure, preferring a practical business career.

13. What specific action did Kafka take while working at the insurance office that benefited others?

A. Compiled letters with Brod.
B. Policy changes that saved workers’ lives.
C. Published brochure on proletariat.
D. Wrote “The Judgment” in one sitting.

B. Policy changes that saved workers’ lives.
Despite his literary focus, he was a diligent employee who advocated for better worker safety.

14. Which year is cited as a breakthrough year for Kafka, during which he wrote “The Judgment,” “The Metamorphosis,” and much of Amerika?

A. 1905
B. 1912
C. 1919
D. 1922

B. 1912
1912 was a period of intense creative energy, producing some of his most iconic works.
15. What characterized Kafka’s relationship with Felice Bauer after they met in 1912?

A. Married immediately, moved to Berlin.
B. Engaged/disengaged twice (5 years), little physical contact.
C. Had a son who died young.
D. Deep relationship-by-letter (two years).

B. Engaged/disengaged twice (5 years), little physical contact.
Their five-year relationship was agonizing, conducted mostly through letters, and ended twice.

16. Which of Kafka’s novels, though unfinished, is noted as the only one with a written ending?

A. The Castle
B. Amerika
C. The Metamorphosis
D. The Trial

D. The Trial
Although chapters were unfinished, Kafka wrote the final chapter detailing Joseph K.’s execution.

17. What disease was Kafka diagnosed with around the time he finally broke off his engagement to Felice Bauer?

A. Influenza
B. Pneumonia
C. Tuberculosis
D. Typhoid

C. Tuberculosis
His 1917 tuberculosis diagnosis ended his engagement and led to his early retirement.

18. What significant piece of writing, cataloging his view of his relationship with his father, did Kafka write in 1919?

A. The Judgment
B. The Metamorphosis
C. Letter to His Father
D. The Trial

C. Letter to His Father
This lengthy, unsent letter details his feelings of inadequacy and fear toward his domineering father.

19. Which novel, written around 1922, features power described in the form of “benign indifference”?

A. The Trial
B. The Castle
C. Amerika
D. The Metamorphosis

B. The Castle
In *The Castle*, the protagonist K. is thwarted by a vast, indifferent, and unreachable bureaucracy.
20. Who was Dora Dymant, whom Kafka met and moved to Berlin with late in his life?

A. His mother.
B. His second fiancée.
C. His literary executor.
D. Companion; lived with her independently for the first time.

D. Companion; lived with her independently for the first time.
Dora Dymant was his final companion, with whom he shared a brief period of happiness and independence.

21. What happened to Kafka’s later dream of moving to Tel Aviv with Dora Dymant?

A. They successfully moved there.
B. Covered by “black cloak of futility” as TB worsened.
C. Postponed by army draft.
D. Father disapproved, forced stay in Prague.

B. Covered by “black cloak of futility” as TB worsened.
His worsening tuberculosis made his final dream of moving to Palestine impossible.

22. During his lifetime, Kafka had an audience of admirers primarily within which group?

A. Czech nationalists.
B. English novelists.
C. Small circle of German-reading intellectuals.
D. Workers from the insurance company.

C. Small circle of German-reading intellectuals.
Only a small intellectual circle, mainly in Prague, recognized his genius while he was alive.

23. From what group of writers is Franz Kafka considered the most important prose writer?

A. Vienna School of Literature.
B. The Prague Circle
C. Bohemian Realists.
D. Berlin Modernists.

B. The Prague Circle
He is the most prominent and influential prose writer associated with this German-language literary group.

24. Where is Kafka’s tiny flat, which is a major attraction today for those seeking traces of the author, located?

A. In the Jewish ghetto.
B. On Alchemists’ Lane behind Hradschin Castle.
C. In Berlin with Dora Dymant.
D. Near sister Ottla’s farm.

B. On Alchemists’ Lane behind Hradschin Castle.
This tiny house, where he wrote for a time, remains a popular tourist site in Prague.
25. What characteristic is given as the secret behind the enormous appeal of Kafka’s simple, sober, and dense language?

A. Resemblance to mainstream German.
B. Elevated, complex metaphors.
C. No gap between spoken/written word (Prague German).
D. Direct translation from Czech.

C. No gap between spoken/written word (Prague German).
His “Prague German” was a pure, unadorned language, giving his prose its unique, clear, and dense quality.

26. What traumatic childhood factor is cited as a cause of young Franz’s early seriousness and anxiety?

A. Raised by a tyrannical father.
B. Brought up by a nurse; lack of home life.
C. Forced to study law.
D. Outbreak of World War I.

B. Brought up by a nurse; lack of home life.
His parents’ focus on their business meant he was raised by servants, leading to early feelings of isolation.

27. What fundamental philosophical belief did Kafka express as early as 1905 in his “Description of a Fight”?

A. Necessity of totalitarian rule.
B. Man can obtain certainty via intellect.
C. Denial of man’s ability to obtain certainty (sensory/intellectual).
D. Triumph of reason over chaos.

C. Denial of man’s ability to obtain certainty (sensory/intellectual).
This early work already contains his core theme of skepticism about finding ultimate truth or certainty.

28. According to Kafka’s philosophy, what happens when a character appears to have found a boundary between reality and the realm of dreams?

A. Achieve metaphysical certainty.
B. Enter into the law.
C. Turns out it’s only something to cling to against chaos.
D. Communicate important messages.

C. Turns out it’s only something to cling to against chaos.
In his work, any perceived boundary is illusory and just a temporary defense against underlying chaos.

29. When did Kafka first meet Max Brod?

A. 1912
B. 1922
C. 1902
D. 1883

C. 1902
He met Max Brod while both were students at Charles University, beginning a lifelong friendship.
30. In the years until 1912, Kafka familiarized himself with far-reaching new ideas, including the theories of Einstein, Planck, and which psychoanalyst?

A. Carl Jung
B. Sigmund Freud
C. Franz Brentano
D. Soren Kierkegaard

B. Sigmund Freud
He engaged with new scientific and philosophical ideas, including Freud’s revolutionary psychoanalysis.

31. According to his own conviction, when did Kafka’s literary productivity reach a peak?

A. During law education.
B. When anxiety over marrying Felice reached a climax.
C. After TB was cured.
D. After moving to Berlin.

B. When anxiety over marrying Felice reached a climax.
His intense anxiety about his engagement to Felice Bauer fueled his most productive creative periods.

32. What themes assumed the mysterious qualities of an ineffable god in works like The Trial and The Castle?

A. The literary executor.
B. The importance of marriage.
C. The father figure
D. The search for a new language.

C. The father figure
His complex relationship with his father was transformed into the abstract, god-like authorities in his novels.

33. Which Danish philosopher did Kafka begin reading in 1913, whose views on the inadequacy of rationality to comprehend Divinity paralleled Kafka’s own radical skepticism?

A. Friedrich Nietzsche
B. Soren Kierkegaard
C. Arthur Schopenhauer
D. Fyodor Dostoevsky

B. Soren Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard’s existentialist philosophy deeply resonated with Kafka’s own views on faith and uncertainty.

34. What is the central difference between Kafka’s hero in “Before the Law” and Kierkegaard’s dilemma?

A. Kierkegaard: political; Kafka: marriage.
B. Kierkegaard has God’s presence; Kafka’s man has no guidance/faces uncertainty.
C. Kafka enters law; Kierkegaard rejects it.
D. Kafka religious; Kierkegaard non-believer.

B. Kierkegaard has God’s presence; Kafka’s man has no guidance/faces uncertainty.
Kierkegaard’s man must leap toward God; Kafka’s man faces an uncertain and silent authority.
35. Which story reflects Kafka’s feeling of sheer horror and disgust with politicians in power at the outbreak of World War I?

A. The Judgment
B. A Report to an Academy
C. In the Penal Colony
D. The Metamorphosis

C. In the Penal Colony
This brutal story of an automated execution machine reflected his horror at the mechanism of war.

36. What autobiographical detail links Kafka’s life to the plot of The Trial, where Joseph K. is executed on the eve of his thirty-first birthday?

A. Began studying Hebrew.
B. Decided to break off first engagement on his thirty-first birthday.
C. Received TB diagnosis.
D. Wrote “Letter to His Father.”

B. Decided to break off first engagement on his thirty-first birthday.
The “judgment” and “execution” in *The Trial* mirror his own decisive, painful break from Felice.

37. What is the symbolic description of modern man living outside a binding universal order in the title story of the volume A Country Doctor?

A. Lost in bureaucracy.
B. Brought to death by sensuality and aimlessness.
C. Transformation into an insect.
D. Starving oneself in public.

B. Brought to death by sensuality and aimlessness.
The doctor is destroyed by his lack of faith and inability to act, symbolizing modern aimlessness.

38. What is the subject of the parable “The Imperial Message”?

A. Terrifying description of messages failing to pass bureaucracy.
B. The dilemma of seeking faith.
C. Farmer seeking redemption.
D. Life of the hunter Gracchus.

A. Terrifying description of messages failing to pass bureaucracy.
It describes the impossibility of a divine message ever reaching its human recipient through endless bureaucracy.

39. The hero of which 1922 story starves himself because he cannot find the spiritual food he requires?

A. The Castle
B. Investigations of a Dog
C. A Hunger Artist
D. The Judgment

C. “A Hunger Artist”
The artist starves because no food (spiritual or physical) in the world satisfies him.
40. What was Kafka’s stance on Judaism late in his life?

A. Deeply orthodox believer.
B. Never fully accepted Judaism, learned Hebrew, dreamed of Palestine.
C. Completely uninterested.
D. Rejected traditions after meeting Dymant.

B. Never fully accepted Judaism, learned Hebrew, dreamed of Palestine.
He developed a deep interest in his heritage, but his relationship with it remained complex and ambivalent.

41. What ultimately led to Kafka’s widespread popularity?

A. Initial public readings.
B. Publications during his lifetime.
C. Posthumous publications
D. Policy changes as a lawyer.

C. Posthumous publications
His fame rests almost entirely on the works Max Brod published after Kafka’s death.

42. What was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia at the time of Kafka’s birth?

A. Prague
B. Vienna
C. Czech Republic
D. Hradschin

A. Prague
He was born in Prague, which was then the capital of Bohemia and part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

43. What did Kafka dream aimlessly of becoming at his sister Ottla’s farm?

A. Editor or publisher.
B. Professor of law.
C. Potato farmer or moving to Palestine.
D. Politician or diplomat.

C. Potato farmer or moving to Palestine.
These dreams represented his desire for a simpler, more authentic life away from Prague.

44. What happened to the “Letter to His Father” (1919)?

A. Published immediately.
B. Reached Hermann Kafka.
C. Never reached father (gave it to mother).
D. Max Brod published it.

C. Never reached father (gave it to mother).
He gave the letter to his mother to deliver, but she never gave it to his father.
45. In addition to German, Czech, and Jewish heritages, what other element contributed to Kafka’s background due to Prague’s history as a major second capital?

A. Russian
B. French
C. Austrian
D. Polish

C. Austrian
As part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Prague’s culture was heavily influenced by Austrian bureaucracy.

46. What caused the friction between Kafka’s parents, Hermann Kafka and Julie Lowy?

A. Hermann wealthy, Julie poor.
B. Marriage arranged by Max Brod.
C. Socio-economic/educational differences (Hermann poor Czech, Julie wealthy German-Jewish).
D. Hermann’s disinterest in literature.

C. Socio-economic/educational differences (Hermann poor Czech, Julie wealthy German-Jewish).
His father was a self-made man from a poor background, while his mother came from a wealthier, educated family.

47. To what extent did Kafka join literary or social circles during his lifetime?

A. Actively participated with Brod/fiancées.
B. Avoided them, remained an outcast for literary productivity.
C. Founded the Prague Circle.
D. Joined only for writing recognition.

B. Avoided them, remained an outcast for literary productivity.
He consciously avoided literary circles, believing his productivity depended on isolation.

48. What contribution did Max Brod make to Kafka’s early career before his death?

A. Gave him high-ranking job.
B. Introduced him to Kierkegaard.
C. Encouraged readings to small private audiences.
D. Helped him move to Berlin.

C. Encouraged readings to small private audiences.
Brod was a crucial supporter, arranging small readings that helped Kafka gain some recognition.

49. Which philosophy intensified Kafka’s interest in themes of suffering, punishment, and judgment?

A. Freud’s experiments.
B. Planck’s quantum theory.
C. The philosophy of Franz Brentano
D. Camus’s existentialism.

C. The philosophy of Franz Brentano
Brentano’s ideas about the inability of concepts to explain moral action fueled Kafka’s themes.
50. What is the subject of the parable “The Imperial Message”?

A. Terrifying description of messages failing to pass bureaucracy.
B. The dilemma of seeking faith.
C. Farmer seeking redemption.
D. Life of the hunter Gracchus.

A. Terrifying description of messages failing to pass bureaucracy.
It describes the impossibility of a divine message ever reaching its human recipient through endless bureaucracy.

The Judgment MCQs

MCQs The Judgement Franz Kafka

The Judgment MCQs

1. Where was Georg Bendemann sitting on that Sunday morning?

A. In the sitting room of his house
B. In his own room on the first floor
C. At the writing desk in his father’s office
D. On the bridge beside the river

B. In his own room on the first floor
Georg is in his own room, sealing a letter, a setting of bourgeois comfort and isolation.

2. What was Georg Bendemann’s occupation?

A. A writer
B. A lawyer
C. A merchant
D. A journalist

C. A merchant
He is a merchant who has successfully taken over his father’s business, symbolizing his worldly success.

3. Where was Georg’s old friend living?

A. Moscow
B. Berlin
C. St. Petersburg
D. Kiev

C. St. Petersburg
The friend lives in Russia, a distant place representing isolation, failure, and an alternative life.

4. What was the state of the friend’s business in Russia?

A. Flourishing greatly, better than expected
B. Flourished at first but had been going downhill
C. Microscopic but stable
D. Recently closed down

B. Flourished at first but had been going downhill
His friend’s failing business contrasts sharply with Georg’s own commercial success in Prague.
5. What did Georg consider advising his friend to do?

A. To start a new branch of trade
B. To come home and take up old friendships
C. To marry a Russian woman
D. To liquidate his business and move to Moscow

B. To come home and take up old friendships
Georg debates this, but decides it would be humiliating for his friend to return as a failure.

6. According to Georg’s internal monologue, what made giving advice kindly more offensive?

A. It implied all his friend’s efforts had miscarried.
B. It suggested Georg was doing better than him.
C. It forced the friend to rely on strangers.
D. It would make the friend envy Georg’s home life.

A. It implied all his friend’s efforts had miscarried.
Georg believes such advice would only highlight his friend’s failure and make him feel “put upon.”
7. What significant event happened in Georg’s life two years before the story began?

A. His business had begun to flourish.
B. He became engaged to Fräulein Frieda Brandenfeld.
C. His father retired from the business.
D. His mother had died.

D. His mother had died.
His mother’s death led to his father’s decline and Georg’s rise in the family business.

8. How did Georg’s business develop during the two years after his mother’s death?

A. The staff was halved, turnover was steady.
B. The staff was doubled, turnover was five times as great.
C. The staff decreased, but progress lay ahead.
D. It had gone downhill, like his friend’s business.

B. The staff was doubled, turnover was five times as great.
Georg’s business success is a key marker of his new adult life, which he hesitates to share.

9. What kind of news did Georg confine himself to writing to his friend?

A. Detailed financial reports
B. News of the political situation at home
C. Unimportant items of gossip
D. Detailed plans for his upcoming wedding

C. Unimportant items of gossip
He only sends trivial news, believing his friend is too isolated to understand his real life.
10. How long before the Sunday morning had Georg himself got engaged?

A. Three years ago
B. Six months ago
C. One month ago
D. Two years ago

C. One month ago
His recent engagement is the specific news he is finally writing to his friend about.

11. What was the name of Georg’s fiancée?

A. Fräulein Brand
B. Fräulein St. Petersburg
C. Fräulein Frieda Brandenfeld
D. Fräulein Bendemann

C. Fräulein Frieda Brandenfeld
Frieda’s status as a “girl from a well-to-do family” further solidifies Georg’s conventional success.

12. What right did Georg’s fiancée assert regarding the friend?

A. The right to demand that he move home.
B. The right to attend the wedding without him.
C. The right to choose a new friend for Georg.
D. The right to know all of Georg’s friends.

D. The right to know all of Georg’s friends.
Her conventional expectation that she should know his friend forces Georg to confront his deception.

13. Why had Georg not entered his father’s room for months?

A. They had quarreled about the business.
B. He saw his father daily at business and meals.
C. The room was always locked.
D. His mother’s mementos made him sad.

B. He saw his father daily at business and meals.
He felt there was no special reason to visit, highlighting the growing emotional distance between them.

14. What protected the father’s room from sunlight, making it dark?

A. Heavy curtains
B. A row of ramshackle houses
C. The high wall of the narrow courtyard
D. The low ceiling

C. The high wall of the narrow courtyard
The darkness of the father’s room symbolizes his isolation, decline, and hidden nature.
15. What did Georg observe about his father’s movement when he rose?

A. His father stumbled.
B. His father was moving slowly.
C. His heavy dressing gown swung open and fluttered.
D. His father moved with youthful energy.

C. His heavy dressing gown swung open and fluttered.
The image of the flapping gown reinforces Georg’s perception of his father as frail and giant-like.

16. What change did Georg propose for his father’s living arrangements?

A. Moving to a distant sanatorium
B. Moving to the front room while Georg took the dark room
C. Hiring a new charwoman
D. Retiring and traveling abroad

B. Moving to the front room while Georg took the dark room
The father interprets Georg’s practical suggestion as an attempt to supplant him.
17. What crucial question did the father ask Georg about the friend?

A. Does he know about the turnover increase?
B. Do you really have this friend in St. Petersburg?
C. Why is he complaining so much?
D. Why haven’t I met him recently?

B. Do you really have this friend in St. Petersburg?
This question is the turning point, as the father begins to dismantle Georg’s entire reality.

18. What did Georg notice about his father’s clothing?

A. His clothes were too tight.
B. The not particularly clean appearance of his underwear.
C. He was wearing old military trousers.
D. His socks were mismatched.

B. The not particularly clean appearance of his underwear.
This detail makes Georg realize his father is neglecting himself, prompting a moment of pity.

19. What did Georg decide firmly after observing his father’s condition?

A. To hire a live-in nurse.
B. To sell the old house.
C. To take his father into his own future home.
D. To consult his fiancée immediately.

C. To take his father into his own future home.
This decision to care for his father is immediately followed by the father’s violent condemnation.
20. What did the old man do while Georg carried him to bed?

A. Cried softly.
B. Played with Georg’s watch chain.
C. Tried to stand up again.
D. Complained about the cold.

B. Played with Georg’s watch chain.
This childlike, almost sinister, gesture shows the father is not as weak as Georg believed.

21. After being laid in bed, what question did the father repeatedly ask Georg?

A. Am I safe now?
B. Are you going to St. Petersburg?
C. Am I well covered up now?
D. Have you posted the letter?

C. Am I well covered up now?
The father’s repeated question is a deceptive trick, luring Georg into a false sense of security.

22. What did the father claim Georg had been doing to the friend for years?

A. Ignoring him
B. Playing him false
C. Sending him money
D. Giving him bad business advice

B. Playing him false
The father reveals he has been secretly communicating with the friend all along, exposing Georg’s deceit.

23. What did the father accuse Georg of doing by getting engaged?

A. Disgracing his mother, betraying his friend, and putting his father to bed.
B. Ruining the business and embarrassing the family.
C. Moving too quickly and foolishly.
D. Going against his friend’s advice.

A. Disgracing his mother, betraying his friend, and putting his father to bed.
The father links Georg’s engagement to a series of moral crimes against his family and friend.

24. The father demonstrated what specific action, mimicking the fiancée?

A. Lifting her hand to wave
B. Lifting her skirts
C. Covering her face
D. Dancing lightly

B. Lifting her skirts
He grotesquely mimics Frieda, accusing her of being a “nasty little hussy” who seduced Georg.
25. What did Georg call his father in retort during the confrontation?

A. You liar!
B. You comedian!
C. You devilish human being!
D. You old widower!

B. You comedian!
Georg’s desperate, last-ditch attempt to dismiss his father’s tirade as a joke fails completely.

26. What does the father accuse Georg of being, just before the final “judgment”?

A. A disloyal son
B. A successful merchant
C. A weak child
D. A devilish human being

D. A devilish human being
This accusation precedes the father’s final, devastating curse upon his son.

27. What is the father’s final “judgment” on Georg?

A. He sentences him to a life of misery.
B. He sentences him to death by drowning.
C. He disowns him forever.
D. He sentences him to close down the business.

B. He sentences him to death by drowning.
The father’s final words act as a powerful curse that Georg feels compelled to obey immediately.

28. What did Georg swing himself over after running from the house?

A. The gate
B. The bridge railings
C. The fence
D. The river bank

B. The bridge railings
Acting as a skilled gymnast, he swings over the railing to his death in the river below.

29. Who did Georg call out to just before he let himself drop?

A. His fiancée
B. His friend
C. His mother
D. His parents

D. His parents
His final words are, “Dear parents, I have always loved you, all the same.”
30. What was the final image of the story, just as Georg fell?

A. The father collapses back into bed.
B. Frieda Brandenfeld is running towards the bridge.
C. An unending stream of traffic crossing the bridge.
D. The friend in Russia is looking out his window.

C. An unending stream of traffic crossing the bridge.
The story ends with an image of indifferent, ongoing life, highlighting the finality of Georg’s act.

Brief Overview

The Judgment is a short story by Franz Kafka. It begins with a young merchant, Georg Bendemann, writing a letter to his friend in Russia. Georg is telling his friend that he has just gotten engaged to a woman named Frieda Brandenfeld.

After writing the letter, Georg goes to his father’s dark room to tell him the news. At first, his father seems old, frail, and confused. He even questions if Georg’s friend in Russia is real, which makes Georg doubt himself.

Georg helps his father into bed, but the father’s mood suddenly changes. He stands up on the bed, suddenly powerful and terrifying. He accuses Georg of being a selfish, evil son who has betrayed his friend and his parents.

The father claims he has been secretly writing to Georg’s friend all along. He shouts that the friend knows everything. The father ends his angry speech by screaming, “I sentence you now to death by drowning!”

Georg feels an invisible force pushing him from the room. He runs out of the apartment and all the way to a nearby bridge. He swings himself over the railing and lets himself fall, saying, “Dear parents, I have always loved you,” as he drowns in the river.