Amerika: The Missing Person

Karl finally arrives at a place where he will be unconditionally accepted: the Theater of Oklahoma. He finds a new family, a home from which he cannot be exiled. Karl’s difficulties mostly disappear, though some are still apparent in his struggle to find a role that suits him best. Rather than advertising itself as a place of pure pleasure, the theater’s offer is quite humble: It is simply a place where one cannot be rejected. This is what makes it so appealing to a more experienced, but no less lonely Karl.

The Theater of Oklahoma’s connection to the idea of an afterlife or paradise is evident in its imagery and religious symbolism. The theater is introduced as a vision of pure fantasy: There are women dressed as angels, standing on pedestals so high up that “every breath of wind” was “surely a danger” (203). When Karl runs into his old acquaintance Fanny (Chapter 10 being her first and only appearance), the racecourse appears less like a hiring event and more like the entrance to a heavenly paradise. However, Kafka leaves this set-up open to interpretation.

When an office manager asks follow-up questions, Karl starts to second-guess himself. True to Karl’s personality in earlier chapters, he vacillates between hope and despair despite already being hired. However, he slowly takes comfort in the man’s questions as he knows “his acceptance seemed already to have been concluded” (212).

When the man asks Karl if he was happy at his last job, the latter divulges that he was miserable in an office: During his employment, Karl wished that someone would “ask him precisely that question” (212). The novel comes full circle, as Karl asked the stoker the same question in Chapter 1.

At the entrance to the racecourse, a family including a father, mother, and infant are uncertain where to go. When Karl runs into them after their collective hiring, they appear “much livelier now than before” (210). This chapter depicts a utopia in which labor is not connected to fear or desperation, but rather camaraderie and kinship.

The feast may allude to the biblical last supper, but it also represents Karl joining a new family. He is thrilled to see Giacomo, “as delicate as ever” (216) and not hardened by the hard labor at the hotel. This observation amplifies the chapter’s hopeful tone, providing a stark contrast to Karl’s earlier struggles.

Photographs are passed around during the feast, and Karl sees one of the US president sitting in a box at the theater. Karl is even more excited to join the group at the sight of this photograph. In another striking parallel, Karl trades the photograph of his parents for one that represents his own potential (i.e., the American dream). The novel ends on an optimistic note—with the promise of a permanent home and a promising future.