The Married Couple

The Married Couple is a short story by Franz Kafka.^[1]

Plot

The story is about a businessman who is desolate. He becomes bored in his day to day affairs at the office and decides to contact some of his customers personally. One of them, N., is an old man whose had previous personal and business contact with. He meets N at his house, and notices how frail he's become. N is old and sick, but still mentally as sharp as ever, and is not as receptive to the business proposal as the narrator had hoped. Moreover, while N's wife is aged, she is alert, vivacious, and protective of her husband. At one point it seems the old man has died, but he is actually asleep. The alarm expressed by the narrator only amplifies his own weaknesses, and he is patronized by the wife as he leaves alone.^[2]

Analysis

Although Kafka is sometimes noted by scholars as portraying women as seductive, destructive forces, this story characterizes the wife as a loyal and protective force. Moreover, the woman is completely absorbed in the marriage, both an advantage and a hindrance to the husband's life.^[3]

References

^ The great wall of China: stories and reflections. Franz Kafka - 1946. Schocken Books.
^ The cambridge companion to kafka. J Preece - 2002
^ Kafka and gender. DCG Lorenz - The Cambridge Companion to Kafka.Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Works by Franz Kafka

Novels

Short stories

1902–12	"Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart" "Description of a Struggle" Wedding Preparations in the Country The Judgment Contemplation The Stoker The Metamorphosis

1914–17	"In the Penal Colony" "The Village Schoolmaster" ("The Giant Mole") "Before the Law" "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" "The Warden of the Tomb" "A Country Doctor" "The Hunter Gracchus" "The Great Wall of China" "A Message from the Emperor" "A Report to an Academy" "A Dream" "Up in the Gallery" "A Fratricide" "The Next Village" "A Visit to a Mine" "Jackals and Arabs" "The Bridge" "The Bucket Rider" "The New Advocate" "An Old Manuscript" "The Knock at the Manor Gate" "Eleven Sons" "My Neighbor" "A Crossbreed" "The Cares of a Family Man"

1917–23	"The Refusal" "A Hunger Artist" "Investigations of a Dog" "A Little Woman" "The Burrow" "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" "A Common Confusion" "The Truth about Sancho Panza" "The Silence of the Sirens" "Prometheus" "The City Coat of Arms" "Poseidon" "Fellowship" "At Night" "The Problem of Our Laws" "The Conscription of Troops" "The Test" "The Vulture" "The Helmsman" "The Top" "A Little Fable" "Home-Coming" "First Sorrow" "The Departure" "Advocates" "The Married Couple" "Give It Up!" "On Parables"

Short story
collections

Diaries and
notebooks

Letters

Professional
writings

The Office Writings

Bibliography