In the Penal Colony Lesson Plan

Prefiguring Kafka's Life

Kind of Activity:

Collaborative Writing

Objective:

Better appreciate the religious influences behind Kafka's work, and tie relate his fiction to his biographical experiences.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.5, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1

Structure:

Kafka's oeuvre, like Kafka himself, bears complex and sometimes inscrutable relationships to religion and theology, both in terms of theme and form. This activity gives students the opportunity to explore this religious dimension of Kafka's work by playing the role of theologians interpreting "In the Penal Colony" as a quasi-religious text.

Begin by...