As a short piece of existentialist fiction, I think Kafka raises numerous questions about the human condition, about capitalist society, about ethics and about family. This story actually made me feel really sad, I think I will think about it for a long time. I think the comments Kafka is making about false consciousness and the way it actively affects relationships and drains sympathy is especially interesting, and through this surreal and really miserable story, the reader comes into conflict with many existential musings, and surely must ask themselves what, or whom, they believe in.

Soon, he made the discovery that he was unable to stir a limb. This did not surprise him, rather it seemed unnatural that he ever should have been able to move on these feeble little legs. Otherwise he felt relatively comfortable. He thought of his family with tenderness and love.