As presented by Franz Kafka, Karl Rossmann's life has a pattern of confinement. Kafka takes great pains to show us that Karl's reactions to nearly every instance of confinement neatly stems from one formative incident: Johanna Brummer's seduction of Karl. That one scandal seemingly affects how Karl reacts to every other attempt to confine him, who and what he allows to box him in, and his acceptance and/or rejection of that imprisonment. Johanna is …showed first 75 words of 1339 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1339 total…scenes of confinement all seem to build upon the first significant imprisonment in Karl's life: Johanna Brummer's seduction of Karl. Kafka could be suggesting that the reaction we have to a specific situation can be traced back to one influential experience during our formative years. But it seems more likely that Kafka is commenting on the theories that were increasing in popularity before he wrote The Stoker, such as the theories of Freud and Jung.