Kafka's, "A Country Doctor," outlines a chain of events that are initiated by a call for help by a rural family. The man he is asked to tend to implore him to let him die, which the doctor agrees to. In the process, the doctor is portrayed as someone who is impartial to the suffering of the sick. He lacks traits of sympathy and permits himself to become a tool of the situation created by the family. This characterization reveals that the doctor, though ostensibly the protagonist of the story, is ultimately a flat character.
The doctor's impartialness to the detrimental health of the young boy is expressed by his focus on the fate of his maid Rosa who was attacked by a mysterious groom. He constantly blames himself for abandoning her, yet does nothing to act upon that emotion. He comments further that this is "how the people act in my district; they always expect the impossible from the doctor" (Kafka 124). This almost cynical remark confirms the doctor's realization that he cannot be of real help for the family. Combined with the act of stripping his clothes and laying alongside the patient reflects the primitivism of his rituals. This emphasis on rituals creates a striking parallel to the life of a soldier. He arrives at a scene where there is little he can do, yet performs what is expected of him: to fight another pointless battle, thinking of what he so unceremoniously left at home, namely Rosa. This parallel is evidence of his stock character essence that is used to highlight certain existential truths about society.
Throughout the story there is no evidence of a change or transition of sentiment towards his existence. As the patient notes in their final interaction: "You were only shaken out from somewhere. You don't come on your own feet." (Kafka 125) The patient seems to repeat the doctor's own thoughts, who doesn't increase his emotional evolvement with his counterpart towards the end.
