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In this unit, you will strengthen your AP Literature skills by working with Franz Kafka’s strange and unsettling world. Throughout the board, you will practice identifying and describing what textual details reveal about characters’ motives and perspectives (Skill 1.A), analyzing how settings shape mood and meaning (Skill 1.D), and explaining how character and setting work together to build significance (Skill 3.B).To do this, you will move through our Padlet gallery wall, which is set up as a board game called Escaping Kafkaesque. Each square on the board represents a task or challenge you must complete before moving forward. The squares are color-coded to guide your focus: Blue tiles focus on characterization, Green tiles focus on setting, and Yellow tiles combine both. Some tasks will ask you to reflect or analyze closely, others will push you to create or solve puzzles, and a few will place you in interactive challenges such as escape rooms or mazes similar to the state some of his characters are placed in. As you complete each step in order, you’ll not only analyze how characterization and setting reveal characters’ internal and external emotions, but you’ll also feel the tension, absurdity, and entrapment that make Kafka’s writing “Kafkaesque.” Your final challenge is to bring all of your skills together to answer the ultimate question: In Kafka’s world, do characters shape their environments, or do their environments shape them?

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Intro to Franz Kafka: Who Is He? What is Kafkaesque?

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Intro to Franz Kafka: Who Is He? What is Kafkaesque?

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After this, you will be able to recognize how Franz Kafka’s personal life shaped the haunting qualities of his fiction and explain the origins of the term Kafkaesque. In the linked video, you will learn about Kafka, the 1883 author whose sorrowful childhood, anxious adolescence, and fractured career left deep marks on his writing. You will also see how these experiences led to the creation of the term Kafkaesque, a word now used to describe worlds that feel oppressive, absurd, and as his characters beg to escape the nuance.

Task: While you watch the video, complete a 6-slide note-taking guide detailing the most important points. Each slide should be short, bulleted notes + at least one image to help you visualize the concept.

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What Is Kafkaesque? - The 'Philosophy' of Franz Kafka

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Practice your Kafkaesque analysis skills through a visual and chart.

Task: Identify the hidden message or commentary in the image.

Using the chart, how does this image portray Kafkaesque traits?

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View the slide to gain insight on the foundational understanding of characterization. Not all the time do authors reveal what a character is like directly. Sometimes they leave indirect clues to further draw the reader into the story. Franz Kafka, adored using this method to reveal the identity of his characters.

Task: After analyzing the slide, answer the Question of The day on google classroom. Using 5 Kafka quotes, identify which STEAL element is present

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You’ve just woken up in Gregor Samsa’s room. The door is locked, the walls are closing in, and every clue is hidden inside Kafka’s words. Work through the digital escape room by solving puzzles that use descriptions of Kafka’s settings. Each correct answer unlocks the next clue. Your goal is to escape the room by proving how setting creates the feeling of entrapment in Kafka’s world.

Task: When you finish, write a short response (3–4 sentences) explaining one way setting works as both a physical and psychological prison.

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This is Genially's official channel. Here you can find multimedia content: tutoriales, tips, integration with other tools, inspiring examples and fun content that will take your breath away. https://www.genial.ly/ Follow us! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genially_official Twitter: https://twitter.com/genially_en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Genially/

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Navigate the Kafkaesque maze. Each wrong turn links you to how Kafka characters feel trapped by space, society, or circumstance. Each correct path moves you closer to freedom.
Task: After completing the maze, write 2–3 sentences on how the physical act of “being stuck” in a maze mirrors the emotional and symbolic confinement of Kafka’s settings.

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Want to play Scary Maze? Play this game online for free on Poki. Lots of fun to play when bored at home or at school. Scary Maze is one of our favorite adventure games.

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This week, we will read Part I of The Metamorphosis together. As you listen to the audio and read, use the color-coded highlighter system to annotate for key themes:

Yellow = Alienation/Isolation

Green = Oppression/Entrapment

Blue = Identity/Transformation

Task: Complete the STEAL/Setting graphic organizer:

If your square is Characterization, use the STEAL chart (Speech, Thoughts, Effect on others, Actions, Looks) to track how Kafka reveals Gregor’s internal and external emotions.

If your square is Setting, use the Setting Organizer to track details of Gregor’s room and household environment, noting how each element reflects his psychological state

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Watch the provided YouTube trailer for a film adaptation of The Metamorphosis. As you watch, pay close attention to how the characters react to Gregor’s transformation and the surrounding events.

While watching, take notes on:

How the characters’ speech, actions, and reactions in the trailer show their emotions (use STEAL if helpful).

How these reactions are similar or different from how the characters respond in the text you read in Part I.

Task: After watching, post a short comparison on under this post (4–5 sentences): Which reactions felt true to Kafka’s original characterization, and which were changed or exaggerated for the visual medium? How does seeing the story acted out affect your understanding of the characters’ internal and external emotions?

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METAMORPHOSIS | SCI-FI-LONDON EAST 2012 | Official Trailer 2012

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Re-read Kafka’s description of Gregor’s bedroom during Part I. Annotate for details that reveal both the physical space and Gregor’s mental state.

Task: Write a short paragraph (5–6 sentences) analyzing how Gregor’s room functions as both a literal space and a metaphor for his inner emotions.

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Choice Project

Make a 3D clay model of Gregor that reveals his internal emotions through his insect form, or

Create a diorama of Gregor’s room, showing how setting reflects his emotional state.

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Task: Using Part 2 of The Metamorphosis (and at least one additional section from the story), write a T>E>E>C>E>E>C>L paragraph that analyzes how characterization and/or setting reveal Gregor’s internal emotional state, and explain how this contributes to a central theme of the work.

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Writable | 3-12 Writing Practice & Assessment | HMH

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With 1000+ assignments for grades 3-12, Writable guides students through the writing process, incorporates feedback, and provides data-driven assessment.

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Genially. (n.d.). Genially: Create interactive presentations and gamified learning experiences. https://www.genially.com

Google Classroom. (n.d.). Google Classroom: Learning management system for teachers and students. https://classroom.google.com

Padlet. (n.d.). Padlet: Collaborative digital boards for teaching and learning. https://www.padlet.com

Poki. (n.d.). Scary Maze Game. https://poki.com/en/g/scary-maze

Writable. (n.d.). Writable: Personalized writing instruction and feedback platform. https://www.writable.com

YouTube. (2021, March 12). Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis explained [Video].

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FS7PibPxVMYouTube. (2022, June 5). Kafkaesque themes and analysis [Video].

YouTube. https://youtu.be/YnWcFsOMSUs?si=jJTVxnBj1Rug05G5

YouTube. (2022, September 10). The Kafkaesque effect in film [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/LaffA9EyUgo?si=woXuFQ8vyEp98Qnb