NAME: RAFIA SYED

ID 17483
COURSE: WORLD LITERATURE

ASSIGNMENT NO 3:  THE BUCKET RIDER BY KAFKA

Introduction:
The bucket rider was written shortly after World War I ended. The majority of people utilized
coal rather than wood to heat their homes at the time. After the war, the world was in a deep
depression. Austria played a significant role in World War I, losing over a million soldiers. This
was a significant element in people's hardship following the war.

Bucket Symbol:
The story is about a poor man whose stove is empty and in dire need of coal. Last hope of
survival is heat in the cold winter night. He flies on his bucket which used to contain coal to the
dealers house. (Empty bucket symbolizes the economic harassment the people were facing.
Author indicates that the bucket is light enough to float in air as to be heavy, it requires coal
which is absent due to scarcity of resources after the war.)
The coal-dealer's wife turns away a man in dire need of coal to survive. Bucket rider asked the
wife for a bucket full of coal saying that he would pay later. The wife then tells her husband that
there are no customers at the door, then closes up the shop. After not receiving any coal, the
bucket rider "ascends into the regions of the Ice Mountains and is lost forever.

Moral:
Through this story bucket rider the author tries to convey the message that we should always
help out a person in need whether it be giving them coal to keep them warm. Being selfish gets
you know where in life but doing the wrong things for wrong reasons and sooner or later
something is going to happen to you and nobody will want to help you because you weren't there
for any of them when they needed you.