A Report to an Academy

In the opening sequence, Red Peter appears before a scientific community to give a presentation about his earlier life as an ape. At this point, he has spent years attempting to assimilate himself into human culture. However, by going before this audience, he continues to highlight his status as an outsider status. Though he has “attained the average education of a European man” (7), society still regards him as a spectacle.

Red Peter can hardly recall his years as an ape, which illustrates how hard he has worked to relinquish his ape identity. While he does regard himself as human, in the eyes of others, he exists in a liminal stage. This relegates Red Peter to perpetual “other” status, despite his persistent and overachieving efforts to become assimilated. When considering historical context (this story was published during WWI), it could reasonably be interpreted that Kafka is criticizing, or even satirizing, European nationalism that resists immigration and alienates people who could be deemed “other.” 

During his presentation, Red Peter reflects on being shot, captured, and imprisoned aboard the ship. In some instances, he compliments—and even expresses gratitude—toward his captors. He notes, “People consider such confinement of wild animals beneficial in the very first period of time, and today I cannot deny, on the basis of my own experience, that in a human sense that is, in fact, the case” (3).