A Report to an Academy

“You show me the honor of calling upon me to submit a report to the Academy concerning my previous life as an ape.” 

Through this opening declaration, Kafka establishes the story’s element of fantasy: Red Peter has transformed from wild ape to civilized human. The story’s plot hinges on this fantastical evolution, which is more believable because it establishes part of Kafka’s world-building for the story. 

“Speaking frankly, as much as I like choosing metaphors for these things—speaking frankly: your experience as apes, gentleman—to the extent that you have something of that sort behind you—cannot be more distant from you than mine is from me. But it tickles at the heels of everyone who walks here on earth, the small chimpanzee as well as the great Achilles.” 

Red Peter highlights the ancestral roots that he shares with the audience members. Through this commonality, he emphasizes a shared humanity, which he hopes will prevent his audience from regarding him as “other.” Though he can speak dramatically through metaphor, he speaks plainly to ensure that no one loses his point. He wants to connect directly with them, as if he were a peer. 

“One [shot] was in the cheek—that was superficial. But it left behind a large hairless red scar which earned me the name Red Peter—a revolting name, completely inappropriate, presumably something invented by an ape, as if the only difference between me and the recently deceased trained ape Peter, who was well know here and there, was the red patch on my cheek.” 

Red Peter disdains his name because he considers himself too cultured for it. He wants to distance himself from the other ape, whom he considers to be “trained,” but not civilized. His criticism is ironic because humans also trained Red Peter. This calls into question the extent to which we are all trained by the civilization in which we live.