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analyze the townspeople’s attitudes toward the soldiers and the colonel use context evidence to explain what the different attitudes suggest about the characters roles and interactions in the refusal

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mcarc09

This question refers to the short story "The Refusal" by Franz Kafka. We can describe the townspeople's attitudes toward the soldiers and the colonel in the following manner:

The narrator describes the soldiers as being "the terror of the children" because of their appearance: they all look alike, have small twitching eyes and mouths overcrowded with teeth.

However, the children are not the only ones who dislike the soldiers. Adults also feel uncomfortable in their presence. Although the soldiers speak a different dialect, they act as if they can understand the townspeople:

"The soldiers speak a dialect utterly incomprehensible to us . . . which produces a certain shut-off, unapproachable quality . . . A soldier, for example, enters a shop . . . he listens to the conversations . . . just stares blankly at the speaker . .  the customers start leaving the shop . . ."

As for the colonel, the townspeople are afraid of him. He is the closest thing they know to a government. His behavior, silent and imposing, intimidates the people who need to address him:

". . . each time people take fright all over again. On this occasion, too, the man chosen to speak could not begin; he was already standing opposite the colonel when his courage failed him . . . During all this time, the colonel stood there motionless . . ."

We can conclude the townspeople are annoyed by the soldiers' presence and fearful of the colonel. They only interact with them because of their position of authority, but the colonel and the soldiers are not appreciated.

  • "The Refusal" is a short story by Bohemian author Franz Kafka (1883-1924).
  • The narrator lives in a small town, far away from the capital.
  • In his town, government is represented by the tax-collector, the colonel.
  • People respect the colonel and address him whenever they have a problem. However, if the problem is big and important, the colonel always refuses to help.
  • People are intimidated by the colonel's imposing manners and silence.
  • The townspeople are also afraid of the soldiers, but in a different manner. They dislike the fact that the soldiers seem to be watching and listening in on them.

Learn more about the story here:

https://brainly.com/question/24577307