Chapter 1:  The Stoker

             Karl Rossmann is a boy of sixteen (actually, fifteen and nine months) sent off to America by his parents because Johanna Brummer, a servant of the family, raped him ("seduced" just doesn't seem to be the word for it) and had a little boy (named Jacob) by him, and his parents don't want to deal with alimony or anything like that.  He sails into New York harbor as the story begins, catching a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, holding a sword.  He becomes aware that his trunk and umbrella are missing, so he goes below decks to look for them.  There he meets the stoker, who feels he's been mistreated and whom Karl likes almost immediately.  They go to the captain's quarters, where the stoker tries to convince the captain that he has been ill-treated.  Karl tries to help by putting in a word for him, but nobody seems very interested.  Then Karl finds that one of the men listening happens to be his Uncle Jacob, who has become very successful in America.  He takes Karl with him off the ship to his new home, leaving the stoker forgotten and ignored.
 

Chapter 2:  Uncle Jacob

          Karl lives in a skyscraper with his uncle and gets used to America.  He takes English lessons, is taught horseback riding by a man named Mack, gets a gigantic desk and even a piano to bang on.  He is a little curious about his uncle's business, but Uncle Jacob is recalcitrant.  One day an associate of his, Mr. Pollunder, invites him to see his eighteen-year-old daughter Clara and his country house outside of New York , which Karl eagerly agrees.  They set off in Mr. Pollunder's car, passing a metal workers' strike at one point.
 

Chapter 3:  A Country House Near New York

          Karl and Mr. Pollunder arrive at the house, which is more like a Gothic castle, sitting huge and unfinished.  Clara greets him and takes him to her room, where she tries to assault him, but he gets away.  He explores the dark, cavernous house and gets lost, needing a servant to show him the way back.  By now Karl wants to go back home, but is frightened that he'll never get there.  Mr. Green, another associate of Uncle Jacob, says he has some news for Karl but can tell him only after midnight.  Karl goes to find Clara to say goodbye, as Mr. Pollunder insists, only to find she and Mack are not only engaged but sleeping together.  She wants him to play the piano for her, and seems a little charmed.  Karl goes back to Mr. Green, who gives him a note from Uncle Jacob that basically kicks him out for disloyalty, since he wasn't home by midnight.  Mr. Green gives Karl his trunk and umbrella, and Karl disappears into the night.

 
Chapter 4:  The Road to Rameses

          Karl stops at an inn, where he meets Robinson and Delamarche.  They decide to take him with them to Butterford, where they expect good jobs, which he is grateful for, but they also want him to pay for food, which isn't so great.  They trudge along all day, talking about the landscape and themselves.  Finally they arrive at a hotel, where they decide to spend the night outside and maybe get some food, which they send Karl to get.  He goes into the hotel and meets a waiter and the Manageress, who likes him and gives him a big basket of food and offers him a place for the night.  Karl takes the food but says he has to stay with Delamarche and Robinson. He brings the food back to them, only to find that his trunk has been rifled through, and his picture of his parents is missing.  He is really upset about this, but then the waiter comes to take back the basket, and Karl goes with him, since Robinson and Delamarche are such scoundrels.
 

Chapter 5:  The Hotel Occidental

          Karl spends the night at the hotel, in the Manageress's rooms, and meets Therese, her secretary.  They get along very well and Karl is offered a job as a lift boy, running the elevators.  He soon becomes very proficient, making friends with a small shy boy called Giacomo.  Karl is happy in his situation, becoming close friends with Therese, who was abandoned in America by her father and lost her mother at age five from poverty and disease. but managed to get this good job at the hotel.  It's perfect—almost too perfect.
 

Chapter 6:  The Case of Robinson

          The other shoe drops when a very drunk Robinson shows up at the hotel and tries to convince Karl to go with him, since now they have money and an apartment with Brunelda.  Karl tries to get rid of him but is discovered.  He is taken to the Head Waiter's office, where the Head Porter, who apparently has always hated Karl, insists that he's always been a troublemaker and now is a thief.  Karl tries to defend himself, but even the Manageress and Therese can't help him.  He is fired and goes to get his things, only to be confronted by a livid Head Porter, who tries to beat him up, since he's sure Karl's a thief.  Karl manages to get away and joins Robinson in a taxi, who has been waiting for him.
 

Chapter 7:  A Refuge

          The taxi stops in front of Robinson and Delamarche's apartment, and Delamarche greets Karl with a wicked grin.  A ruckus starts, with Karl wanting to leave, but then a policeman shows up and wants to see his ID, which he left at the hotel, and Karl starts running.  A chase ensues, ending only when Delamarche finds Karl and hides him.  They go back to the apartment, a messy, cluttered affair owned by Brunelda, a huge, querulous, lazy woman who claims to be a rich singer but now sits around her apartment complaining about everything.  She thinks Karl will be a good cleaning boy.  Then Karl and Robinson are banished to the balcony, where Robinson tells about life with Brunelda and tries to talk Karl into taking the job with them.  Brunelda and Delamarche come onto the balcony, just in time to see a political rally for a judicial candidate, which soon collapses into anarchy.  Karl tries to escape, only to be thrashed by Delamarche and Brunelda.  Karl is sent back to the balcony.  Karl looks around and sees a man studying next door, who tells him that although he has little regard for Delamarche & Co., Karl's best bet is to stay where he is.  Karl decides to do just that, and goes to sleep on the floor of the apartment.
 

Chapter 8:  The Nature Theater of Oklahoma

          Some time has passed.  Karl has his freedom from Delamarche and Robinson, but he doesn't have anything else.  Hence, he is excited over a poster advertising jobs for the Theater of Oklahoma, which says "Everyone is welcome."  Karl goes out to the racetrack where they are recruiting and sees a girl he knows, Fanny, in the group of trumpet players dressed up as angels greeting the prospecive employees.  Karl goes through several interviewers, since he doesn't have any qualifications, until he gets to the window for European school students, the lowest of the low (since American schools are supposedly so much better than European ones—ha ha), which accepts him without a question and asks him his name.  "Negro," Karl answers.  They look at him askance but accept it.  A man asks him what, exactly, he can do, and Karl says he wants to be an engineer.  Hence he gets tagged as "Negro, technical worker." Karl then goes to a big banquet for all the new employees, where he meets Giacomo again, still thin and small as ever.  After the speech the Staff Manager gives about how great the Theater is, they have to hurry to catch the train.  Karl only now realizes how big America is, as for two days and two nights they travel through high mountains and on bridges over precipitous streams.  (It always seemed a little roundabout to me to go through Colorado en route from the East to Oklahoma, but I guess this has its own logic.)  The story cuts off here, with the cool mountain breeze blowing against your face.
 

Epilogue:  Kafka told Max Brod that the Nature Theater of Oklahoma chapter was going to be the last one, and it would end with Karl finding a job, a home, freedom, and even his parents in this "almost limitless" theater. (My own idea is that Disney, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's are jointly running the world's biggest theme park in Oklahoma (cheap labor), and Karl's parents were instant winners of a trip there.  Hey, this is America, the land of Mass Commercialism and Freedom to Consume! ;-) ) However, there is an alternate ending; another of Kafka's ideas was that poor Karl would eventually be executed! As the novel remains unfinished, nobody can say with any certainty what will happen to our young hero.

Karl Rossmann   A 16-year old from Prague, he is shipped to America after being raped by a servant.  Plenty of adventures happen to him, but at least he doesn't die in despair (which is what frequently happens to Kafka protagonists).
 

Mr. and Mrs. Rossmann   Karl’s parents, who ship him off to America after his little mishap with the maid.
 

Johanna Brummer   The Rossmanns' 35-year old maid, who rapes the 15-year old Karl and has a son by him, the reason he is shipped off to America.  She writes a letter to Uncle Jacob explaining what happened.
 

The Stoker   He takes a special liking to Karl on the ship, and tries to enlist his help in getting the wrongs against him resolved, only to be pushed aside by everyone after Karl meets his Uncle Jacob.
 

Schubal   The officer on the boat who bullies the stoker.
 

Lina   A girl who works in the kitchen on the ship.  She flirts with the stoker and Karl.
 

Franz Butterbaum   The boy supposed to be looking after Karl's trunk on the boat.
 

Uncle Jacob   Karl's uncle who has made it in America, having his very own big conglomerate and being a senator.  He takes in Karl and tries to introduce him to America, but finally throws him out for not coming home early enough.
 

Mack    Karl's horseback riding instructor who turns out to be Clara's fiancé.
 

Clara Pollunder   An 18 year old, headstrong girl who shows Karl around the house and then tries to rape him.  Sleeping with Mack.
 

Mr. Pollunder    A business associate of Uncle Jacob's who takes Karl out to his country house where he can meet his daughter Clara.
 

Mr. Green   Another associate of Uncle Jacob who ends up breaking to Karl the news that his uncle has kicked him out after the jaunt to Mr. Pollunder's house.
 

Robinson   The Irishman who turns up often in the story, subservient to Delamarche.  He takes advantage of Karl and eventually gets him fired from his job at the Hotel Occidental for coming in drunk and making a nuisance of himself.  Karl is taken in by them again so he can clean the apartment and hang out on the balcony listening to him ramble.
 

Delamarche   The Frenchman who, along with Robinson, takes advantage of Karl.  He is kind of the leader of their little group, and eventually takes Karl into the apartment he shares with Brunelda and Robinson so he can be their cleanup boy.
 

Grete Mitzelbach, or The Manageress   At the Hotel Occidental, she gives Karl food and eventually a job as a lift boy.  She is very fond of him and is incredulous when he is accused of being a troublemaker.  However, she evidently gives up on him, allowing him to be fired and tossed out.
 

Therese Berchtold    A girl working at the Hotel Occidental as a typist, she is extremely fond of Karl and tells her story of being abandoned by her father and orphaned after her sick mother basically walks herself to death.  She still has faith in him at the end (I think).
 

Giacomo   A shy, lanky lift boy at the Hotel Occidental who becomes Karl's friend. He tries to defend Karl from the Head Porter but to no avail. He turns up again at the Theater of Oklahoma recruiting station.
 

The Head Porter (Feodor)    Has no patience at all, demands perfection at all times.  Hates Karl for not saluting him each and every time he goes by.  A real anal retentive type.  Tries to beat up Karl since he believes he's a thief.
 

The Head Waiter (Mr. Isbary)   Fires Karl for Robinson's antics.
 

Best    The head lift boy

 
Rennell   The lift boy Karl shares his elevator with.  They sometimes cover for each other, but Karl gets the brunt of the work.
 

Policeman   Wants to check Karl's ID, but since he left it at the hotel he's SOL.  A chase ensues, leading to Karl being imprisoned in Delamarche's and Robinson's apartment.
 

Brunelda      Delamarche's lover, whom he found after Karl left.  She's supposed to be a rich singer, but spends all her time lying around in her apartment complaining about something or other. Wants Karl to be her servant.
 

The Candidate    A large political rally is held outside the apartment one night, eventually turning into a near riot.
 

Joseph Mendel        The student next door from Brunelda's apartment, whom Karl talks with one night when he's stuck on the balcony.  He advises Karl to stay where he is, even though he despises Delamarche et al.
 

Fanny     One of the angelic trumpet players at the recruiting station for the Theater of Oklahoma.  She and Karl have obviously met before, but that chapter was apparently never written.
 

The Staff Manager   Gives the big song and dance for the Theater of Oklahoma at the banquet welcoming all the new employees.
 
 
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