Freedom / Police State

Loosely based on reality, the author makes the country of South Africa into a police state in order to set the story. The military (government) is fighting rebels and all the civilians are caught in the crossfire. A tangle of papers and signatures is needed just to travel around the country. K's desire to be left alone (his cry for freedom) does not impress the doctor at the rehabilitation camp. K says that it wasn't his war, but the doctor replies that it is everyone's war. K holds out by sheer force of will and refuses to eat the camp food. K wants to eat, "the bread of freedom." The doctor eventually comes to understand and even to envy K.

There is no traditional "happy ending," in the story. Michael K ends up near death in his mother's old apartment, thinking about farming (it could be...