like a red indian

There are other aspects to Kafka than distortion of place and time; certainly his characters typically try to squeeze into tiny spaces, appear too small or take an infinity of time on small events. It is said (Benjamin) that these moments are gestures like the gestures in early expressionist films; it is easy to imagine this; silent film actors have to exaggerate.
Contrasting gestures are for example Wishing to Be a Red Indian ie being instantly alert, leaning against the wind, throwing away the reins etc. Better to be a Red Indian than the student who reads obsessively, book pressed to his face, the same book, forever? Possibly. Benjamin thinks these lighter gestures have their home in The Nature Theatre of Oklahoma: there are actors and angels; also the theatre is on a race course offering opportunities for Red Indians to lean against the wind and throw away the reins. Are these gestures of hope offering an escape from melancholy? Melancholy is the predicament of immutable circumstance not a mental state. Kafka's people/animals are never depressed. But they are resourceful; there is no hope for the ape or the dog but they press on always coming up with new ideas. The nearest to hope is resourcefulness eg the ape learns to talk and drink. The highest form of this facet however is found in Pancho and Bucephalus; both send their demons off on the maddest exploits while they stay behind in an armchair, reading and turning the pages of ancient tomes in the quiet lamplight.

More on Red Peter

Reporting to the academy, Red Peter goes through his new repertory of acquired skills such as walking, speaking and drinking. He does this all this for a 'way out';

interesting also are the problematics of these skills and capacities. Distortion of space and time reoccur in Kafkas's work as do the responses of the characters (human and animal) to these distortions. Against this background being able to routinely speak and walk cannot be assumed. Suddenly losing abilities and being arbitrarily assigned new and alien ones is Samsa's lot. Time can stretch out without limit so a journey cannot be completed even in a life time. So there is an account: in one column a set of time/space problems; in the next column a range of possible responses. Kafka's figures burrow, wait in corridors or squeeze into corners. It is not clear who is lost or saved. Benjamin reckons the Nature Theatre Actors to be saved. How so? Surely they, like many other Kafkan characters are trying to respond to the dilemma. After all they are not informed what is expected of them; they simply have to be in the theatre as themselves ie to carry on speaking/walking as if these abilities, tacitly, are problematic (might be lost).