In Franz Kafka's "I Wish I Were a Red Indian," the narrator is not an Indian, and is NOT many things. In fact, he might be a nobody. The opening sentence reads, "If I were only an Indian, suddenly vigilant on a galloping horse" (Kafka 64). The phrase "If I were," expresses the desire to be someone. I think that the Indian is a symbol of someone who is not afraid. In the story, the rider gallops over a shaking ground. I believe that the shaking ground is a symbol for the trials and tribulation's of every day life. But, with a horse and an vigilant mind set, the narrator can conquer anything. At the end of the story, it is revealed that the narrator was daydreaming while working the field. This is displayed when the horses head vanishes and smoothly
