May 22, 2020 | By Hannah Loomis

Where are you from?

Crestone, Colorado.

Which book did you write on?

I wrote on a short story by Franz Kafka called “Description of a Struggle.”

What’s the title of your essay?

“Proof That it’s Impossible to Live: The Unstable Soul in Franz Kafka’s ‘Description of a Struggle’.”

What was the essence of your argument?

I worked through the strange images of the story to reveal layers of struggle, from the most external to the most internal. This struggle culminates in the center of the narrator, as a fundamental unsteadiness of the soul.

How did your essay connect to the different aspects of the Program from throughout your four years?

I spent a lot of time thinking about other moments in the Program where the state of the soul is discussed, and it seems to me that Kafka is presenting a far more uncertain center of human beings. It is a description of the soul that I, personally, relate to.

What was the writing process like for you?

As far as the writing goes, there was some anxiety and self-doubt, but I spent four months reading and thinking about the story before I began writing, so it came about relatively smoothly.

What is the most important lesson you learned during your time at St. John’s?

The most important thing that St. John’s taught me is that my thoughts are worth expressing, and worth improving. I know that it will be a life-long project, but I believe that I have been set up for it well.