Which image is the subject of a painting hanging in Kafka's bedroom at the library?

• A. a woman at the window
• B. a boy at the beach
• C. a ship on the horizon
• D. a child with balloons

Answer: (B)

The painting hanging in Kafka’s bedroom depicts a boy at the beach. This specific image is how the text grounds Kafka’s inner world in a vivid, concrete detail, using the boy at the shore to symbolize youth, possibility, and a pull toward somewhere else—themes that mirror his desire to escape his past and search for a new path. The other suggested images aren’t described as the painting in that room, so they don’t fit the setting in the library bedroom.