The themes of "A Report to an Academy" by Franz Kafka include survival, freedom, and assimilation. In the short story, Rotpeter, a former ape who is captured from his West African homeland, has transformed into a human in order to survive European society. Rotpeter is giving a report to a panel of scientists in order to prove that he is, indeed, human and to explain the process of his transformation. Rotpeter is unable to recall his life as an ape. While Rotpeter deems his transformation into being a human as successful, he has lost his roots and is unable to remember his life before he transformed himself in order to survive human society.

When Rotpeter is captured in his jungle home and thrown into a cage, he realizes that for the first time in his life, he is unable to experience freedom of movement. Rotpeter immediately decides that the only way to regain his freedom of movement and autonomy is to become human. In Rotpeter's mind, to remain an ape surely means losing his freedom.

As Rotpeter transforms himself, he lets go of the characteristics that made up his life as an ape. Within the context of US society, these themes are connected to the ways in which immigrants are pressured to assimilate into the dominant American society in order to have a chance at thriving. Just as Rotpeter is unable to recall his former life, many immigrants, through the generations, lose their languages, cultures, and traditions.