The Life and Exceptional Work of Writer, Franz Kafka
Introduction
A prolific writer who left a dent on his domain, Franz Kafka deserves to be considered for inclusion into Howard Gardner's model of creativity. Just as Picasso revolutionized the domain of art with rule-breaking paintings of grotesque combinations of people's emotional and visual interpretations of the world, Kafka, through his writing, delved into the emotions of a bleak and spiritually lacking World War I society and showed its pressures to crush individuality and conform to the norm. He did so by creating what society would define as "ugly, freakish images of people", and then made those people the tragic heroes of his stories. Kafka changed his domain so much that the term "kafka-esque" was coined to describe any works that were as haunting or self-revealing as his own. Later writers were deeply influenced by his work, such as future Noble prize winning author Elias Canetti, who proclaimed this about "The Metamorphosis": "In "The Metamorphosis" Kafka reached the height of his mastery: he wrote something that could never be surpassed, because there is nothing which "The Metamorphosis" could be surpassed by-- one of the few great, perfect poetic works of this century." (Kafka, 1996 pg. ix) Kafka's astounding level of creativity does warrant an investigation into a possible place in Howard Gardner's model. However, as stated before, Franz Kafka would not be a perfect fit.
Background on Kafka
"Please-- consider me a dream." Those words were spoken by Franz Kafka to the father of his lifelong friend Max Brod. (Baumer, pg. 2) Within that sentence, the entire theme of Kafka's life is summed up. A lonely man who was terrified to reach the summit of his creat...
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...wever, the structure of his life and his environment that produced these creations are inconsistent with Gardner's model. This should not exclude him from consideration. Perhaps a few adjustments to the model are necessary. More creative thinkers in history exist that might have been unfairly excluded from the examples in Howard Gardner's theory.
Works Cited
Baumer, Franz Franz Kafka New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co, 1971
Brod, Max Franz Kafka: A Biography New York: Shocken Books Inc., 1960
Gardner, Howard. Creating minds. New York: Basic books, 1993.
Kafka, Franz Letter to His Father New York: Shocken Books, 1966
Kafka, Franz Letters to Ottla and the Family New York: Shocken Books, 1982
Kafka, Franz The Metamorphosis New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1996
Kuna, Franz On Kafka: Semi-centenary Perspectives New York: Harper & Row, 1976
On December 24, 2002, 27-year-old Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was reported missing by her family. It all started when Scott Peterson returned to his home in Modesto, California, from his fishing trip he had taken to the Berkeley Marina and Laci was nowhere to be found. At this point, Scott didn’t question the whereabouts of his wife since she had stated that she was going to go grocery shopping and then she was going to take the dog for a walk. It wasn’t until later that night when Scott contacted Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha, to determine if she was with them. That’s when Sharon declined the presence of her daughter, Laci, being with them and Scott concluded that Laci “was missing”. At that point, it was Laci’s parents who contacted the police to reported Laci was missing and an investigation started. [7]
... comparisons and contrasts that can be made regarding the “The Metamorphosis” and “A Hunger Artist”. While it is true that Kafka’s style of writing is considered oblique, it may be interesting to know that many of Kafka's trials and animal metamorphoses are actually derived from common motifs in Jewish folklore (Bruce). If one were to learn about Kafka’s thoroughly extensive knowledge in Judaism, it would be easier to see how Kafka’s thought processes were reflected into his stories.
Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz is a vivid and eloquent memoir of a Holocaust survivor from the largest concentration camp under German control in World War II. The original title in Italian is Se questo e un uomo, which translate to If This is A Man, alluding to the theme of humanity. The overall tone is calm and observational; rather than to pursue the reader, it is “to furnish documentation for a quiet study if certain aspects of the human mind” (Levi 10). The memoir is a testimony of Levi and the other prisoners’ survival at the Nazis’ systematic destruction attempts at the prisoners’ humanity. It was a personal struggle for prisoners, for individual survival, and struggle to maintain their humanity.
A crucial concept developed throughout Survival in Auschwitz and The Drowned and the Saved is the process of “the demolition of a man” through useless acts of violence. In order for the Nazis to control and murder without regard or guilt, they had to diminish men into subhumans. Those who entered the camps were stripped of their dignity and humanity, devoid of any personal identity. Men and women were reduced to numbers in a system that required absolute submission, which placed them in an environment where they had to struggle to survive and were pitted against their fellow prisoners. The purpose of the camps were not merely a place for physical extermination, but a mental one as well. Primo Levi exposes these small and large acts of deprivation and destruction within his two texts in order for readers to become aware of the affects such a system has on human beings, as well as the danger unleashed by a totalitarian system.
Prior to arriving at the concentration camp, Elie and his father have a slightly strained relationship due to his father’s commitment to the Jewish people in their town. However, their relationship to father to son is traditional in the sense of the biblical commandment that requires sons to honor their parents. After Wiesel and his father arrived at the camp, they try to care for and shield each other from hardship. As his father weakens, Elie and his father’s role changes; he becomes the protector and his father becomes the protected. During their time in the camps, Wiesel often feels shameful when he is angry at his father for not being able to avoid beatings even though they are not his father’s faught. As the conditions deteriorate more and more, Wiesel’s father becomes a burden to him, both physically and mentally, and Wiesel feels a kind of terrible relief when his father dies: “No prayers were said over his tomb. No candle lit in his memory. His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not answered . . . I might have found something [inside myself] like: Free at last” (Wiesel 112). This change can also be connected back to the theme that appalling situations can make a person lose sight of who they are, including their relationship with others. Through the horrors of the Holocaust, the basic family bond between Wiesel and his father, like the bond between so many other sons
Franz Kafka’s famously translated novel The Trial was thought by many to be strongly influenced by his strong background and affiliations with theater and literature. Within the novel, Kafka refers to various types of the art form including, physical art, performing arts and acting, and the art of how a person moves and/or interacts with others. Critics have argued that Kafka’s background was the influence to the novel, while others strongly disagree. Was Kafka’s references to the performing arts within the novel his way of portraying life as a play, something that is scripted and planned out or was it simply the main character treating his situation as an unrealistic event and a joke?
...this literary art to offer hope to the reader that redemption can be achieved after sin, and he effectively conveys this message through the contradictions of the Christian model and the personalities of his characters. In both The Scarlet Letter and The Minister’s Black Veil, Hawthorne explores isolation from society and connection to society by original sin through vagaries in religious characters, such as Dimmesdale and the minister Mr. Hooper. Through this paradox and those in his novel, Hawthorne reveals that life and human nature are paradoxes, for a person must struggle and face disappointment before he or she can truly find success and happiness. Moreover, a person can only redeem himself by understanding the consequences of sin through experience, and through these contradictions in his art, Hawthorne inspires his readers to find clarity from confusion.
...Once more the odious courtesies began, the first handed the knife across K. to the second, who handed it across K. back again to the first. K. now perceived clearly that he was supposed to seize the knife himself, as it traveled from hand to hand above him, and plunge it into his own breast. But he did not do so, he merely turned his head, which was still free to move, and gazed around him. He could not completely rise to the occasion, he could not relieve the officials of all their tasks; the responsibility for this last failure of his lay with him who had not left him the remnant of strength necessary for the deed....
Regarding these two stories of hope and desolation, it is very importent to throw the biography of their creators which are no less popular as their books. Combining the events of both Borges' and Kafka's life in the post world war I era, the stories provide a grim picture of the world but there lies an element of hope that is gradually realized in the end. Characters in Kafka’s story go through life changing events which alter their whole outlook in the system that governs them, some moved, some very hopeful. The protagonist in Borges’ story has a profound experience with a mythical object that changes his outlook on life.
There is a theory that dream and myth are related which is conveyed through the writing of Douglas Angus’ Kafka's Metamorphosis and "The Beauty and the Beast" Tale and supported by Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. The stories are very symbolic when conveying the metamorphosis of a human being. Unlike Beauty and the Beast, in the Metamorphosis some suggest love is received through acts of cruelty yet in actuality it appears that cruelty results in heartache. Due to being a beast, the repulsiveness requires genuine love which can achieve the “magical transformation.” This “magical transformation” is not achieved and creates a twist in the plot derived from the concepts in the “Beauty and the Beast.”
People behave inconsiderately in many ways. Some examples include cancelling plans at the last minute, making you wof all ages can wait for a long time, or simply not saying thanks. Unfortunately, no one can control the behavior of an inconsiderate person, but mechanisms are available when dealing and responding to these people. In my opinion, I believe being considerate is an important quality to have, whatever the consequences may be. It teaches the person to be grateful and as a result, they live a healthier life. In Franz Kafka 's story, The Metamorphosis, the moment Gregor Samsa is awakened, he finds he has been transformed into an insect, yet the family has no sense of gratitude for Gregory. Gregory’s transformation leaves him jobless and challenges emerge for the family. Throughout the passage, the author demonstrates the absurdity of life especially when individuals are forced to evolve their roles in order to survive. Using imagery, allegory and foreshadowing he describes events Gregory hears, sees, remembers, and imagines. He recounts the events of the story in a neutral tone speaking exclusively in third person. Nonetheless, the narrator endorses typical Kafkaesque elements focusing on Gregor’s thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Quantitative research uses a deductive reasoning also known as top to bottom or (top down approach) starting with a theory, then the hypothesis, followed by observation and finally confirmation , going from the general to the more specific. Quantitative methods use numbers and statistics to show the results of the research exercise and mainly are concerned with mathematics and statistics. In quantitative research there are levels of measurement being firstly nominal which are names of things followed by ordinal sequence of things, interval where the sequence has equal distance between each item, and ratio where there is a true zero (Alston & Bowles, 2003, p. 7-9).
Quantitative studies are primarily numbers based. They deal with large cohort groups as well as analyze large amounts of data. “A quantitative researcher typically tries to measure variables in some way, perhaps by using commonly accepted measures of the physical world (e.g., rulers, thermometers, oscilloscopes) or carefully designed measures of psychological characteristics or behaviors (e.g., tests, questionnaires, rating scales)” (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010, p. 94).
...eded. I wish I could take this class more early. When I saw the responses from classmates, the responses were very different because the experience of each classmate is different. Now, I realize how diverse the customers would be. Even though most of the customers were from United States, I am not from United States. I could not understand what they need in first place. I have seen some ads example showing how simply translating words is not enough. Pepsi Cola’s “Come Alive With Pepsi” campaign when it was translated for the Taiwanese market, conveyed the unsetting news that, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.” This shows that deeper understanding of the other culture is necessary to translate meaning effectively. In short, cross cultural communication is relatively important for me when I want to do business international or domestically.
A network can be based on either a peer-to-peer level or server-based, also referred to as domain-based. To distinguish the difference, a peer-to-peer network, also known as a workgroup, is a network in which a group of computers are connected together to share resources, such as files, applications, or peripherals. The computers in a peer-to-peer network are peers to one another, meaning no single computer has control over one another. There is also no central location for users to access resources, which means that each individual computer must share their files in order for other computers to have access (Muller, 2003, p.411). “In a peer-to-peer environment, access rights are governed by setting sharing permissions on individual machines.” (Cope, 2002) On the other hand, in a domain-based network, the computers connected together are either servers or clients. All of the other computers connected to the network are called client computers. The server is a dedicated machine that acts as a central location for users to share and access resources. The server controls the level of authority each user has to the shared resources. When logging on to the network, users on client machines are authenticated by the server, based on a user name and password (Lowe, 2004, p.13).