What is guilt? Is Josef K. guilty? What is he guilty of? All of these questions come to mind when you read The Trial by Franz Kafka, but they are not easily answered. The question of guilt is a theme that runs through the entire novel, and it serves to enlighten the reader as to what, I believe, Kafka is trying to say. So what is Kafka trying to say? If one looks at the opening sentence, in the light of the rest of the novel, I believe that it helps to clue us into Kafka's message. The fact that K. believes he has not done "anything truly wrong" (3) harkens back to the question of guilt. So because K. feels he is not fully guilty of anything, why is he hounded by the law? This is where the main theme of the book comes into play in my opinion. Kafka wants us to recognize, with the help of the opening sentence, that K. has done something wrong: he has lived an unexamined life dominated by routine, normalcy, and other people. This is what K. is guilty of.
Is living an unexamined life "truly wrong?" I think that Kafka is arguing that it is wrong because by leading that type of life one is merely walking through life blind and not reaching our full potential. The first inkling of the fact that K. lives his life with blinders on, focused merely on the day to day, is his lack of recognition about a number of things. He does not know if he might have committed some minor infraction for which he is now being arrested. He does not realize that the guards are men that work at the bank with him. Later on his way to the court for the first time he makes the realization that he noticed something he normally would not have. All these things point to the fact that K. just goes about his business and day to day affairs with out care for his su...
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...comes quite evident. Kafka is calling for all of humanity to stand up and take control of their own lives. Through self-examination, Kafka believes, that we can come to terms with some personal truth that gives this life meaning. For years people have looked to worldly and spiritual vehicles to find meaning, Kafka is urging that we instead turn inside to within and find something in our own humanity that gives this life meaning. Much like Goethe, Kafka believes our free will is what makes us human, and the exercise of free will is what makes or lives truly meaningful. So, do not rely on the whims of the governing or even the church; make your own decisions. Kafka urges to decide every day how you are going to live your life and then do it because you never know when the Day of Judgment may come.
Works Cited
Kafka, Franz. The Trial. New York: Schocken Books, 1998.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is the story of Gregor Samsa, his turning into a bug, and his ultimate death. In the beginning of the novel Gregor wakes up as a bug and struggles to become used to his new body. Gregor is locked in his room and late for work; he is the only one who works in his family, so it is important that he shows up and earns money to pay off his parents debts. His office manager shows up wondering where he has been and everyone is shocked to see Gregor’s transformation when he finally makes his way out of his room. Upon seeing him, his father shoves him forcefully back into the room, scraping Gregor’s back. Grete, Gregor’s sister, is his primary caretaker throughout the book and she makes certain he is receiving the food he wants and is the only one to clean his room for him. Gregor’s mother and father do not pay much attention to him at all throughout the book. The mother occasionally checks on him, but can barely stand the sight of him. Eventually, Grete starts working and stops taking care of him too, leaving Gregor all by himself. Betrayal is evident in The Metamorphosis and contributes to
Kafka’s story begins on a note of despair and just when it looks like the convict will not live to see another day, a turn of events suggest he might. When the traveller thinks there is nothing he could do to change the system, he sparks the plug that might make the change happen. Borges on the other hand expeciences life through the Aleph which leads him to believe that there is still hope in the world, hope that there are greater things to come and greater things to live for instead of being bogged down by everyday events.
In “A Hunger”, “The Penal Colony”, and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Kafka succeeded in showing his individuals as obsessed with their profession; however their obsession caused their doom because society asks so much from an individual, only so much can be done. However, regardless of that, these individuals choose their work over themselves, and not even bad health or death can stop them. Because society places immures pressure on Kafka’s work obsessed character, they neglect their well-being and cause their own downfall.
Humans feel obligated to do certain things. It makes them feel good, or worthwhile. If these responsibilities are not met or to the obligator's own standards then guilt comes upon them. In The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, Gregor's self-condemnation keeps him trapped. Gregor is enslaved to his family. Therefore Gregor's guilt emerges from the families' burden.
Sokel, Walter H. "Franz Kafka." European Writers. Ed. George Stade. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992. 847-75. Print. European Writers. Ward, Bruce K. "Giving Voice to Isaac: The Sacrificial Victim in Kafka's Trial." Shofar 22.2 (2004): 64+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. .
Politzer, Heinz. Franz Kafka: Parable and Paradox. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1962, Pp. 37-41.
If someone does something wrong, but no one knows about it, they can gain and lose both positive and negative things from it. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, characters commit certain deeds that are wrong in different ways, some getting caught and some getting away with it. For those who aren't caught, they have a decision to make; to turn themselves in or to live their lives as if it never happened. The people that choose to live on as if it never happened have to forever deal with the guilt of whatever it is that they've done. On top of that they have to make sure no one else knows what they did or is suspicious of it. The only positive outcome of it all is that if no one knows or ever finds out then they get to live on as if it never happened without facing any other problems like being imprisoned or judged by everyone else.
”(Kafka 4). The words he chooses to describe his job, “torture”, “worrying,” “miserable” dramatically show his discontent with his daily labor. Having no option other than to continue working at his monotonous job, because he is a member of the class wage labors. They have no means of creating on their own and are reduced to selling their labor-power in order to live.... ...
... his continuation. Consequently, senses are shaped and forced on the public by members of it. It is liberty of selection that helps individual's achievement of foretelling sense practicable. This not-conditioned liberty depicts the individual chance to provide sense to the public through his selections and events. Simultaneously, it also stressed that the individual take the accountability for his selection and achievement, since it is the person who depicts senses to the public. Traveling in the maze of the public, the main character puts a lot of effort to discover her means to genuine existence, though, her hard works are founded to be useless, that is continued to her being broken by misery and her come back to irrationality of existence. Tomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 provides a methodical demonstration of the dilemma of the individual in the world today.
Neumann, Gerhard. "The Judgement, Letter to His Father, and the Bourgeois Family." Trans. Stanley Corngold. Reading Kafka. Ed. Mark Anderson. New York: Schocken, 1989. 215-28.
Kafka felt that “the powerful, self-righteous, and totally unselfconscious personality of his father had stamped him with an ineradicable conviction of his own inferiority and guilt” (Sokel 1). He felt the only way to ever be successful was to “find a spot on the world’s map that his father’s enormous shadow had not reached—and that spot was literature” (Sokel 1).... ... middle of paper ... ...
ii Kafka, F. The Trial. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir. Introduction by George Steiner. New York, Schocken Books, 1992, 1.
Pawel, Ernst. A Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka. 2nd ed. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1984.
...ntryman, has come prepared to influence the gatekeeper into giving him a chance to pass. Despite the countryman’s determination the gatekeeper does not provide for him the authorization, abandoning us to feel that one cannot buy access to God. On the other hand, it ought to be expressed that the gatekeeper takes the valuables offered by the countryman, which is somewhat similar to the way religion asks individuals for “indulgences” in order to reach alleged salvation. Put differently, Kafka is contributing his critique upon the idea to which individuals have systematized religion and most significantly changed its immaculate and profound importance. Also, in the event that we may look upon the character of Law as being God, the gatekeeper as being a modernized servant of God, and the countryman as an individual in search of God; the parable seems to make some sense.
The Trial is Kafka’s exploration of the most extreme consequences of denying one’s own guilt and thus one’s own humanity. In some senses, it serves as a warning, or a sort of parable of its own, and in others it is simply an expression of anguish. The story serves to warn against thinking so highly of oneself that we only interpret infractions of the outright law as guilt. If we are to be truly innocent and humble beings, we must recognize our own innate guilt as human and accept it. If we do not, we will constantly be obsessed by our “state of apparent acquittals."