Realism readings started as an artistic movement from romanticism. This movement began in the 19th century in France. According to our readings, we can witness the details of realistic events, social condition and facts. IN realism, the ideal of idealization is out. Realism readings are about the recreation of life in the forms of literature. We can witness this true living condition and facts by reading the daily lives of people and what they’ve went through during this time. Usually, for a reading, this is not something common for us in this world now. We have laws to protect us, we have freedom. By reading this realistic works from the 19th century, it will make us realize that our life right now is a lot better than back in the days.

Naturalism readings implies on a philosophical level. These types of readings are more on the scientific levels of objectives and detachments of humans. The readings are about studying humans. Laws deprived from the studies of humans, our environment, our instincts and passion.

This poem is about humanity in this world and the causes for us to sin repetitively, uncontrollably, and the origins of this condition in the eyes of the author. By reading this poem, it puts me in a different position. As if i was in a different world, filled with darkness, unhappiness, and most importantly, twisted. For me to put aside the real me, I had to repeat to myself that I have to read this poem as in I am Charles in order to get the feelings and conditions he had.

In The Reader, the main talk was about looking back and reflecting on our actions, sins, and insecurity. Our sins are uncontrollable because we are controlled by the devil instead of God. The devil controls the world and made us who we are. Everything we do, we sin. Every step we take, we sin. Why? because we are gifted with the temptation of evil, according to the author. A temptation that is hard to resist. Because of this, we had to witness the world that is filled with hypocrisy, death and repeated sins.

We have no control of our auctions because we don’t possess any freedom in this world because the devil controls our actions. Even if we reach out for help? what will you get in return? This about the symbols of devil and color. That is fire. This is the view of the world in this story.

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Answer the following prompt in at least 1 page double-spaced. Print out and bring to class.

Do not use first person. Write in a formal way. Make sure you have a strong thesis.

How does the Schoolmaster justify the town’s decision? Why is this important, and how might it be ironic?

Throughout the story “The Judgement” by Franz Kafka, the role of the friend in St. Petersburg is extremely confusing and there are numerous explanations as to what his role is. I do not think there is any clear cut answer or “right” answer as to what role the friend plays in this story.

The imaginary and mysterious friend is described as ” a big child with a fully exotic beard poorly concealing the face.” Yes, these words give the reader a decent image of what the friends face looks like but that is about it. I am not sure why Kafka states the status of the friends facial hair before mentioning characteristics of his personality. This bothered me a great deal.

I struggled to come up with any similarities between George and his friend. A major difference that I noticed was the “successfulness”  of George compared to the failure of his friend. Kafka uses the word “fled”, implying the friend ran away from something. Kafka could have very easily used the word “moved”, instead he used “fled”. I learnt from this that the friend was clearly having some struggles and not having a great life where he was so he was escaping something and fled to St. Petersburg.

” His friend was settling in as a bachelor for good.” Why did this friend have no interest in getting married? Perhaps, it has something to do with his lack of interest in community and being social as a whole. Kafka mentions the friend did not have close ties to the colony. I think this friend was an anti-social human being and this is one of the many reasons that he fled to Russia.

This nameless friend causes a lot of complexion and confusion to George’s life. George discusses in great detail whether or not he should tell his friend that he plans on getting married. It is unclear to me whether or not I would consider George and this friend close friends. It seems as if they have some everlasting connection and clearly George has an interest in keeping in touch with him, but I feel as if George always has to think before telling him something and this is not healthy. More importantly, this nameless friend damages/ruins George’s relationship with his father. As we all know, in the end George commits suicide. Although I can not definitively say George would not have committed suicide had his father not spoken with the friend, I strongly believe George would not have killed himself. I am wondering as to why George’s father cared about this friend so much? What are the positive characteristics that George’s dad saw inside this friend?

Overall, this friend caused a lot of unnecessary complexity to George’s life and eventually caused his suicide.

Good news! Not only is the Whitney Museum now free for CUNY students, but so is El Museo del Barrio, located on the UES.

Each characters in the story The Judgement can be defined as: Georg is the represented Kafka himself; Frieda Brandenfeld is mentioned as Felice Bauer, Kafka’s fiancee; and I think “the friend” in Russia whom has never given a name is the character of Kafka’s inner self. We know that Georg and his friend communicated mostly through letters. I see the letters as Kafka’s conflict to himself for being Georg or the friend (to be rich or poor and to be married or a bachelor. There are plenty of examples in the article showing his confusing thought.

It is audaciously to say Kafka has schizophrenia that he created a virtual friend as the other side of him. We can see a lot of details of Georg’s friend in first couple pages, but the friend of him has never had a name. Therefore, I think Kafka has his reasons to make the virtual character. Kafka might hope to go to St. Petersburg, Russia, but he was also afraid of losing things he had in his hometown since his friend is described as “having no ties with the local colony or his compatriots and almost no social dealings with native families, he was settling in to become a bachelor for good.”(p.58)

As I know, Kafka had been having conflict with his father in real life, so he might want to escape from the place living with his father that he said in The Judgement his friend didn’tgo back to visit even when Georg’s mother passed away. Kafka might be really yearn for the life in Russia. Somehow, Kafka knew that to abandon everything to Russia was an immature decision, he wrote: ” he(the friend) was a big child who simply had to listen to the successful friends who had remained at home.” On page 60, I see Kafka’s self conflict again. When Georg and his father’s business has grown, his friend tried to persuade Georg to move to Russia instead of congratulated him. And then Kafka was struggling again: “Georg always limited himself to writing to his friend about trivial occurrences.”

On p.61, it mostly described Kafka’s dilemma of his marriage. “Well, we are both at fault; but I would not have it any other way now.” can be analyzed Kafka felt regret to his engagement.The words Georg told himself was so complex that he said “That is how I’m, and that is how he must take me,” and “I cannot tailor myself into a person who might be more suitable for a friendship with him that I am.” I would read that as Kafka was persuading and reminding himself that he had to get marry with his fiancee and to forget the life he had been yearning for in Russia.

We could see as many conflicts as I mentioned above inside Kafka’s heart through only first few pages. Kafka might have schizophrenia like as I said because he kept fighting to himself to make choice in his life expressing through his writings. He writes in profundity and philosophically that I just tried my best to guess, but I believe there will never be an answer for the explanation of his writings.

In the story The Judgement by Franz Kafka, the role of the friend in St.Petersburg is to emphasize the lifestyle of Georg. If the story did not include the friend, Georg’s lifestyle may seem normal to an average person. The friend can be a character that is easy to compare with Georg.The friend in St.Petersburg remains mostly a mystery to the reader because of the constant indefinite adjectives to describe the friend. He is pictured as a man with “a fully exotic beard poorly concealing the face” and to be a “big child” (57 and 58). The friend remains as a blur to the readers because he is never one adjective. He mingles between two words that contradicts each other and remains there. However, Georg draws a line between who he is and who he is not. He tells himself “That is how I am, and that is how he must take me, I cannot tailor myself into a person who might be more suitable for a friendship with him than I am” (61).
Georg and his friend can be also seen as complete opposites. Georg is successful, but his friend has “fled” to Russia and hasn’t been as successful as Georg. Georg can be seen as having a social life compared to his friend who has “no real ties with the local colony of his compatriots and almost no social dealings with native families” (58). Georg was about to get married and his friend was seen as a “bachelor for good” (58).
Georg’s success, his friendships and his marriage all seem normal and definite whereas his friend lives in a blurry world. By comparing Georg and his friend side by side, Georg’s characteristics are shown better.

Kafka’s story, “The Judgment” describes the relationship between the characters Georg and the Friend. Although we don’t get a define description of the Friend we can tell that him and Georg were once close through their letter conversations. I believe that Kafka created these two characters to represent how he himself, is torn between being the man Georg or being the Friend.

Georg seems to be a man who is successful, good looking and ready to be wed. Someone who has decided his life is good and wants to settle down and have kids to do the same thing. The Friend however, is the opposite. The Friend is a bachelor, tries hard to be successful and moves to Russia to be alone. I can say he wants to be alone because in the story the Friend describes how he does not have ties with anyone in Russia. The Friend says he moves to Russia because his business wasn’t doing well. At the same time it sounds like he’s doing worse in Russia but also sounds content. There was a letter the Friend sent that asked Georg to move to Russia with him and Georg replied back saying he is fine where he is. I believe this signifies how the two egos of Kafka can’t come together. They are always separate but still a part of each other.

Georg tends to hide things about his life from the Friend because he does not want his friend to envy him. However, Georg also wants to keep this image of himself before his friend left for the Friend. To me it feels like Georg wants to be accepted by the Friend which goes back to the point that they can not be separated. Georg pities the Friend but at the same time he won’t tell him to come home. Even though he tells the Friend he is getting married he doesn’t invite the Friend to the wedding. This insults the wife, Frieda, and Georg says that is how it must be.

There is a strong sense of separation between the characters but at the same time they are not separated. This is why I believe Georg and the Friend are Kafka’s way of telling the reader that they are the same person. That Georg and the Friend are himself. Georg is the man he wants to be however the Friend is there as well.