Team Members: Radia, Mel, Elizaveta
Comment #1 – Radia
1) Who is responsible for Georg’s decision at the end of the story?
Georg is responsible for his own decision. However, his environment led to his demise. The story is supposed to be about Georg, but he mentions this friend who doesn’t even live here and he invests in a lot of time writing these letters. This friend could be a metaphor for how Georg truly feels. Kafka wrote, “… Georg confined himself to writing only about insignificant occurrences, such as those that gather haphazardly in one’s memory when one ponders over things on a quiet Sunday.” He shuts himself away and writes all these insignificant details of his day. He bottles away his feelings instead of confronting them. In addition, another factor that played in Georg’s death is his complex relationship with his father. The interaction between Georg and his father is almost robotic. Although they live in the same house and dine together, both characters are always doing their own thing. Yet, in the end when he speaks to his father about the letter, the situation turns hostile. His father makes judgmental and irrational accusations. This becomes the last straw for Georg that causes him to lose touch with life. Both the relationship with his father and hiding himself in these letters push him to the edge.
Comment #2 – Mel
Radia, I agree with your point that he bottles away his feelings instead of confronting them. It’s as if he feels like no one cares about him, which is why he keeps all the emotions and thoughts to himself. He needed to find a person that perhaps is an imaginary friend for him to express his feelings and thoughts. This maybe because he feels as if knowing cares about him. He might feel that the world moves on with or without him. Maybe this acknowledgement, as well as other factors, pushed him over the edge and made him realize that dying or not, it’s OK and doesn’t affect others in the world.
This leads to a possible interpretation of the ending to The Judgment. At the end of the story, Georg kills himself after his father told him to do so. He ends up jumping off the bridge, and not a single person called out to help save him. Instead, the author wrote “At this moment an endless traffic rolled across the bridge.” No one seemed to care or even notice that a person had just committed suicide on the very bridge they were crossing. This ending seems so surreal, because it doesn’t mean the realistic expectation that Georg would be saved by someone, but at the same time, it is very realistic because in reality, the world continues spinning and easily neglects situations like this.
Comment #3 – Elizaveta
I agree with a point that Mel brought up, “He might feel that the world moves on with or without him.” He does not feel needed or loved by any person in his life. Georg does not see the real purpose of his life. His wife, his father or his friend, no one seem to care about him.
It brings me to another point. The story looks unrealistic to me. Georg appears to be happy or at least satisfied by his life at the beginning of the book, but a few pages later he committed suicide. The story is the inner path of Georg. He is in emotional pain. He represents his feeling through his friend from Petersburg because Georg is scared to admit that it is him. Also, Georg judges himself for his lifestyle, relationship with the father and his wife. Georg’s father turned to a crazy judge of a son’s life. If it weren’t the inner path and feelings of Georg, he would not step off the bridge.
Mel, great interpretation of the ending of the story. I agree that it was as if Georg needed to create imaginary friends, or alter egos, for himself in order to cope with the overwhelming feelings he had about his lack of purpose or real connection with anyone in the world. It’s very sad to see how intense mental illness can be and how it can drive one as far as it pushed Georg. He was no longer in touch with reality. For me, the ending was intended to be impersonal. I also had the sense that it was not supposed to reveal how no one would have saved (or did save) Georg from committing suicide, but instead how mental illness is still very taboo in our society and people suffering from it are often neglected for many reasons. Whether they’re afraid to speak up or they don’t know how to get help, it’s a shame how so many lives are ended. This is a deep-rooted and often hidden problem that affects more people than anyone realizes. Hopefully more people can rely on real people and real help to get better rather than, like Georg spiral into complete tragedy.
Mel, I really liked how you interpreted the ending, “… it is very realistic because in reality, the world continues spinning and easily neglects situations like this.” Sadly this is the case that suicide isn’t a focus until after it happens because people aren’t taught to look out for the signs or how to help when they do in fact see a sign that someone might be thinking about committing suicide. Georg does neglect his truths by writing those letters but he is also someone who was looking for love from his father and because he never received it he will still do anything to get it. This need for affection and the lack of it given to him is an indirect cause of his suicide.
-Vyonna
I also agree with Vyonna on the interpretation of the ending. “No one seemed to care or even notice that a person had just committed suicide on the very bridge they were crossing.” this is very true in this world. Most people, if they were to see new of a person that committed suicide that would be the norm. Also, saying how the world will move on without you was brilliant. Ultimately the world won’t stop and mourn for you, it will just keep spinning.