In the story “The Judgement” by Franz Kafka it ends with Georg committing suicide by jumping into the water and assuming drowning. But that is not how Franz worded it, he said: “At this moment, almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge”. This gives a very powerful image. First of all, you have the father who told Georg all the terrible sins that he has done to everyone around him, fiance, father, etc. and to his friend in Russia which causes him to take the act of jumping off the bridge. Second, you have the father condemning Georg to death by drowning which is a relatively silent death. The reason why I think Kafka choose this death is because he is silent which is no sin. All of Georg life he has been sinning, lying to people around him, lying to himself, and especially his friend in Russia. Death by drowning hardly any noise is made which is why this death suits him so perfectly. Third, to point out the theme of silence, Georg before jumping saw an arriving autobus that would cover his sound when he hit the water. I believe that the use of the word traffic implies that the sound will drown out his noise, this can also be seen and what his father meant but death by drowning, drowning it the noises around him and no one can hear his voice.
-Denny Huang
I think you make an interesting point by interpreting Georg’s death with a “theme of silence”. I have not looked at it this way before but it seems to make sense that due to the fact that Georg has been lying to his loved ones, his father condemns him to a death by drowning. He wants to silence Georg once and for all, and prevent him from lying to anyone ever again. Often, in literature, water also seems to symbolize cleansing; if Georg dies by drowning, he could cleanse himself of all of the sins he has committed (according to his father.
I like that you brought up an another point of looking on it. It is very interesting. You wrote, “drowning it the noises around him and no one can hear his voice.” I tend to agree with you on that. Georg was ashamed of what he have done. He is ashamed of lying to everyone around him, and especially to himself. That’s why he does not want anyone to hear or care about his death. Furthermore, he believes that the world would not be different without him.
Who is responsible for Georg’s decision?
I would say that the society is responsible for Georg’s decision, or in other words, there is no decision that was made by himself. He was always pushing forward, by some misty power which seems like his subconscious but was indeed the society, the environment around him. For example, when he “decided” to write that letter to Russia(it was really the first thing that happened in this story), his mind was changed by the conversation between him and his fiancee. “Would’d he discover our marriage in some other way?” ”If you have such friends…” What she did was merely displaying the idea but without giving reasoning. She wasn’t persuading or arguing. Georg was convinced by himself. At last he said:” we are both to blame for that…” It implies that the root of problem may not just simply come from Georg himself. Later, when he walked into his father’s room, he was absent minded. The whole talk between Georg and his father can be regarded as a dream, since there are also many unrealistic elements in that part of story. It was the insecurity from his heart that pushes Georg make those mistakes, and this insecurity indeed comes from the society. As Denny points out, his death is like a mute death, and covered by the consistent floating of society.