great works in literature II 2850 kta 2:55-4:35— Shades of Truth . . .

In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoners were happy and embedded within their own ignorance. Which is why they were so outraged by the other prisoner who obtained so much knowledge. This is very similar to “The Metamorphosis”, Gregor was different from everyone else in his family. He is also shown as an outcast and was later killed. His family knows little about the world since they have never left their own cave (household); They do not see the real world as Gregor does. Gregor is the sole provider of the house, according to Kafka, “If did have to exercise restraint for the sake of my parents, than I would have quit a long time ago”(Kafka, 211). He is a prisoner to his family. Until he is faced with a different kind of reality. Once he becomes this huge monster, he is shown a harsher reality. Similarly, the other prisoners do not experience anything outside of the cave themselves; they only know through shadows. Gregor’s family only knows the outside world by having company over or guest. Since Gregor could not provide that to them anymore, and the escaped prisoner could not be a companion anymore, they were both marked as different. The outside men’s reaction to Gregor’s change was very strange, this is shown in the quote “The middle gentleman first smiled, shaking his head” (Kafka, 236). This shows how they reject him completely, they are almost amused by his change. This represents people in society and how they are very judgmental towards anything that is different. They are judged more harshly than any others because they go against societal norms.

-Kelly Kay

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” clearly represents how the power of the mind can make a difference in society. Those who remained chained up, only believed that the shadows were reality, which relates to Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” where the mother, father, and sister of Gregor, believed that Gregor was the only one physically capable of providing for the family. However, in the end, the family has no choice but to see the truth, which never happens in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”: “They talked to each other, leaning back comfortably in their seats, about future prospects, and they discovered that on closer observation these were not at all bad, for all three had employment.” It is then when the family of Gregor realizes that they could have worked and distributed the cost of living, instead of forcing all responsibilities on Gregor. It is a self realization which connects to the escape of the prisoner, where the prisoner sees what the world has to offer outside of a cave, or in Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” a house.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2jG6eQysVagSEF5VHlDd2NudUk/view?usp=sharing.

You make some really interesting observations about the ending!  I’ve divided your more salient comments into the three categories I asked you to look at more closely.

Who is responsible for Georg’s decision at the end?

Roshelle (and Brian agrees) suggests that Georg is responsible for his own death. She rightly points out that he is often in a state of escaping reality (and her quotes support this). Chi says that both he and his father share the guilt (and Kamran agrees) and I think this is an interesting, and valid, way of looking at these very complex characters. Kafka is quite interested in the idea of guilt, and that no one is entirely innocent. Radia feels that his father pushes Georg to an extent, and that Georg isn’t able to express his frustration, but that Georg is finally responsible his own actions. Zeyu makes an excellent comment, when he points out that it is the “traffic” or society as a whole that we see at the very end, and that society is ultimately responsible, for the way it has constructed itself to ignore the problems of the individual. Zuzanna points out the father’s “power of language” in pronouncing his judgment on his son.

Unrealistic nature of the ending:

Jonathan points to the realistic aspects of the ending, the “merciless chiding of Georg’s father” and Georg simply wanting to escape this. Myra makes the very interesting (and perceptive) comment that the unrealistic aspects actually begin about mid-way in the narrative. She sees an “evil” aspect, which she defends with a few choice quotes. William agrees that this is a realistic ending, a son who is depressed from “not getting his father’s approval.” Mel makes the interesting comment that the ending, showing the world’s indifference, is both real and unreal, and Kafka is a master, I think, of bringing these two aspects together, and this is something we’ll talk more about in class. Vyonna makes an important comment, when she points out that who, when commanded to jump off of a bridge, will actually do so? She points out that Georg’s sense of reasoning seems to be deteriorating, and point of view is very important, as well, in “The Metamorphosis.” Elizaveta points out that this is “unrealistic” in that it represents the inner pain of Georg, and this is something we’ll discuss more on Tuesday. Emily points out, too, that this ending is realistic, and is a result of severe mental illness.

The last line of the narrative:

Crystal makes the very astute observation that this symbolizes the indifference of society to the pain of the individual, and this is something Kafka was very much interested in. Diana seems to agree, and she points out that even so, Georg dies with “love” for his parents, even the parent that condemned him to death.  Kelly makes the comment that the last line indicates the repetitiveness of life, and ultimately, life’s absurdity (and meaninglessness?). Kafka was certainly interested in this idea. Sabera sees this as indicating the “weight of Georg’s life” giving him one final push. Mark points out Georg’s essential impotence as an individual, that it is up to him to move forward, and this is also a question we will confront in “The Metamorphosis.” Denny makes an excellent comment, when he points out that the last line signifies the life that Georg has lead, ultimately a life of silence. Yes, we never really hear Georg’s true voice, do we?  As many of you point out, he never expresses he real frustrations with his father and with his life. Bory’s points out that the last line could well represent the overwhelming sense of lack of control that Georg feels.

Emily

At the end of The Judgement, we see Georg run to the bridge and jump off. At first, this seems a bit exaggerated. How could one little argument spark someone to go to such drastic measures as to kill themselves? Yet, with all the events leading up to this tragic moment, the reasons for his actions become more clear. For one, the people in his life act as almost “alter egos” of Georg. His friend is imaginary: a figure he created to help cope with his mental health issues. He could put all of his problems onto someone else and it made things easier to deal with. When his father (and I am not sure as to whether or not I believe his father may be another one of these imaginary figures) forces Georg to realize that he is living a lie and his life is really a mess, it drives his son over the edge. As if out of instinct, when his father tells Georg he will die from drowning, he fulfills his (own) wishes. As Borys points out, he could no longer bare the weight of the world around him. This is his inner conscious planning his suicide. What makes this realistic, for me, being someone who is aware of the effects and consequences of mental illness, is the fact that he suffered so long and when he reached the point where he could no longer hold the enemy, the sickness, back, Georg surrendered. He had seemingly found a permanent way to end his own suffering. “He cried softly: ″But dear parents, I have always loved you″, and let himself fall down.” What a real tragedy.  

Zuzanna

The question of who is responsible for Georg’s death at the end of “The Judgement” could be debated based on how we interpret the power of language. Georg’s father does not hold back at the end of the story; he tells Georg that he has always been a “develish human being”, and proceeds to condemn him to a death by drowning. One can argue that although Georg’s father did not directly kill his son, his cruel words could be the result of his death. Based on the title, “The Judgement”, Kafka could have tried to show his readers the power that our loved ones can have over us simply with their words. Georg does not seem to have control over his own actions prior to jumping off the bridge; “he continued to hold onto the railing though his hands were getting weak”, and he “felt himself chased out of the room.” Georg’s actions seem to be controlled by an outside force, as if the power of his father’s words was strong enough to preside over his actions. As Emily mentioned, his father’s accusations seem to drive Georg to commit suicide; the power of language is sometimes stronger than any physical action we take.

Borys

The melancholy and tragic story of Georg ends with him taking his own life by jumping off the bridge. There is added significance to this moment with the final line of the story, “At this moment, almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge.” This could be seen as an analogy to peek inside the mind of Georg at the instant just before he decided to jump off the bridge. He was clearly overwhelmed by life at that moment and couldn’t handle all of it at once, which could be compared to the “endless traffic” on the bridge; it just kept on coming and he wasn’t able to bear the load of it. He was juggling numerous stressful events at once, from marriage, friendships, to even cruel parents. I agree with my groupmates, this seems like a very realistic conclusion to the story, with a depressed and disturbed individual taking his own life after a traumatic experience.

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

At the end of the story I believe that both Georg and his father are the prime culprits behind the suicide at the end of the story. The suicide of Georg can be accredited to his father and himself which was caused by self-realization and vilification of oneself and others. Throughout the story, we can infer through analysis of the text that Georg knows about the wrong things he has done and is doing and this can be seen through his daily routines with his father. Towards the end of the story, the father of Georg begins to criticize his son and points out all his faults and finally condemns him to death by drowning. This can be seen as the vilification of others as the father of Georg paints his son out to be an evil human. At this point, Georg has an epiphany or a self-realization and comes to the conclusion that his entire life he has lived as a horrible human being and believes in the vilification of himself which eventually results in him committing suicide. 

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.

The ending of “Judgement” is the realistic outcome of a man who is depressed from not getting his father’s approval. Georg is character who looks up to his father and has followed his father’s footsteps all his life. The story concluded with Georg committing suicide by jumping off a bridge. Just before this, the last words Georg’s father told were “I condemn you do death by drowning!” Depending on the type of person you are, hearing those words from your father can have various different extreme effects on you. Georg being a person who cared a lot of his father’s opinion, decided that he will never get his father’s approval and took those words for their literal meaning. Georg’s final words to the reader were; “But dear parents, I have always loved you”. This shows us that Georg not getting his parents approval is the absolute cause of his decision to commit suicide. The ending of this story was a realistic ending of a depressed man who could not get his father’s approval.

-William Dayan

The last line of the story, “At this moment, almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge” is highly significant to the story as it seems to signify a rush of traffic which can be equivalent to the weight of Georg’s life suddenly pushing at him at once. As William mentioned above, “Judgement” can be considered as the realistic outcome of a man who is depressed from not getting his father’s approval, and the rush of traffic could show the rush of unfulfillment that Georg had felt from not being able to feel like he had made his father proud. Georg’s last moments, “He cried softly: ‘But dear parents, I have always loved you’, and let himself fall down” proved that in the end his parents were always dear to his heart, and that is what may have driven him to his end. The line at the end is significant as it shows these inner feelings of Georg, a perfect parallel in his last moments.

-Sabera Qazi

When thinking about who can be held responsible for Georg’s decision at the end of the story, it can only be Georg himself. As William and Sabera have mentioned above, indeed Georg seems to be driven to suicide as he had always strived for his father’s approval and never received it. While it is possible to blame it on his father, it can also be completely Georg’s fault. Georg had always kept himself distant from his father as we can see when he stumbles upon his father’s room. “There was no necessity for him to go there, since he had daily contact with his father in the business, and they ate lunch together in an eating house. In the evenings, each of them catered for himself.” It is clear here that Georg and his father had a more business relationship rather than a personal family like one. Perhaps if Georg had made more of a effort to talk to his father in a personal way and spend more time with him outside of work, he would have found the satisfaction that he needed. From this it can be concluded that only Georg can be responsible for the decision he makes at the end.

-Brian Baigorria

2) What is the significance of the very last line of the story: “At this moment, almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge”?

The significance to the very last line of the story is that life is very repetitive, and that this repetition is never ending. It is all so endless, this life and his problems will never go away it will be their forever all clattered together and never stopping to take brake. It is very overwhelming. You can picture life just moving on for everyone while his is ending. It is also very dark. As if no one truly care about each others problems. All the tragedies in the world and life just goes on for everyone else. This is shown when Kafka stated, “He reproached himself of having neglected the father. Doubtlessly he should have seen it as his duty to watch over his fathers change of underwear” (4). His father was getting older, but yet Georg overlooked this and did not really watch over him. His life was moving forward. He was getting married, he did not have time to take care of his father all the time. Everyone has problems of their own. However, Georg needed the endlessness and the repetition to end. Kafka states, “He continued to hold onto the railing though his hands were getting week” (7). Georg simply gave up. He let go of all his problems but the endless amount of traffic will never go away. Everyone will always have their problems, however life goes on, it is an endless cycle.