Analysis of Franz Kafka’s “The Judgment”
The Judgment by Franz Kafka is a modernistic story which majorly explores the lives of George Bendemann and his father. George’s friend who lives in a foreign country and Frieda Brandenfeld, George’s fiancée are also caught up in the events of the story. George undergoes numerous torments in the story generated both internally and by the bonds that he has with his father. The long-term fight that has exists between John and his father leads him to wage even a greater battle within himself. “The Judgment” depicts numerous conflicts both internal and external which leads to the final events of the story in which the main character executes the sentence rested on him by his own father. In the story, the main character George always takes a subservient role (structural lens).At the beginning of the story, John is amused of his friend as he writes a letter to him which takes about a third of the story. His youth friend left his mother country to another land. Of late the friend does not seem successful as he constantly complains of his fluctuating business (Kafka 1). However, George states that although one may feel sorry for his friend, he is not ready to be helped. His friend lives in isolation back in the foreign land and George had noted in his previous visit that was extremely yellow perhaps due to a latent infection (queer lens). The letter that George writes to his friend is striking because he only mentions the main purpose of writing the letter at the very end: his engagement to a wealthy woman (materialistic lens). (Kafka 3) Before mentioning the good news to his friend, George tests his friend’s reaction through writing about the marriages of uninteresting people.
Even though George had resolved into telling his friend about his engagement, he does not provide much detail about his fiancée. He only insists that she is a good person and his friend will have a perfect friend of the opposite sex (gender lens). George in the letter is reluctant of telling about the conditions at home and his follow-up for his friend to come back home. Furthermore, “Given these facts, could one think that he would really advance himself here?” (Kafka 2) He thinks that this would have been a form of criticism to his failure (Marxist lens). He thus opts to fill his letter with insignificant gossip and extends an invitation to his friend to attend his wedding. George confesses to his father that he wrote a letter to his friend in St. Petersburg citing that he did not want his friend to learn about his engagement from another person. When George breaks the good news to his father, the latter denies the existence of the friend living abroad. This scene depicts the oscillating father-son relationship. His father feigns sickness and George thinks that he is affected by old age. He promises to take good care of him in the future and recounts some of his friend’s bloody tales only to refresh his father’s memory (Historicism lens). He then carries the old man to his bed as a strategy to better his health. The events take another course in the story when George’s father whether he George, has covered him well to which he gets an assurance. George’s father suddenly wakes up only to accuse his son of being extremely grandiose and that the filial attention was driven by pretense and ill intentions. He denies the fact that his son had really covered him, “You wanted to cover me up—I know that, my little offspring—but I am not yet under the covers (Kafka 9). This is followed by a series of accusations and later revelations. The father asserts that he is aware of the friend but accuses George of being a traitor to his friend. George’s father states that he secretly stood up with the friend and even informed him about the concealed events. At this point, George hopes that his father will fall and die although he does not believe in the revelations (psych lens). The author instead of addressing the series of questions arising from the text in the conclusion, he raises yet more enigmas. George’s father pronounces a formal sentence over him:
“So now you know what there was in the world outside of yourself. Up to this point you’ve known only about yourself! Essentially you’ve been an innocent child, but even more essentially you’ve been a devilish human being! And therefore understand this: I sentence you now to death by drowning! ”. (Kafka 12)
Finally, George executes the judgment pronounced on him by his father. Many critics consider “The Judgment” as the most influential and autobiographical story by Kafka (biographical lens). The story draws more from his life especially the fateful encounter with Felice Bauer who later became his fiancée. The story was created seven days after the two had met. The Judgment is undoubtedly an exact replica of what transpires in the modern families. The modern fathers assume total authorities over their sons both psychologically and socially. George’s father has an overall control of his son and is the determinant of his business ideas. George ends up living under the same roof with his father something which his friend does not seem to approve.