Simplistic Death of Kafka

As a primary author of the early 20th century, Kafka although very influential, was unconventional and wrote stories such as The Trial which are unclear leaving the reader wondering the reasoning for it all. Kafka’s stories were a combination of reality and vivid exaggerations having to do with the main character often being persecuted, such as Gregor who was beaten by his father in Metamorphosis and the son in The Judgment who committed suicide. The standard format for fiction is that of a problem and solution ultimately developing a moral and reasoning for the actions that had taken place. Kafka’s stories went against this form. His stories never really explained why everything happened. An example of this is in Metamorphosis when Gregor wakes up as a beetle in what seems to be the climax of the story. Since Kafka’s stories can come off as unclear and can be easily misinterpreted he wished that after his death his works be burned. Only a couple of his works were actually published when he was alive, including Metamorphosis and In the Penal Colony.

One of Kafka’s stories that show how abstract and irrational his character’s can be is Metamorphosis. In this story the main character Gregor wakes up in the body of a beetle. He struggles to lead his everyday life but comes across obstacles such as trying to go to work which pays his family’s way. His family eventually ignores Gregor because they all need to start working to support the household. The now hideous Gregor causes his mother’s health to deteriorate outraging his father. This leads to the delivery of a fatal blow of an apple into his back. The story itself seems rather interesting but what is the reasoning behind it? Kafka creates these characters and storyline without any real explanation or moral to be learned. A more realistic and gruesome example of Kafka’s stories is In the Penal Colony.

In the Penal Colony is about a penal colony and a machine called the Harrow. In the penal colony a condemned man is placed in the machine and executed. The means of execution is through the use of needles which carve into the back of its victim the law or commandment which was broken until the person dies. This not only punishes the person for their disobedience, but makes them realize what was done wrong. The story ends when an officer removes a condemned man from the Harrow and places himself in the contraption after setting the inscription to “Be Just.” The moral of this story is more identifiable but the story itself is grossly psychologically distorted and irrational. A combination of the two styles of identifiable but distorted and abstract is The Trial.

The Trial is about a man named Joseph K. who is put on trial for an unidentified offense. All the events in the story take place between when K. is arrested and when he is killed a year later in the name of the law. In between is a sequence of random and seemingly uneventful or even related events full