The Judgment And The Metamorphosis Short Story

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The father-son relationship in "The Judgment" and "The Metamorphosis" is a rather complex depiction of the struggles one faces in an estranged relationship. After reading Kafka 's life story, one could say that the filial relationships portrayed in Kafka 's stories share a certain resemblance to his own relationships. The father-son relationship in Kafka can be fully described by a mixture of realism and fantasy. Kafka uses anti-realist elements such as the metamorphosis of Gregor and the sudden change in Georg 's father to portray the emotional turmoil between the father and the son in a real situation. In this paper, I shall argue that the father-son relationship is partly dynamic and partly static in nature. I shall argue that the father …show more content…

The degree to which the son is affected by his father 's harsh remarks is the main difference in the father-son relationship between the two stories. After calling Georg a "veritable fiend"(Pg 49), George 's father sentences him to "death by drowning"(Pg 49). "The Judgment", is an appropriate title since we see the father 's judgment actualize itself at the end of the story. On hearing his father 's remarks, Georg "felt himself expelled from the room"(Pg 49) and went on to drown himself. His suicide illustrates the power of the father 's words and how his father 's judgment dawned upon him. It could also suggest the shift from a realist mode to an anti-realist mode. In symbolic terms, this suicide would be a depiction of the latent power of the father over the son.The father 's word was the final one for Georg, who did not think about his fiance before committing suicide. Gregor on the other hand, deals slightly better with his father 's harshness. I would say that Gregor 's situation was worse, since not only did he have to listen to the harsh comments, he was also physically abused by his father when his father threw the apple at him. However, I would argue that Gregor balances his father 's severity with his affection towards his mother and sister. His affection is seen when he becomes desperate to see his mother while she and his sister were moving the furniture from his room. He also tried to tell his sister to play the violin in his room; No one rewarded her music as much as he. Whether his love for his sister was the brother-sister love or something else is subject to interpretation. Thus, although Gregor dies at the end, the presence of filial feminine affection partly heals the damages caused by his father. It could be argued that such an affection did not exist since Grete decisively rejects Gregor at the end of the story. However, I would say that the mere presence of Grete is what gave Gregor the motivation to endure his

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