The Nature of Space in Kafka's The Castle
From the end of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of World War I,
great developments in technology and knowledge brought about significant
changes in the way man viewed time and space. The necessity of clear train
schedules led to the development of World Standard Time and the plurality
of private time. In regards to space, with which this paper deals, man
moved into other subjective realms beyond the two and three dimensions
described by Euclid. In fact, with Einstein's theory of relativity, the
number of spaces inherent in life increased beyond calculation to equal the
number of moving reference systems of all the matter in the universe. This
theory echoes Nietzche's contemporary philosophical theory of
perspectivism, where space only consists of points of view and
interpretations, not objective facts. Thus, these two doctrines signaled a
breakdown of the old notion that there is a single reality, a single,
absolute space. Space became subjective and relative, man could not be sure
of what it was that actually surrounded him and made up his physical world.
Creative artists, painters and novelists, attempted to deal with this new
concept. Attacks were made on traditional notions that there is only one
space and that a single point of view is equal to an understanding.
Writers, specifically, responded with multiple perspectives depicting
different views of the same objects in space in order to demonstrate that
the world is always different as it is perceived by various observers at
varying times. Man had to come to grips with the fact that with such a
plurality of space, he cannot know, understand, or even see the physical
world completely.
Thus, it is not surprising that Kafka's final work, The Castle, which
emerged out of the pluralism and confusion of this age, deals with this new
notion of space, this new relativity of the world surrounding man. While
the book can be looked at on a spiritual level, with the castle symbolizing
divinity or the ultimate spiritual meaning of man's existence, in regards
to space, the castle could also symbolize the actual literal, physical
world. Through the nature of K. and his quest, the different ways the
Castle is perceived by K. from various viewpoints along his quest, and the
inability of anyone to know the true nature of the castle officials, Kafka
The novel We Have Always Lived in The Castle by Shirley Jackson is a very unique book. This is due to the very strange behavioral patterns from the two sisters, Merricat and Constance, in the poem. But what is the most unusual about the two sisters is their definitions of happiness. To see Merricat’s definition of happiness is best seen when she refers to the “moon” and under the same weekly routine schedule she has always been under since she her family was murdered. Constance’s definition of happiness clearly displayed when Charles comes to the house and when she starts embracing Merricat’s “moon” fantasy world. By looking at the two girls’ definition of happiness we can see what the girls truly need and want in order to be happy.
Australia has the terrible condition of having an essentially pointless and prefabricated idea of “Aussiness” that really has no relation to our real culture or the way in which we really see ourselves. We, however subscribe to these stereotypes when trying to find some expression of our Australian identity. The feature film, The Castle, deals with issues about Australian identity in the 1990’s. The film uses techniques like camera shots, language and the use of narration to develop conflict between a decent, old fashioned suburban family, the Kerrigans and an unscrupulous corporation called Airlink. Feature films like The Castle are cultural products because they use attitudes, values and stereotypes about what it means to be Australian.
Mill’s Utilitarianism varies from the most general form of utilitarianism, which claims that one should assess persons, actions, and institutions by how well they promote humans’ happiness. Mill branches off of this basic explanation by interpreting the misconceptions of utilitarianism into utility. This utility is something in opposition to pleasure. In order words, mill utilitarianism utility is the greatest happiness principle.
Humanity, since the dawn of time, fears anything they have little knowledge about. Instead, humans create superstitious beliefs based on fear and curiosity. In Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Constance Blackwood, Mary Katherine, Merricat, Blackwood, and Julian Blackwood are a wealthy family that live just outside the town. Six years ago, the rest of the Blackwood family is murdered at the dinner table with arsenic. The townspeople blame Constance because she cooks the food for the family and is an expert with herbs, but she is acquitted of the murder. Despite being acquitted, the townspeople abuse both Constance and Merricat simply because they believe that Constance was the only one who could have killed the family.
as a form of hired help since he had taken the job to pay for his
“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. He was lying on his back as hard as armor plate, and when he lifted his head a little he saw his vaulted brown belly, sectioned by arch-shaped ribs, to whose dome the cover, about to slide off completely, could barely cling. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with size of the rest of him, were waving helplessly before his eyes” (Kafka 255). Renowned German writer, Franz Kafka, wrote the short story “The Metamorphosis (translated from its original German title: "Die Verwandlung")” in 1912 and later published in 1915 to much acclaim from both casual readers and critics alike. “The Metamorphosis” shares many characteristics of Fairy Tales, particularly that of the popular “Beauty and the Beast” tale and the “loathly lady” tales, but with some divergences from the typical traits of most fairy tales. The shift in setting, atypical characters as compared with fairy tale characters, similar themes, and straying from the common “happily ever after” ending is cause for consideration of “The Metamorphosis” as an inversion of the fairy tale form.
their time. However some of these men were cruel and vicious and were the lowest
John Stuart Mill argues that the rightness or wrongness of an action, or type of action, is a function of the goodness or badness of its consequences, where good consequences are ones that maximize the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. In this essay I will evaluate the essential features of Mill’s ethical theory, how that utilitarianism gives wrong answers to moral questions and partiality are damaging to Utilitarianism.
over time has long been considered. Many choose to believe the Bible literally and take
Hunger is a term that is often defined as the physical feeling for the need to eat. However, the Hunger Artist in Kafka's A Hunger Artist places a different, more complex meaning to this word, making the Hunger Artist's name rather ironic. The hunger of the Hunger Artist is not for food. As described at the end of the essay, the Hunger Artist states that he was in fact never hungry, he just never found anything that he liked. So then, what does this man's hunger truly mean? What drives the Hunger Artist to fast for so long, if he is truly not hungry? The Hunger Artist salivates not for the food which he is teased with, nor does he even sneak food when he alone. The Hunger Artist has a hunger for fame, reputation, and honor. This hunger seems to create in the mind of the Artist, a powerfully controlling dream schema. These dreams drive the Artist to unavoidable failure and alienation, which ultimately uncovers the sad truth about the artist. The truth is that the Artist was never an artist; he was a fraudulent outcast who fought to the last moment for fame, which ultimately became a thing of the past.
Franz Kafka's The Judgement depicts the struggle of father-son relationships. This modernistic story explores Georg Bendemann's many torments, which result from the bonds with both his father and himself. Furthermore, the ever-present and lifelong battle that Georg has been fighting with his father leads him to fight an even greater battle with himself. Ultimately, Georg loses the struggle with himself by letting go of his newly found independence and instead, letting external forces decide his fatal outcome.
Author Yuval Noah Harari has a unique way of reviewing the past fourteen billion years in his monograph Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. His intention for writing this book is mainly to bring up the conversation of the human condition and how it has affected the course of history. In this case, the human condition coincides with the inevitable by-products of human existence. These include life, death, and all the emotional experiences in between. Harari is trying to determine how and why the events that have occurred throughout the lives of Homo Sapiens have molded our social structures, the natural environment we inhabit, and our values and beliefs into what they are today.
In order to understand John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism we must first understand his history and motives in writing the series of essays. Mill had many influencers most notably his father James Mill and the father of Utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham. James grew up poor but was influenced by his mother, who had high hopes for the formerly named Milne family, and educated himself becoming a preacher and then executive in the East India Company. James was a proponent of empiricism and believed in John Locke’s idea of man being born as a blank slate. James did not send his son John to school, teaching him rigorously from the early age of three. Despite his father’s emphasis on the blank slate, Mill was criticized for being a manufactured man because
God gives Adam and Eve one rule and as soon as they break that rule they are banned from the garden forever. After this point you see a downward spiral of the life of man. Man’s behavior slowly declines until it is beyond appaling. Man commits thievery, adultry, murder and many more actions that disappointed God. That is the point where God starts over completely.
No person that leads a normal life is likely to write a metaphorical yet literal story about a man transforming into a bug. That being said, no person that leads a normal life is likely to alter a genre as much as Franz Kafka did. With the unusual combination of declining physical health and a resurgence of spiritual ideas, Franz Kafka, actively yearning for life, allowed his mind to travel to the places that his body could not take him. In his recurring themes of guilt, pain, obscurity, and lucidity, are direct connections to his childhood and daily life. His family dynamic, infatuation with culture and theater, and his personal illnesses all shaped his imagination into the poignant yet energetic thing that made him so well-known. With all of his influences combined, Franz Kafka developed a writing style so distinct that he founded a semi-genre all his own: kafkaism.