Analysis of the Castle by Franz Kafka

Introduction

The Castle is a book by Franz Kafka who was born in 1881 in Austria Hungary now Czech Republic. He mainly worked as an insurance officer, factor manager, a novelist and a short story writer. He is well known because of the books he wrote, The Trial, The Castle and the Metamorphosis.His books seem to be dominated by despair and illogicality which many consider as representative of existentialism. Key themes mainly emphasized in his books include isolation and harassment. His work is all an indication of how people discover struggles. This essay will try to analyze why Kafka chose to use the medium of dream and allegory, yet his book The Cast le mainly talks about common issues are happen to people in our daily life.(Kafka 65)

The factor that Kafka chose to use allegory could be to taken to mean that, he saw it wise to use a style that could force people to think in order to come up the inner meaning of the story, since such a style brings out two meaning that is the outer meaning and the inner meaning of the plot. It is however, important to note that the writer always wants to bring out the inner meaning which in most cases is the desired meaning of the story. The aspect that, his allegory of the system of government gone crazy, I still fresh on the comptemporary reader is a good indication why he chose this style of writing. (Magill 43)

We find that the book is about a man named who arrives in a village where he has possibly been summoned for an employment as a land surveyor. Its residents seem to be aware of his arrival and not to be aware, and there seems to be work and to be no work Presiding over the community is a fortress, which can be can and cannot be reached by phone, we also find that at times one can speak to the people in charge while other times one can not. , K. first tries to go to the castle but finds out that, there is no transportation to the place.  Each sight in which he tries to position himself is both frightening and hilarious. He receives a letter signed by Klamm, who may or may not have the power to endorse that he is employed; it is tough to defy the book’s implications for political and routine insanity, mainly due to the factor that  the speech of the officials is dreadfully common(Kafka 82)

The above is therefore an obvious picture of many dictatorships which governed and still govern  European countries bearing in mind that Kafka wrote the story devoid of experiencing straight this kind of grindingly-oppressive, extensive condition cruelty suggests that maybe he had a bit much extra personal  in mind. The issues of liberty and liability once again take a middle position in the plot and help form the narrative. (Magill 54)

If  maybe Kafka  would have  chosen the straight forward approach of a man facing  the horror   of the world, many critics would have come to the conclusion that was just his personal experience that he went  through since he seems to undergo a couple of struggles in his life before his death. Hence, the assumption that what he may have gone through is not  a clear representation of what people  went through or go through in the society but rather a personal encounter, of one  very unlucky man. However, the use of symbolism does the trick since it seems to vividly bring out the social issues that were and are still eating up our society. These social issues comprise: alienation, betrayal and the lack of sympathy of bureaucracy to individual principles. Such issues could therefore be said to be a result of explanation of the novel. (Magill 87)

This choice of style seems to leave a lasting impression not only to the past scholars but also to the present scholars hence another good reason why Franz chose to use it. These type of writing does not only bring out the desired meaning of the story but also brings out the issue of creative writing that Franz had at the time, this shows that he was truly a writer. Despite the struggles in the book, Kafka still manages to bring out the issue of laughter and mockery in the story making the book even more interesting.(Kafka 123)

Conclusion

Despite Kafka’s use of dream and allegory he has successfully managed to bring out the basic social issues that affect people in our society. Kafka took the initiative of enlightening us of what is eating up our society therefore we should take  the next initiative  of dealing with  the issues in order to develop a just society  that is free and fair to all it’s citizens, without the issue of discrimination, hostility and apathy of bureaucracy to human valves. We should be ready to live as one people and one nation that way we can develop as a whole. Despite, the style of writing used by whoever writer it is always important to analysis the true meaning of the storyline, why the writer chose to deal with that issue and not another and who are the intended readers or the target group of his story. Let us have an open mind and be ready to learn and be corrected  in what ever issue in life.

Work Cited Page.

Kafka, Franz.The Castle: A New Translation Based on the Restored Text. Random House

            Inc.1999.

Magill Frank. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature .Salem

            press.Incorated.1983.ISBN:0893564508