In Franz Kafka's The Judgement many things remain unsaid. Most of all it is the unpredictable behaviour of the father figure which is difficult to understand. That has caused a large number of interpretations and the critical reception continues. At the beginning of the story, the fictional father appears weak and ill, evoking memories of disease. Therefore, the following essay explores whether the behaviour of the father figure corresponds to the symptoms of dementia. For this purpose, the diagnostic criteria for neurocognitive disorders according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders were compared to the text. The analysis shows that many passages in the text reflect symptoms of dementia. However, it also shows that other interpretations are possible, which is not surprising given the indeterminacy of Kafka's work. As has already been established in earlier investigations, the fictional father stands as a symbol for authority. Assuming the father has dementia means that this authority is incurably ill. Therefore, the fictional father would symbolize an almighty institution in decline whose authority cannot be questioned by the individual. This way of interpretation emphasizes the unjust distribution of power. The acting figures represent unequal relations of any kind, in which the inferior has to obey the obviously ill but overpowering authority.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-80182 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Ferch, Kirsti |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk (SPR) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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