Page 27 - GALIET KAFKABEL JOB, KANT AND MILTON: Omnipotence, Impotence and Rebellion IV+

Galiet & Galiet
TheydefendtheCourtasasensitive,moralCourtthataspirestowardsJosefK’smoralrefinement.119 Theyconcur that Josef K’s obsessive ‘predatory ego-centrism’120 and hypocrisies need moral transformation, so much so, that K 3⁄4 shamed more than twice 3⁄4 may make Kafka wish to retort or encourage K to bark back. Josef K is a ruthless, self-centered predator and careerist (T125),121 fast to climb the banking world, double-faced, and his power politics astound.122 A social invitation from the Deputy Director, K’s main competitor, is a ‘Demutigung,’ and he bribes and intimidates, just as the Court does. Yet, he objects to the Court’s intimidations and bribes.123 In Judaism, if Job’s blameless actions are morally perfect; in Josef K’s flawed Judaism, they are immoral. Josef K lusts for the Court Usher’s Wife (31:9; T72),124 wills to raise his hand against poor children (31:21; T49),125 and rejoices at the idea of the enemy’s ruin (31:29; T75, 139).126 He longs to revenge against the vice-president for encroaching on K’s corporate territory (31:29; T139). And surely, Josef K neglects his uncle, his mother and niece, dates a prostitute and assaults Fräulein with a sudden kiss (T23-5), cavorts with Leni (T103-06) and uses the usher’s wife to seek revenge on the examining magistrate (T62).
G•Scholars dismiss that many of Josef K’s virtues partake in Judaism’s moral excellence and in The Trial’s Everyman moral world. In Job’s moral orthodoxy, he does not murder, steal, or bear false witness. He trusts his income and lives modestly. He is neither stingy nor unfair in treating others, nor covets his neighbor’s assets.127 In The Trial’s Everyman moral realm, Like Job, Josef K is the family’s pride and joy (T88-9). Like Job at Uz, Josef K at the Bank is a successful and highly respected Chief Financial Officer (T203), always efficient, in control, upright, and helpful (T14, 23). Three clerks eagerly serve him (T17-9) just as many serve Job. He judiciously assesses financings just as Job assesses his charity’s beneficiaries (T19; 31:16-23). Like Job, K helps others and feels pity for the suffering. He bribes the Whipper to prevent the wardens’ flogging (T81-3) and is mortified when unsuccessful (T85). Forgetful as to whether he slandered the wardens accidentally, he feels guilt and remorse (T80). Irritated by the trial’s commotion in Fräulein’s room, he rushes to restore it to order (T23). Just as Job abhors the calumnies of his friends, K too
“That I never have denied the words of the Holy One” (6:10), and “Please stay, there is no wrong in me,/stay with me, my integrity is still intact./Is there any wrong upon my tongue?/Cannot my taste discern wrongdoing?” (6:29-30). See also Job’s cries of integrity: “His way I have kept without swerving/From His commandments I have not departed/In my bosom I have treasured the words of His mouth” (23:11-12), and “As long as the breath of life is in me/and God’s spirit is in my nostrils,/my lips will speak no falsehood/and my tongue no deceit./Heaven forbid that I declare you in the right;/Until I die I will not be stripped of my integrity./My righteousness I have held fast, and never let it go;/My heart harboured no blasphemy all my days (27:3-6).
117 Marson, Eric. Kafka’s Trial: The Case Against Josef K. St. Lucia, Queensland: U Of Queensland Press, 1975. 332. In Scott, Len. Josef K.: Kafka’s Anti-Job. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 2010. 16
118 Kartiganer contrasts K’s flaws in character with Job’s piety. Scott, Len. Josef K.: Kafka’s Anti-Job. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 2010. 17. Kartiganer, Donald. “Job and Josef K.: Myth in Kafka’s The Trial.” Modern Fiction Studies 8 (1962): 31-43, 32.
119 Lasine, Stuart. “The Trials of Job and Kafka’s Josef K.” The German Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 2, Focus: Jews and Germans/Jewish–German Literature (Spring, 1990), 195. See also Lasine’s footnote 48. “Contrast Marson (“This is a grim utopia where the absolute law is always successful in the hunt” [16]) and Robertson (“The Court is the limited embodiment of absolute justice” [107]; “Absolute justice, being absolute, can make no concession to human frailty” [120]).” Kafka, Franz. Der Prozeß. Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 1950.
120 “K is a self-obsessed protagonist who refuses to accept responsibility for his predicament.” Lasine Stuart. “The Trials of Job and Kafka’s Josef K.” The German Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 2, Focus: Jews and Germans/Jewish–German Literature (Spring, 1990), 188. Josef K’s predatory instinct is most evident in the banking scene where K, as CFO, behaves as if a prosecutor when perusing the Manufacturer’s petition (T133-34). There are a few other incidents where Josef K acts, more or less, as a prosecutor including the theatrical re-enactment of his mini-trial at Fräulein’s room (T31-2).
121 Dodd, William. Der Prozess. Scotland: University of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991. 35-6
122 Dodd, William. Der Prozess. Scotland: University of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991. 35
123 Dodd, William. Der Prozess. Scotland: University of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991. 36
124 Lasine, Stuart. “The Trials of Job and Kafka’s Josef K.” The German Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 2, Focus: Jews and Germans/Jewish–German Literature (Spring,
1990), 189
125 Lasine, Stuart. “The Trials of Job and Kafka’s Josef K.” The German Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 2, Focus: Jews and Germans/Jewish–German Literature (Spring,
1990), 189
126 Lasine, Stuart. “The Trials of Job and Kafka’s Josef K.” The German Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 2, Focus: Jews and Germans/Jewish–German Literature (Spring,
1990), 189
127 In the same spirit as K, Job could not think of any offences, intentional or unintentional. More righteous than K in every deed, in every word 3⁄4 sinless
in God’s ways (16:6-7, 31:1-40) — Job had not lusted (31:1-4), lied or deceived (31:5-8), committed adultery (31:9-12), failed to help his slaves, the poor and needy (31:13-23), trusted in his wealth (31:24-25), turned to idolatry (31:26-28), treated his enemies unfairly (31:29-30), been stingy (31:31-32), hidden his sins (31:33-34), and been unjust to his farmers (31:38-40). Job’s negative confessions implored exoneration in the absence of a redeeming umpire (27:1-6).
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