Page 29 - GALIET KAFKABEL JOB, KANT AND MILTON: Omnipotence, Impotence and Rebellion IV+

Galiet & Galiet
As if K were an anti-Job or an anti-Socratic man, G•Scholars argue, Josef K does not examine his life (T137, 154- 55).141 If Job confesses, why does not K? If other defendants scribble and submit, why does K procrastinate? (T82). G•Scholars misapprehend that it is hopeless for Josef K to confess to a corrupt Moral Court, as it is for Job. Josef K wisely knows it is futile to confess from the start, and Job foolishly learns it is futile at the end. Early during the trial, Josef K learns from Block, Huld and Titorelli that Court petitions go nowhere because the immoral Court is impervious to proof (T174, 148, 156-62, 114-15). Dismayed, Job learns from Yahweh that Yahweh is deaf, and from his friends that the more he confesses, the more they accuse him. In fact, Yahweh is just as pitiless, as Job’s friends are (40:7; 19:21-22).142 They go on pressing and accusing Job until Yahweh’s theophany. They disbelieve Job’s innocence despite his scrupulous details. Job not only must rigorously swear an impeccable oath of innocence (31) to the extent he is willing to “... count ... his steps” (31:37),143 does not hoard (31:37-8), but also he must condemn himself (31:38-40). If Job has sinned, he deserves reversal, barrenness and misery. “Let the earth produce weeds” (31:38); “Let thorns grow instead of wheat” (31:39); “Let foul weeds grow instead of barley” (31:40).
Josef K neither confesses nor condemns himself to Job’s extent. He realizes that Job’s confessions are as futile as Block’s petitions. He knows Block’s efforts are wasted in a fraudulent Moral Court. To complete his petition of exoneration is futile (T130). To scrutinize and describe his entire life proves so daunting a task (T126-7),144 that it is hopeless. Demoralized by the overwhelming Court’s imposition, Josef K desists. Not due to sloth or deceit, but unaware of the nature and ramifications of the charges (T127), it is incomprehensible to abandon work and all affairs to achieve it (T132). There shall never be actual acquittals granted by the Moral Court, and Josef K shall perennially live under an apparent or protracted pseudo-liberty (T158-59).
What is worse? Not to confess or to confess? Not to be free or to be free? Caught between Charybdis and Scylla, he will self-destruct nonetheless. If he confesses, he is not free. If he does not confess, he is not free. He is damned if he redacts his petition, and dammed if he does not. Whichever way, K goes nowhere. In either case, K self-destructs because the Court manipulates the power word-game. ‘Self-Destruction’ cunningly and viciously really signifies ‘Court Destruction’ by ‘Self-Condemnation.’ Why would he condemn himself? In so doing, he would justify the Court’s tyrannous subjugation and intimidation politics, and the Court would appear as a “just” and “merciful” Court in the eyes of everyone, particularly to G•Scholars. Thus, the self-condemning man permits the Court to exercise its “right” to scapegoat all self-condemning undesirables, without accruing any guilt on itself. Thus, the Court remains always in a state of munificent and eternal equilibrium (T119) by ensuring nothing changes (T120). In this way, it is in the best interest of the Court to maximize guilt for the greatest number, than to abide by Bentham or Mill’s happiness utilitarianism.
140 “The purpose of the Court...“consists of arresting innocent people and introducing senseless proceedings against them which for the most part, as in my case, go nowhere. Given the senselessness of the whole affair, how could the bureaucracy avoid becoming entirely corrupt? It is impossible, even the highest judge couldn’t manage it, even with himself” (T50). In Scott, Len. Josef K.: Kafka’s Anti-Job. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 2010. 8
141 In Scott, Len. Josef K.: Kafka’s Anti-Job. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 2010. 8
142YahwehoftheWhirlwindthunderstoJob,“Girdupyourloinslikeaman;Iwillaskyou,anddoyouinformMe”(40:7). Yahweh’snotionofJusticeis omnipotence in the dominion of nature and sinners, khaos and order. “Will you deny My Justice, put Me in the wrong, so that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God; can you thunder with a voice like His?... As you look on each arrogant sinner 3⁄4 bring him low?...Behold, Behemoth, whom I fashioned along with you...Can you seize Leviathan...” (40:9-12, 40:15, 40:25) and “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?...Who marked out its measure? (38:4-5).
143 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
144 “Perhaps, someday after retirement, it might provide a suitable occupation for a mind turned childish, and help to while away the lengthening days” (T127). See also Scott, Len. Josef K.: Kafka’s Anti-Job. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 2010. 11
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