The Absurdism of Franz Kafka's The Castle

Comments · 43

• ON

  @Ondrus21 · 8 months ago

  It's not about bureaucracy. This is just a metaphor. It's about slow erosion of hope. In our lives we're resisting a dark force, no one can exactly describe, which is antagonistic towards our life efforts and dreams. Sometimes, we feel we can achieve what we want or need or dream about but as it goes, we begin to realize our attempts are futile and pointless. Kafka merely describes life.

  17

• GU

  @guy8974 · 2 years ago

  I love your analysis, and I definitely agree that the "stranginest" of this story is a major theme that no one seems to emphasize. Many reviews start by describing the plot as some kind of realistic story, but in fact, the weird internal logic of both Ka and the village, the dream-like state of everything, and the absurdism, as you said, are the main themes in my view.

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• MA

  @matthewmcclure1364 · 10 months ago

  I heard another YouTuber say that the trial was about society, imposing itself on a man, and the castle is about a man imposing himself on a society.

  7

• IZ

  @izieprettylazy · 1 year ago

  Beautiful breakdown. The ending of this analysis convinced me to give Murakami another chance, in my confusion regarding the castle I never imagined there were other stories spun from the nonsensical strands of this one. While not a prude I found myself becoming peeved by the perversity of Murakami’s more famous works but works like the castle remind us that an author is made of so much more than just their famed masterpiece.

  7

• KO

  @komar7369 · 1 year ago

  It's such a perfect analysis, along with how the characters are described, so are the castle-villagers relations. You just put everything in words in a way that it's just so good to listen to you.

  6

• LA

  @lauriek3750 · 1 year ago

  So true about setting which was so powerful early on. K was rather  unlikeable for me in his contempt and coldness for the peasants, cat, servants (letting them freeze in the cold) and women. Though at other times, he defended Freida in a noble way. K was sometimes as frustrating as the Castle liasons in his logic, machinations, and calculations. The logic of the illogical dialogue felt like the circular road that never led us to the castle. You nailed it: impotent rage. This book exhausted me. Kafka certainly and brilliantly makes his point of exhausting beaucracy, but I can see why he didn't like his own book ...perhaps.

  6

• CH

  @Chungus-i4k · 8 months ago

  Good analysis-very clear and articulate

  1

• JA

  @jakobcarver9825 · 1 month ago

  Amazing video. Thank you!

• NY

  @nyarparablepsis872 · 1 day ago

  I am still baffled from the discovery that Kafka counts as weird literature. We had to read and analyse his stuff in school!

• MI

  @michaelnp2323 · 1 year ago

  This is a great analysis

  1

• YA

  @Yang-ob4lk · 1 month ago

  I felt while reading, that Das Schloss is almost like a "Film Noir" like story. You have the ambivalent protagonist out of water, you have Femme Fatale, you have constant mystique and intrigue. Everyone has a secret

• ED

  @Eds544 · 5 months ago

  Was really nice to listen to this analysis after finishing the book, really well done video