ADDENDUM
Most of Kafka's protagonists experience frustration and futility because of the nature of their problems and their attempts to cope with them:
The Hunger Artist yearning for admiration for something he cannot help doing to begin with; namely fasting and hoping to gain credibility by performing feats of increasing incredibility. No one believes him because no one can observe him without interruption for forty days. Only he could be a satisfied observer of his own accomplishment. Yet he remains dissatisfied because he knows the full truth of his assertion that, to him, fasting is the easiest thing in the world; a truth he does not reveal until the very end of his life.
Gregor Samsa, changed into a huge bug, continues to think like a human. But the family is aware only of his animal shape, appetite, and general life style. And the new means available to the changed Gregor to communicate his human sentiments only convince his family that this is no longer Gregor but "dieses Tier."
Josephine, mouse and singer, insisting on exclusive acclaim for an ability she shares with everybody else.
The officer in the Penal Colony attempting to gain the explorer's support by explaining both the exquisite technology of execution and the utter primitivity of the legal system.
The animal in The Burrow striving for ultimate security by constructing an ever more complicated web of tunnels vaguely realizing all the while that, as long as the exit remains a necessity, he will remain vulnerable no matter how clever the construction underground. The high degree of relative security the animal achieves equals, in the end, insecurity and ceaseless activity, watchfulness and rationalization cannot calm his fears.
Or the imperial messenger who is on his way to you with an important message: but the distance and the obstacles are such that he cannot hope ever to reach you with it. Du sitzt am Fenster und erträumst sie dir. You sit by the window and envision it.
K. in The Castle appeals to a gigantic and elusive bureaucracy to compensate him within his lifetime for an erroneous decision. The bureaucracy is designed to correct itself eventually, but without regard for a human life span. The Castle, in charge of people, is determined to operate faultlessly, but is guided by institutional considerations, not by human concern. According to Max Brod, K. was to be granted permanent residence on his deathbed. Justice & generosity, but of a useless sort. We are reminded a bit of the country doctor who had also answered an erroneous call. and who remarks wistfully in a moment of danger that he is "superior to everyone here, but it doesn't help me any." A useless superiority, as useless as the golden opportunity provided to K. by Buergel. K. is too tired to seize it.
The list could go on. The happy ending provided in the novel Amerika is rather misleading. Karl Rossmann does finally find his place in the Great Theater of Oklahoma, but only because that society is defined by the very fact that it has a place for everyone; it is a utopian society.
Why do Kafka's protagonists persist in their struggle? Why for instance do the two Ks undertake attempt after attempt, like picaresque heroes going through adventure after adventure without ever changing until death or retirement changes everything? Why, since their hopes are dashed again and again and their actions rendered futile? I do not want to argue with those who suggest alternate behavior for Kafka's victims, or even find them guilty of not proceeding differently and therefore deserving what they get. A person can't be blamed for not thinking of what he can't think of. The man from the country, as we saw, continues to use every means he can think of. The important fact is that whatever he can think of fails.
The answer to why they renew their efforts after every failure lies, I believe, in the word and concept hope. There is common denominator to all the paradoxes we have listed or, rather, there is a basic paradox underlying all of them. Man is endowed with the instinct of self-preservation while at the same time facing the certainty of death. These two irreconcilable aspects of life are Kafka's creative obsession. Man is programmed to extend himself endlessly into the future, yet he is designed to be finite. It is hope of survival, faith in the future, that makes Joseph K blind to the parable whose very message is hopelessness. The initiated can understand, but death is the only initiator. The parables are true, but incomprehensible. Therefore they are useless. If they were comprehensible they would still be useless. They do not show a way out, they merely state that fate is unalterable. That we knew, but hoped we were wrong.
Life unto death. All other conflicts and paradoxes are merely analogies of this basic one. Like the ability to envision utopia while lacking the tools to build it. Feeeling a hunger no common food can still. Knowing what questions to ask but finding the answers elusive.
The two Ks persistence in their struggle is not based on a conscious decision as is the case with traditional rebels like Lucifer and Faust who chose to ignore the limitations placed upon them. The two Ks react instinctively. Their struggle is a manifestation of the instinct of self-preservation, of hope and of course a manifestation of their ignorance regarding their chance of success.
What we are witnessing are days in the life of Sisyphus until the final day which ends all without having to resolve anything. These novels and stories are Kafka's apologia pro vita sua, a defense of a life style based on instinct. And if there is any accusation at all it is against whatever power initiated the momentum without informing the victim that there was nothing he could do to stop it. What if the victim were informed? Useless information. Catch 22. Wie du dich auch drehst, der Arsch bleibt immer hinten. No matter how you turn, your butt will always be in back.
Herbert Deinert
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