Franz Kafka Essays (854 words) - Modernist Literature, Diarists

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka was born in Prague, Bohemia, July 3, 1883 and died June 3, 1924 of tuberculosis at the age of 40. He came from a middle-class Jewish family. His father was a shopkeeper and tried to climb up the social ladder by working hard at his shop and sending Franz to a prestigious German high school. He went on to get a law degree and worked for two insurance companies (not at the same time) When his .tuberculosis got bad in 1917 he was put on temporary retirement with a pension. German was the language the upper class spoke and by sending Franz to German schools his father tried to disassociate from the lower class Jewish who lived in the ghetto. They were always moving from apartment to apartment advancing as the business grew. Franz had a very strained relationship with his father that traumatically affected his whole life. This is apparent in a letter to his father he wrote, ?What was always incomprehensible to me was your total lack of feeling for the suffering and shame you could inflict on me with your words and judgments. It was as though you had no notion of your power? (Letter) . Max Brod and Franz met in college and became life long friends. It was Max who persuaded Franz to publish some of his work and it was Max who was responsible for most of the Kafka writings that are available today. Franz had entrusted his manuscripts to Max and in his last will and testament specified that all his work was to be destroyed. Instead Max had them published after Franz' death. Although he never married, he was engaged several times but always broke the engagement as the wedding day would approach. Most of the biographies about him tell of his problem with women and repulsion from sex and say that it was evident in his writings. In an entry in his diary he wrote ?Coitus as the punishment for the happiness of being together? (Constructing). His romances and engagements are well documented and it is interesting to note his selection of books that he gave to Felice Bauer: ?Tolstoy's diaries, the New and Old Testament, and Gerhart Hauptmann's ?Fool in Christ Emanuel Quint' (Times ). Franz met Felice Bauer at Max' house and they had a five year courtship mainly through letters. He wrote to her daily when at the sanatorium in Italy even while he was carrying on with an 18 year old Swiss girl who was there also. Felice inspired him and he wrote several pieces during this time; ?The Judgment,? which he dedicated to her, then ?The Metamorphosis? and he started Amerika (Kafka.) According to Daniel Hornek ?None of Kafka's novels was printed during his lifetime, and it was only with reluctance that he published a fraction of his shorter fiction. This fiction included Meditation (1913), a collection of short prose pieces; The Judgment (1913), a long short story, written in 1912, which Kafka himself considered his decisive breakthrough (it tells of a rebellious son condemned to suicide by his father); and The Metamorphosis (1915), dealing again with the outsider, a son who suffers the literal and symbolic transformation into a huge, repulsive, fatally wounded insect. In the Penal Colony (1919) is a parable of a torture machine and its operators and victims---equally applicable to a person's inner sense of law, guilt, and retribution and to the age of World War I. The Country Doctor (1919) was another collection of short prose. At the time of his death Kafka was also preparing A Hunger Artist (1924), four stories centering on the artist's inability either to neg ate or come to terms with life in the human community.? Franz Kafka's writings can be best described as nightmarish or dreamlike. He has impacted twentieth century literature greatly as evidenced by a word in the dictionary coined after him: ?Kafkaesque (adj): Characteristic of the novels of Franz Kafka; especially, bizarre or absurd, and often marked by the ineffectuality of the individual? (Funk ). Bibliography Bibliography The Castle. Hp. 1995 [copywright]. Online. Available: http://family.knick.net.thecastle/timeline. 2 Mar. 2000. Constructing Franz Kafka. Hp. 1996 [last update]. Online. Available: http://info.pitt.edu/~kafka/biblio.html. 1 Mar. 2000. Contemporary Authors. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. Funk & Wagnalls

Needle in the Hay Song Analysis Essays

Needle in the Hay Song Analysis Essays Needle in the Hay Song Analysis Paper Needle in the Hay Song Analysis Paper â€Å"Needle in the Hay† by Elliott Smith Your hand on his arm The haystack charm Around your neck Strung out and thin Calling some friend Trying to cash some check Hes acting dumb Thats what youve come To expect (Chorus) Needle in the hay Needle in the hay Needle in the hay Needle in the hay Hes wearing your clothes Head down to toes A reaction to you You say you know what he did But you idiot kid You dont have a clue Sometimes they just Get caught in the eye Youre pulling him through *Chorus* Now on the bus Nearly touching This dirty retreat Falling out 6th and Powell A dead sweat in my teeth Going to walk, walk, walk Four more blocks Plus the one in my brain Down downstairs To the man Hes going to make it all ok I cant beat myself I cant beat myself And I dont want to talk Im taking the cure So I can be quiet Whenever I want So leave me alone You ought to be proud That Im getting good marks *Chorus 2x* In health class, we just finished a unit on drugs and addictions. We learned about the different classifications of drugs, their effects, and symptoms of addiction. Our current assignment is to analyze a song that describes the negative effects of drugs, and share our personal reaction to it. The song I chose is â€Å"Needle in the Hay† by Elliott Smith. This song can be interpreted in many different ways, but it’s almost always recognized as being about drugs, specifically heroin. Though Smith only became addicted to heroin in his later life, he writes about drugs, alcohol, and addiction in many of his songs, from his first album on. â€Å"Needle in the Hay† seems to be about a girl who is addicted to heroin, and is in a relationship with a guy who is beginning to use heroin himself. I chose this song because it’s beautifully written, and uses many interesting metaphors to help tell the story. The first line in the song is â€Å"Your hand on his arm, the haystack charm around your neck. † I think this is saying that she is beginning to become a bigger part of his life, but she is bringing her addiction into it also. â€Å"Strung out and thin, calling some friend, trying to cash some check. † The girl is thin from heroin use, as the drug causes loss of appetite, which leads to weight loss. She is stressed from not having the drug, so she calls a friend, hoping she can buy more. â€Å"He’s acting dumb, that’s what you’ve come to expect. † Her boyfriend knows what is going on with her, but he plays dumb and doesn’t acknowledge it. She knows that he knows, but doesn’t say anything. The song then goes to the chorus, which just repeats â€Å"Needle in the hay†, referring to the hidden, unspoken addiction(s) in the relationship. The next verse begins with â€Å"He’s wearing your clothes, head down to toes, a reaction to you. † I don’t think that he is literally wearing her clothes; I think it is a metaphor meaning that ever since he’s been with her, he’s becoming just like her, especially after acquiring the addiction. â€Å"You say you know what he did, but you idiot kid, you don’t have a clue. The girl thinks that she knows the guy so well, but she does not realize the severity of the situation, or the fact that she has brought this on him. â€Å"Sometimes they just get caught in the eye, you’re pulling him through. † Sometimes people just get caught up in bad things, and she’s only worsening his problem. In the third verse, the point of view seems to shift from third person into the girl’s eyes. â€Å"Now on the bus, nearly touching this dirty retreat. † The girl is going to get drugs, and she’s almost there. She knows what she’s doing is wrong, but by now it almost feels like a comfort, or an old friend. Falling out, 6th and Powell, a dead sweat in my teeth. † She’s now walking to the place where she’s going to get her drugs. The â€Å"dead sweat in my teeth† part is a bit hard to understand but I have a few ideas. It may just be symbolizing her craving, her need for the drug. It may be referring to the actual condition of her teeth, as heroin can cause teeth rotting and gum disease. Or, it could be a combination of both. â€Å"Going to walk walk walk, four more blocks, plus the one in my brain. Down, downstairs, to the man, he’s going to make it all okay. † Her addiction is so serious that she is willing to walk blocks and blocks to get to th e drug. She feels that once she gets it from the dealer, she will feel better and everything will be okay. She is dependant on the drug. â€Å"I can’t beat myself, I can’t beat myself, and I don’t want to talk. I’m taking the cure, so I can be quiet whenever I want. † She has gotten to the point where she no longer has faith in herself, and she needs the drug to feel okay. She’s so focused on the drug and feeling better that she’s becoming withdrawn and shutting the rest of the world out. She’s using heroin to ease her pain; she thinks that it will make things easier. â€Å"So leave me alone, you ought to be proud that I’m getting good marks. She wants everyone to leave her alone. She wants to keep her problem a secret, so she tries to hide it by doing well in other aspects of life, perhaps school or work. I think that this song’s view of addiction and the problems that come with it is simply brilliant. It shows the depen dency on the drug, the user’s personal feelings and hopes for what the drug will do, and the way drug addiction can affect relationships. What I learned in health class helped greatly with this project. I have loved this song for a long time, and getting this in-depth look at it by doing the analysis has only made me love and appreciate it more.