Kafkaesque

Posted byjimmcgarrahPosted inLiteraryTags:, , , ,

Franz Kafka lived between 1883 and 1924. It was a time of great turmoil and violent change on earth but especially for Western civilization. Born in Prague, Kafka trained as a lawyer and spent his adulthood as one, working mostly on insurance-related claims. He also wrote stories as a hobby, although he never thought of himself as a good writer. Legend has it that he actually burned 90% of his writings before he died. Fortunately, for all of us, history has judged him differently, and he is now regarded as a giant in 20th century literature. Probably his most famous work, and the one taught in many American schools, is a novella called The Metamorphosis. Many people remember it because of its blending of reality and fantasy. It’s the bizarre tale of a man who wakes up one morning changed into a giant cockroach and who must learn to deal with the isolation and despair.

There is much information available regarding Franz Kafka and his protagonists who faced surreal situations and were often the victims of bureaucratic incompetence. If you have any interest in knowing more, you can research him further. I want to focus briefly on an unfinished novel that was saved from the fires and later published posthumously entitled The Trial. The main character is a thirty-year-old bank clerk identified only as Josef K. He has committed no crimes, and by all accounts, maintains a diligent, productive lifestyle. On a given morning, two government agents so up at his apartment, inform him that he is under arrest, though no charge of wrongdoing gets levied against him. The agents tell him to go on to work. Without summarizing the whole book. Josef K. spends a year navigating a labyrinthian legal system of incompetent bureaucrats, indifferent lawyers, and useless societal acquaintances. 

Kafka explores various thematic issues in the story.  Among them, the existential crisis of an innocent man moving through an incomprehensible and surreal legal system and the nature of the justice, or injustice, that he faces. What I can relate to most in today’s society comes from the crushing dehumanization of Josef K. as he tries to understand what he has done to endure being denied due process, which guarantees fair legal procedures before someone can be deprived of life, liberty, or property. Due process protects people from arbitrary or unjust government actions. It is so important to a democracy that our Founding Fathers enshrined it in the 5th and 14th Amendments of our American Constitution, making it an inviolate principal of our legal system. Without this amendment, unjust and corrupt government officials can simply remove people from society at their own discretion and for no reason. Without this principle, democracies would collapse into racist, tyrannies. As for Kafka’s protagonist, Josef K. in The Trial, he is eventually dragged to a quarry where he is stabbed through the heart and dumped or disappeared if you prefer the modern term.

I’m sure by now, you can see where I’m going with this analogy. It seems only a matter of time before our current despot, or president—if you still suffer the illusion—starts pulling American citizens who speak out against him from their homes, brands them criminals, and ships them to place like El Salvador. He’s doing it already to foreign nationals who are in this country legally. Many of them make a contribution daily to the betterment of our society.

Having skin that is tinted brown or black or yellow or red does not make you an enemy of the United States. Yes, that’s what Due Process is for and why it creates a legal requirement for a trial. If you believe that the United States is a representative democracy governed by the rule of law, specifically through The Constitution written by our Founding Fathers, then you must agree to what it guarantees regrading EVERYONE within our borders.

  • Due Process:

The Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments applies to all individuals within the U.S., regardless of their citizenship status. This means that non-citizens are entitled to fair legal procedures, including the right to a fair hearing before a court. 

  • Freedom of Speech, Religion, and Assembly:

The First Amendment, which protects these freedoms, applies to all people in the U.S., including non-citizens. 

  • Protection from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures:

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government, and this right extends to all individuals within the U.S., including non-citizens. 

  • Equal Protection Under the Law:

The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law, meaning that non-citizens cannot be discriminated against based on their immigration status. 

  • Right to Counsel:

Non-citizens have the right to consult with an attorney before being questioned by law enforcement or immigration officials. 

  • Right to Remain Silent:

Non-citizens also have the right to remain silent when questioned by law enforcement or immigration officials. 

Important Considerations:

  • Limited Rights:

Non-citizens do not have the same rights as citizens in all areas. For example, non-citizens are not allowed to vote in federal elections or hold federal office. 

If you have some disagreement with the Constitution of the United States, there are legal ways to change it, but those ways are not easy. Those ways are difficult for a reason. They exist expressly to prevent would be dictators and corrupt politicians from denying people, citizens or not, certain legal protection that should be available to every person simply by virtue of being a human. It is the very thing that makes America great. If you ignore it, you are a traitor. And that ignorance seems to me what the MAGA movement admires.

Published by jimmcgarrah

Every single person on this planet is unique in many ways and yet, most people consider themselves normal (i.e. conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected). This dichotomy is how good writing works. It contains uniqueness in the characters or narrator and a normal progression of ideas in themes. Thus, a story will be appealing if it has unique specificity in a normalized world of some kind and that creates a universal connection between writer and reader. This symbiotic connection as an oxymoron, normal uniqueness, has always fascinated me, not only on the page but more importantly, in life. Over the past twenty years I have written a dozen books. None have made me famous or rich, but I am proud of the work. It has been published by respectable literary and university presses. My editors have been talented and conscientious and brought the best of what I do to the page. But publishing is not all of my writing life. I have long wanted a private space where I could more fully express this exploration between individuality and society normalcy without regard to the business of writing, the correction of images, the political implication of phrases, and while considering there might be an audience to some of what is written, not worrying about whether it would sell. Therefore, I give you my very first and likely last, public blog. It will explore whatever I feel like exploring at a given time in whatever form I choose—maybe a poem, maybe an essay, maybe a story, or possibly a simple “fuck you” to the world. Read at your own peril and comment whenever you want. I encourage dialogue as a learning tool for writer and reader alike. I do not expect agreement with all my ideas. That would eliminate the entire uniqueness side of my inquiry. This is a free space for us all.

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