The Missing Part

As you know, Kafka’s parables sometimes makes no sense. When you read them you sometimes react like “What was that?”, “Why did he do that?”. I think Kafka tries to include the reader into the parable by leaving some parts of the story to imagination of the reader. By this way, he makes people think about the untold part, let them to think whatever they want. I think it gives a different taste of literature.

In parables of Kafka there are missing parts in them. Some does not have development part, some does not have conclusion. These missing parts in the parables lets people to create their own parable. In my opinion these spaces in parables is the thing what makes Kafka’s parables interesting. In An Imperial Message, parable starts normal, an emperor gives a messenger a message to deliver. He goes on his way, nothing can stop him... and the story ends, Kafka says “But you sit at your window when evening falls and dream it to yourself.”. How am I related the messenger? Does Kafka trying to give a message like “You are sitting at your window but there are people who are trying to do their task, they are so ambitious that they can even fight against a dead man.” As I said, you do not know what Kafka is trying to say. He lets the reader think, fill in the blanks. Also, in Give it Up! you do not know why the policeman says “Give it up! Give it up!”. Like the other parable, I think, Kafka wants to include the reader into the story and he wants us to think why would a person answer such a question like that. It might be a cliché like “Who you gonna call?”. We cannot know. There are infinite possibilities which Kafka wants us to think about.

In conclusion , Kafka wants to include reader into his parables. He wants people to think about blank spaces in stories; wants people to fill them, create infinite stories. These stories does not only gives pleasure to the reader also gives chance to think about non-existing parts, create an “own” story. This is the thing makes his parables so interesting and successful.