SOURCE: “Georg Bendemann's Path to Judgment,” in Approaches to Teaching Kafka's Short Fiction, edited by Richard T. Gray, The Modern Language Association of America, 1995, pp. 94–104.

In the following essay, Trahan offers a stylistic and thematic analysis of “The Judgment.”

“The Judgment” and “The Metamorphosis” are the two short works teachers most frequently select to introduce students to Kafka's world. The stories complement each other. “The Metamorphosis” immediately confronts the reader with the intrusion of a fantastic element on everyday reality, then shows how the various characters come to terms with the consequences and return to normalcy. “The Judgment,” after a conventional beginning, accelerates toward a grotesque and highly irrational climax. Because the story begins so “normally,” its strange ending tends to leave the reader puzzled and discomfited. The following approach has proved very successful with students who read “The Judgment” as an introduction to Kafka.

When asked for...