The Wisdom of Franz Kafka’s On Parables :: Kafka On Parables Essays

The Wisdom of Franz Kafkas On ParablesIs it even possible to gain a better life through companionship and wisdom? Should we listen to the words of the wise? Franz Kafka tries to answer these questions in his short essay On Parables, with a resounding No In this Kafkan world, one modify with the daily struggles and cares of life, the only thing we can know is the incomprehensibility of it both. He states that all wisdom is expressed in parables then destroys any hope we may set out by trouncing the authenticity of parables. But then he does something strange, vividly illustrating his point by using the very method he hoped to discredit.The first split of On Parables provides Kafkas main point the words of the wise are always merely parables and of no use in daily life. How does he arrive to this coating? He first first asserts that the words of the wise are always parables then explains why all parables are useless. Finally, he concludes that the words of the wise, since they ar e all parables, are all useless for daily life.Kafka first assumes that the words of the wise are always merely parables, and expects the reader to follow this assumption rigidly throughout the work. Notice that there is no wiggle room for the wise their words are always parables. So dont complain, dont object. It is so, at least within the scope of his essay.Kafka does just state why the sages use parables. Since sages themselves are incapable of communicating wisdom, they speak in imperfect parables in a futile attempt to communicate that wisdom. Kafka and hints that this may be because even the sage doesnt understand such wisdom. The words of the sage, Go over, indicate that the sage is not currently where he wants the people to go, just may himself yet be stuck in this world of daily cares, struggles, and hardships. If he were where he wants us to be, he would have used the words come over instead. over where? you may ask. Kafka answers this question by posing what I will ref er to as three lands of life related to parables. The first, the most real one, refers to the state of a persons life before encountering a parable. The second, a potential land, is the parable itself and the resulting actions and consequences a person derives from the parable.