Georg’s Death

In “The Judgement” the protagonist Georg is portrayed as someone who deeply cares about those around hi. He takes good care of his father, and he is very sensitive to his friend’s desperate situation in Russia. While taking care of him, Georg’s father tells Georg that he had secretly been writing to his friend for the 3 years that he was away, telling him everything happening in Georg’s life. He also accuses Georg of being a poor caretaker and trying to kill him. He sentences Georg to a “death by drowning”, which prompts Georg to kill himself. “With weakening grip he was still holding on when he spied between the rails a motor-bus coming which would easily cover the noise of his fall, called in a low voice ‘dear parents, I have always loved you all the same,’ and let himself drop” (Kafka 88). Georg’s father is clearly abusive, but do you think that it was his father’s harsh words alone that drove him to kill himself, or were there other factors to his death, like missing his dead mother or his long gone friend? If you think that Georg killed himself because of his father only, was it being he was afraid of him, thought that he was unappreciative of his care, or something else?