Kafka visual illusions
...t should have a torch. The statue with the sword conjures up images not of Lady Liberty, but rather, the Goddess of Justice. The sword is raised in the air, symbolizing the fact that Karl is about to come face to face with the laws of justice. When Karl meets the Stoker and is informed of the injustices done to him by Schubal, the two somehow end up in the ship’s officer’s quarters. Looking around the room, Karl sees a man playing with his sword, and another man with a bamboo cane that resembled a sword. Here again, Kafka uses the images of the sword, as well as the idea that these men were in higher positions of authority, to convey the justice theme. After Karl informs the captain of the situation and the captain agrees to hear the stoker’s side of the story, Kafka writes that, “Karl felt so pleased that in his delight, he kept pressing the letter-scales down with his finger.” The letter-scales can be paralled with the scales of justice, and as Karl is at the moment happy with the situation-the scales are “pressed” or weighed in his favor. But when Karl learns that the man with the cane was indeed his uncle, the point of view shifts from a focus on Karl to a focus on his uncle. This shift in focus resembles the shifting of power from Karl to his uncle. Karl, once a fighter of justice in a strange land is now nothing more than a subservient nephew. The stoker appears to lose hope as the rage that brought him to the room in the first place has subsequently been extinguished. Karl’s uncle meanwhile is now the authority figure who settles the dispute ...