Franz Kafka’s voice is one of the most powerful and unique voices in twentieth-century literature because of his works of philosophical ambiguity and self-reflexivity. “The Judgment”, “The Metamorphosis” and “Amerika” are Kafka’s stories in which his personal life is reflected, and they reveal his body and soul. These stories deal with the complex relationship between father and son. The father’s role represents traditional patriarchal authority, while son’s role represents acceptance and sacrifice. Sons are fighting against the fear and hatred of their fathers for the survival of their existence, and they pay for their knowing and unknowing sins by giving their lives. Kafka wanted to be like his father since his childhood and wanted to fulfill all his father’s expectations, but his father’s behavior made him a victim of fear, hatred. Despite his strong desire, he could not build his life on natural lines. Contempt, the pain of rejection, mistrust, impotence, feelings of inadequacy and the resulting anxiety and uncertainty influenced Kafka’s major life decisions. His personality could not attain the strength, needed to fight the external battle of life, instead he had to struggle with “childish strength” throughout his life. In addition to his works, his diaries and letters also reveals the complex relationships between father and son.

1.      Stach, Reiner, Kafka: The Decisive Years (New York: Harcourt, 2005), 143.

2.      Max Brod, Franz Kafka: A Biography (New York: Schocken Books, 1960), 240.

3.      Franz Kafka, Kafka Kay Afsanay, Translator: Masood Nair (Karachi: City Press Book Shop, 2009), 11.

4.      Coralli, Alessia, Perciaccante, Antonio, "Franz Kafka: An emblematic case of co-occurrence of sleep and psychiatric disorder," Sleep Science, 12 April 2016, 70.

5.    Franz Kafka, "Baap Ke Naam Ek Khat," Included in: Kafka Kahaniyan, Translator: Muhammad Asim Butt (e-Kitab, Rekhta, Date not available), 70.

6.      Ibid, 66.

7.      Kafka Franz, Kafka Kahaniyan, Translator: Asim Butt, 91.

8.      Stach, Reiner, Kafka the Decisive Years, (New York: Harcourt, 2005), 113.

9.      Franz Kafka, Kafka Kay Afsanay, Translator: Nasir Masood, 74.

10.     Ibid, 78-79.

11.     Ibid, 79.

12.     Franz Kafka, "Kaya Kalp," Included in: Kafka Kahaniyan, Translator: Muhammad Asim Butt, 143.

13.    Santner, Eric Kafka’s Metamorphosis and the Writing of Abjection in Stanley Corngold, trans, and ed, The Metamorphosis, (New York: Columbia University press, 1988), 197.

14.     Franz Kafka, "Kaya Kalp," Included in: Kafka Kahaniyan, Translator: Muhammad Asim Butt, 162.

15.     Ibid, 158.

16.     Ibid, 160.

17.     Peter Andre Alt, The Eternal Son (Northwestern University Press, 2018), 18.

18.     Brod, Max, Kafka Franz, The Diaries: (1910-1923) (New York: Schocken Books, 1988), 222.