Kafka Modernizing the Traditional Gothic

In class today we analyzed two of Kafka's greatest works, "The Judgement" and "The Castle".  Kafka takes the traditional gothic themes of imprisonment and rebellion and modernizes them.  In "The Judgement" Kafka writes about a father and son in distress, and then son represents a rebel while his father represents the empire.  The son wishes to get married and leave home, which is comparable to leaving the empire, and his father becomes upset and causes an argument to begin.  The father ultimately condemns his son to death by drowning because his son desired to abandon the 'empire'.  The theme of gothic rebellion is present in "The Judgement".  In "The Castle" Kafka writes about a man arriving at a castle in order to find a place to sleep.  This man encounters many officials within the castle and is unsuccessful in acquiring a permit which would enable him to sleep there.  His inability to do this is representative of the empire's control over one's actions.  The man is also imprisoned by the empire because he is not only incapable of getting a permit, he is also not able to enter into the castle himself.  The empire has made him its prisoner because of these things.