The Castle – Franz Kafka | Novel

The novel of the castle is considered one of Franz Kafka's most nightmarish and gloomy novels, in which he relied heavily on symbolism, so much so that readers disagreed on his intention and purpose of the novel. The castle exhausts Kafka and his readers, but it leaves its lasting impact on the reader's soul. There was also in the main square a church, its larger part surrounded by an old cemetery, which in turn was enclosed by a high wall, only a few boys could climb it, and even they failed. Curiosity was not what drove them to that, for the cemetery no longer held secrets for them. They had entered it several times before through its iron gate, but they sought to conquer it from above the high and smooth wall. One day before noon — the silent and empty square was overflowing with sunlight — Kafka succeeded in a surprisingly remarkable way, in a place where he had previously failed several times, on his first attempt, with a small flag in his teeth. Stones were still falling beneath him when he climbed over the wall, planted the flag in a crack, and the wind spread the cloth. He looked down and around him, as well as over his shoulder to the horizon, then to the crosses embedded in the ground; no one here and now was greater than him.