Emerging From Claustrophobia Essay -- Crime and Punishment Amerika Ess

Emerging From Claustrophobia The Bible's notion of the "promised land" has had a profound influence on secular literature. Modern authors have reinterpreted this biblical ideal to include any land of redemption or salvation. This is an important concept in both Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Kafka's Amerika. While these novels present very different images of the Promised Land, both focus on the protagonist's sense of claustrophobia until the moment of deliverance. Thus, whether their deliverance is mental or physical, both protagonists' salvations lay ultimately in a sense of spatial freedom. Amerika begins with a corrupted ideal of America as the land of redemption. Karl goes abroad because he has inadvertently impregnated a servant; he is sent away to escape from paternity charges and his societal sin. Parallels can be drawn between Karl and the biblical Joseph, who also must leave his home because he is similarly blamed for an older woman's sexual advances. When Karl arrives in America, he is greeted by a bright light: "a sudden burst of sunshine seemed to illumine the Statue of Liberty, so that he saw it in a new light. (3)" This can be likened to the Israelites' exodus, which is guided by a pillar of fire: "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light. (Exodus 13:21)" However, a crucial difference between the biblical guiding light and Kafka's is that, despite its brilliance, the latter illuminates a foreboding entrance---the Statue of Liberty holds a sword instead of a torch. Despite this detail, America, for the moment, remains a landscape of freedom: "The arm with the sword rose up as if newly stretched aloft, and round... ...skolnikov attain spatial freedom from their claustrophobic lives. Of course, we cannot be sure that Oklahoma will be the promised land Karl expects, since Kafka never finished the novel, but the imagery of limitless landscapes that we are left with suggests that Karl's quest will soon come to fruition. Like the Jews leaving Egypt, Karl leaves a land of slave labor for unknown but promising territory. Raskolnikov, however, knows where he is headed but has trouble getting there. The moment of his confession and his realization of love finally allow him access to redemption, and as his delirious and guilt-ridden persona dies, one of love and "gradual regeneration (465)" is created. Like the gospels preach, confession purges one's sins and leads to renewal; thus Raskolnikov, despite being physically imprisoned, is emotionally redeemed and can now strive for a new life.