Project Two

Lauryn Volner  

Professor Hammett  

English 1302 

Project 2  

22 April 2024 

Word Count: 1072 

Franz Kafka and Binge Drinking  

Franz Kafka was an absurd writer and novelist, known for his story Metamorphosis. He suffered from many mental issues and insecurities throughout his life, including anxiety. Based on these issues that plagued Kafka’s life, he could easily fall into binge drinking or understand the epidemic. Kafka grew up with harmful thoughts and feelings; “It is clear, to be sure, that Kafka was lonely and angst-ridden from early childhood to the end of his life” (Thiher 14). This can not only affect the child then but, also, as he grows up through life. While considering other factors, his childhood and his relationship with his family, Kafka would likely become a binge drinker. 

Kafka dealt with many different problems throughout his childhood. Starting at an early age, Kafka began to question certain traditions and beliefs that he was surrounded by. He was a German-speaking Jew, and he grew up religious. However, he found certain things about his religion distasteful. He began to dislike certain celebrations relating to his religion. He began to feel like certain celebrations regarding his religion were dislikable and boring. As said in Understanding Franz Kafka, “Kafka declared that he found these religious celebrations to be boring and meaningless” (Thiner 13). Kafka lived throughout his life feeling out of place. He was seen as skeptical about many different things; “Kafka is a skeptic-psychological, cultural, and even emotional” (Collins 1). These thoughts could cause Kafka to feel out of place and he could potentially feel ashamed that he feels that way. Not only did Kafka deal with religious questioning, but he also had concerning thoughts as a younger child. When his two brothers were born, he didn't want the attention to be off him. His brothers soon died, which was common in that time period. However, this caused Kafka to feel guilty. These feelings of guilt can cause harmful thoughts and in turn, could cause the person to want to forget them. This could cause Kafka to turn to drinking. Drinking is an extremely popular coping method throughout all age groups. “Though there are a few different models of alcohol use motivation, all share the inclusion of drinking to enhance positive emotions (enhancement motives) and drinking to cope with, or alleviate, negative emotions (coping motives)” (Merrill). As Kafka continued to struggle with anxiety and negative thoughts, he could validate the use of binge drinking to deal with his thoughts or feelings. 

Kafka was seemingly alone when it came to parental figures. Most of his experience with his parents came from cooks, one memorable cook being a woman. The lack of parental figures can cause Kafka to be affected in many ways. Especially if his only experience with parental figures was negative. While he had a form of parent in the cook, Kafka did not like this woman because of her attitude towards him. This can be shown in writings, one stating that “She enjoyed threatening to tell his teacher what a naughty boy he was, seemingly causing Kafka to suffer fantasies of impending punishment” (Thiher 15). This could have been the start of Kafka’s anxious thoughts. However, we could not be sure. While he spent most of his time without his parents, when he saw them, their relationship could be seen as rocky or unstable. Especially, his time with his father. Kafka had suffered an emotionally abusive relationship with his father. It was complicated and rough; “Kafka was not insensitive to the social differences between his parents, marked notably by their use of language, especially the father’s propensity to insults and curses” (Thiher 13). Kafka’s father had often made him feel as if he was the problem of the relationship. As said by Kafka in his “Dearest Father” writing, “. And what is more, you reproach me as if it were my fault as if I might have been able to arrange everything differently with one simple change of direction” (Kafka 18). Being told the same things, and getting blamed for something you didn't do constantly is very damaging to a person of any age. The repetition can eventually make you believe what you are being told. This is damaging and dangerous to any developing mind. These kinds of feelings or thoughts could cause a person to spiral eventually into substance abuse. 

Besides what Kafka had gone through in his early life, he also began to struggle in his adulthood. He had struggled with his relationships. Not only did he struggle with these issues, but he also got diagnosed with tuberculosis. Health issues and personal issues regarding relationships are starters for addiction in many forms. Kafka had fallen in love with a girl, Felice Bauer, and soon decided to propose to her. However, he soon noticed difficulties with her. Despite the issues, he proposed in June. The proposal was soon called off in July. This relationship was not simple and caused issues for Kafka; “Kafka was put on trial, as he wrote in his diary, and the end, it was decided that the engagement was over” (Thiher). After Kafka came to the conclusion that marriage was not for him, he was back to his life. He got promoted at work. However, shortly after he was suffering from tuberculosis. “But in February, a specialist said Kafka’s tuberculosis had so developed that he must go to a sanatorium for therapy.” (Thiher) Kafka then decided to venture out on medical leave. However, he soon found himself around anti-Semitism. While he was sick and living in a time of intense world issues, he soon made a friend, Robert Klopstock, who became very close to Kafka until he died in 1924. Coming to terms with his incoming death, Kafka wrote to people. One specific letter was to Brod, telling him that he didn't want his writings published. His wishes were not kept. These issues of his personal life and his health could’ve caused a major struggle for Kafka. Especially coming to terms with his death. 

Franz Kafka continuously struggled with many problems throughout his life. Those problems included a harmful relationship with his family and other people, physical health problems, and a struggle with psychological disorders. In relation to these problems, Kafka could more than likely understand or suffer from a binge drinking problem. These issues are very common in other people who struggle with these problems. While Kafka did not struggle with a drinking problem, to the world's knowledge, he could likely have in the future. 

Works Cited  

Collins, Hildegard Platzer. “Kafka’s Views of Institutions and Traditions.” The German Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 4, 1962, pp. 492–503. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/401585. Accessed 22 Apr. 2024. 

Kafka, Franz, and Hannah Stokes. Dearest Father. Alma Classics, 2017. https://almabooks.com/wp- content/uploads/2020/07/DearestFatherExtract.pdf 

Merrill, Jennifer E, and Suzanne E Thomas. “Interactions between adaptive coping and drinking to cope in predicting naturalistic drinking and drinking following a lab-based psychosocial stressor.” Addictive behaviors vol. 38,3 (2013): 1672-8. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.addbeh.2012.10.003 

Thiher, Allen. Understanding Franz Kafka. University of South Carolina Press, 2018. 

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