Natalie Sandridge
Professor Hammett
English 1312
11 April 2023
Word Count : 744
Franz Kafka and Hustle Culture
Franz Kafka was a German fiction writer in the early 1900s. He is most characterized by his pessimistic beliefs and personal philosophies about life which are displayed in his odd stories. He lived by the philosophy that life has no meaning and the human race was “created on one of God’s off days'' (Sutherland). His anger and disdain for the bureaucratic and capitalist system is a main feature of most of his works, and he believed capitalism “stripped people from the freedom of life and the average citizen was a slave to the bureaucratic system” (Sutherland). Although his words and beliefs support the argument that Kafka would be against hustle culture, his actions throughout his life reflect those of someone who has been trapped in workaholism and hustle culture.
Kafka had a complicated and tragic childhood which led to his disturbed personality and outlook on life. He struggled to find a focus in life and keep a job, furthering his belief that life has no meaning or purpose. Although Kafka and hustlers share the belief that workers are “slaves” to the capitalist system, hustlers believe the solution is to “hustle 24/7” while Kafka believed in doing whatever he wanted whenever he wished. The hustlers' “solution” is extremely harmful, but Kafka’s was not much better.
Those who were close to him stated he had no, what we would call, work-life balance. He was observed as “suffering from periods of workaholism and becoming completely consumed with his writing” (Britannica). These periods were followed by months and even years of dry spells where he became a “shell” of a human. His behaviors follow similarly to those suffering through burnout from being overworked and lacking personal boundaries. Kafka recognized his behavior, writing in his journal that he “did not want to be distracted by the pleasures life has to give a useful healthy man” (Stodola). This is most likely in reference to his tuberculosis diagnosis, which later killed him. Kafka believed that if he would have been a healthier person, both mentally and physically, he would have been more successful, which would lead him to be worthy of the “pleasures of life”. This parallels how people in hustle culture feel when they are unable to work or be “productive”. They feel they don’t deserve a break or to enjoy nice things because they haven’t been useful. Although Kafka did not follow modern day hustle culture or workaholism, he still suffered the consequences of having no boundaries in his life and being caught by the idea of “productivity”.
Kafka’s personal philosophies and beliefs are reflected in his writing, which causes minor issues in interpreting his work. The lack of original meaning in his stories allows people to place whatever meaning they want into his writing. For example, the story being used as evidence for this topic, The Metamorphosis, has been interpreted as an example of the alienation of minorities, or a reference to Kafka’s fear of bugs, among many other theories. While acknowledging the interpretation issue, there has still been enough evidence found within the story that supports the argument of Kafka’s belief about hustle culture as a social pandemic.
Metamorphosis begins with a man named Gregor Samsa who has awoken and found himself transformed into a cockroach. He begins to panic because he has missed his train for work and he knows his boss will come to check on him since he never misses work. His thoughts begin to spiral as he thinks about the effects of missing work on his and family’s life. Kafka’s anti-bureaucratic belief can be summed up as one thought of Gregors: “What a fate, to be condemned to work for a firm where the smallest omission at once gave rise to the greatest suspicion” (Kafka 93). Even though Gregor is physically unable to work, he still believes he can and works out of fear of his family’s security. After the recession of 2008, which led to the rise of hustle culture, many workers worked overtime and became workaholics out of fear of not being able to provide for their families in the failing economy.
Though his own solutions to the bureaucratic and capitalist systems of his time failed, based on his personal life and works, along with professional opinion, Kafka would still see hustle culture not as an harmful epidemic, but as an effect of the capitalist system, and would use the suffering of the hustlers as evidence to support his beliefs.
Works Cited
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Franz Kafka". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Apr. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Franz-Kafka.
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Edited by Nahum Glatzer, Schocken Books New York, 1971, https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Kafka_Metamorphosis.pdf.
Stodola , Sarah. “Franz Kafka Made a Stunning Observation on Work-Life Balance While Dying from Tuberculosis.” Insider, 20 Feb. 2015, https://www.businessinsider.com/franz-kafka-on-work-life-balance-2015-2.
Sutherland , John. A Little History of Literature. 2014, https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300205312/little-history-literature/.
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