I think you'll find, if you ever have a question about an interpretation, mine is probably the correct one. — T Clark

Ah, mais naturellement !! :roll:

Either for that reason or some other, the cage quote just felt threatening. I see a shifty-eyed cage going out hunting so it can trap the bird under it's control. — T Clark

Yes, I noticed the 2 quotes.
I thought there might be another reason, other than a feeling - as you say.
Does the cage have wings attached to capture birds in flight or settle in trees...
Seriously, I understand the sinister aspect.
I read this recent article about the practice of capturing finches:

The birds had been captured in nearby forests using glue strips or nets. Some were visibly frightened by life in captivity. A few had begun the halting process of habituation, waiting on their perches instead of bashing against the bars. And the “baddest” birds—which in Guyanese patois means the best birds—were just about ready to burst into song.

https://www.guernicamag.com/bad-birds-in-quarantine/?mc_cid=dd21d20830&mc_eid=c4d8566ef3

Horrible :fear:

Ah, mais naturellement !! — Amity

Finally, someone agrees with me about that.

Finally, someone agrees with me about that. — T Clark

:lol:

I read a good portion of Kafka as pointing out how we become partners to agents intent upon our demise. The general ethic I get from those observations is that while you probably won't defeat the forces arrayed against you, don't add insult to injury by helping them.

don't add insult to injury by helping them. — Valentinus

I agree. Josef K should just have lain down that morning and offered them a butcher's knife... :joke:

I see that but he didn't seem interested in alternative responses as changes in the narrative. The narrative is a player too. In another aphorism, he said:

"The true way goes over a rope, not stretched at any great height but just above the ground. It seems more designed to cause people to stumble than to be walked upon."

After reading your comments, I wanted to find out more about Kafka. He is more intriguing than I first thought.
Understanding Kafka.

Have you read his 'Letter to His Father' ? What do you think of it ?
https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/05/franz-kafka-letter-father/

He is more intriguing than I first thought. — Amity

Reading Kafka after the Holocaust gives it a different flavour and I can't unread that particular tragedy in the work.The Trial and Josef K's 'guilt' plays totally differently. We're back to a sinister cage looking for a bird.

Reading Kafka after the Holocaust gives it a different flavour and I can't unread that particular tragedy in the work.The Trial and Josef K's 'guilt' plays totally differently. We're back to a sinister cage looking for a bird. — Tom Storm

Yup.
I was asking another question.

Understanding Kafka.
Have you read his 'Letter to His Father' ? What do you think of it ?
https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/05/franz-kafka-letter-father/ — Amity

The letter is interesting. One can certainly see the anguish in The Metamorphoses. It makes a chilling passage in the story even more chilling:

Upon hearing the mother's words, Gregor realized the lack of any direct human exchange, coupled with the monotony of the family's life, must have confused his mind; he could not otherwise explain to himself how he could have wished to have his room cleared out. Did he really wish his warm room, comfortably furnished with old family heirlooms to be transformed into a lair in which he certainly would be able to crawl freely in any direction but at the price of rapidly and completely forgetting his human past? — Translated by Donna Freed

The drive to go beyond the perspective of blame is clearly visible in Kafka's Reflections on Sin, Pain, Hope and the True Way. The reference to eating droppings from the table appears in aphorism #69:

He eats the droppings from his own table; thus he manages to stuff himself fuller than the others for a little, but meanwhile he forgets how to eat from the table; thus in time even the droppings cease to fall — Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir

.

The letter is interesting. One can certainly see the anguish in The Metamorphoses. It makes a chilling passage in the story even more chilling — Valentinus

The letter is astonishing.
Appreciate the quotes - they encourage me to read more.

The drive to go beyond the perspective of blame is clearly visible in Kafka's Reflections on Sin, Pain, Hope and the True Way. — Valentinus

I am truly impressed now with Kafka. Getting to know him seems like a good use of time.
Why didn't I see it before ? Possibly limited access, brain caged off or something...

I was asking another question.

Understanding Kafka.
Have you read his 'Letter to His Father' ? What do you think of it ?
https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/05/franz-kafka-letter-father/
— Amity — Amity

I didn't have a comment on the letter.

I didn't have a comment on the letter. — Tom Storm

OK.

To me the cage is the Iron Cage as described by Max Weber. It's the unfreedom caused by modern society. And the birds are humans. That's why one most remain vigilant not to become a slave to the system.

I do believe that death will set us free. The challenge is to live a satisfying life until that moment comes.