Interpretations of Kafka's short story range from simple parallelism between the lives of Georg and Kafka to more complex views concerning the notion of judgement itself. Heinz Politzer, for example, views the story as a means through which Kafka explored his thoughts about his romance with Felice Bauer, citing as evidence the impending marriages Georg and Kafka held in common. He argues that the severed relationship between Georg and his friend represented the bachelorhood that Georg, and therefore Kafka, would soon have to give up.