Josef K.'s Dual Character

The end of the first chapter, as well as the second chapter of “The Trial” is simply a continuation of what was expected to happen; Josef K. goes to work with three men appointed to him by the inspector. The same question remains, though. Why is he allowed to go about his regular routine if he is under arrest? In a way, K. reacts to the whole situation rather calmly, he lives a blissful, yet ignorant life and does not confront reality the way a man of his age should.

Josef’s journey to court exemplifies the kind of person he is. To begin with, he almost oversleeps after carelessly going out drinking the night before. There is a sharp contrast between the two sides of K.’s personality. On one side, he is an exceptionally smart, successful banker. On the other, he is a thoughtless, disorganized man who allows his money to get to his head and make him live a life in which he rejects reality. Joseph K.’s dual character slowly came to light as I read through these few pages.  

Response to Ben's 8/25

I agree with Ben in the sense that Joseph is a bit sneaky in his actions, and that he tries to find a way around what is going on. He seems to be living a luxurious life, and all of this is interrupted when he is arrested. Like Ben said, Kafka successfully intrigues the reader by ending the chapter in a way that will cause one to formulate questions and wonder what will happen next. Evidently, K. has entitlement issues and believes he is better, or “superior” as Ben stated, than others. Whether it be his financial status, or simply his upbringing, Joseph K. thinks he is above it all, and I am curious to find out what the root of his attitude is.

I never fully understood if K. knew the real reason for his arrest. After reading Ben’s response, I realized it was not just me who noticed that Kafka cleverly form questions in the reader’s minds, generating an itch to continue with the novel.

In response to what Ben said about the arrest with no explanation, I remember thinking similarly as I read through that part. Why would he not be allowed to know the reasons for his arrest? After some research I found out that citizens are to be told what the charges are when they are arrested. Something irregular is definitely going on and it is yet to be explained.  

Response to Ben's post: the neighbors by the window

Camille Kelleher

8/25/13

Response to Ben's post

            It seems that Ben’s main concern with the beginning of this story is why K. is being arrested. It is a simple question that has caused tremendous confusion and suspense for all of us, even K., “‘What sense?’ K. cried out” (page 15.) Both the reader and K. seem to have equal limited knowledge in the unfortunate incident that has plagued his morning.

There are numerous ways that Kafka can progress this development in the story. Although Ben has considered two routes, blackmail and revenge, other routes include society’s unjust selection of random victims to scrutinize (such would be evident in early twentieth century Germany) or K.’s neighbors who watch the whole morning unfold. For all we know, Kafka may never even address this question and force us to accept that whatever K. did in his past has led him to this trial.

No matter the reasons behind the arrest, we all know that K. is undeniably innocent, “Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested” (page 3.) Kafka’s straightforward narration leaves no freedom for us to decide whether he is innocent or not. Kafka may make up for the restriction on our imaginations by changing his strict style into a looser form, letting us decide if he is innocent or not after the trial when we have more information to base our opinions on.

Out of all the different reasons that K. could be getting arrested for, I believe that the accusations may be from his neighbors. Their reluctance to leave the window and stop staring makes me think that they want some form of justice from his arrest. 

First impression of Joseph K.

           At the introduction of “The Trial,” Joseph K. is portrayed as a successful,  wealthy man who is “strictly business.” When he is arrested, he does not understand what is going on and at one point, believes that his coworkers have played a prank on him. Instantly, I got the feeling that he was the kind of man to go around uncomfortable situations, and that he was not used to these kinds of things. Does he know the true reason for his arrest, or is he actually clueless as to why he is in this position?

            I liked the fact that Kafka began the novel in action, and that it was clear what was occurring at the time. There were no slow, uneventful moments during this chapter, which is what made me want to keep reading and find out the truth about K.’s arrest. It caught my attention that Kafka mentioned more than twice the fact that the neighbors were looking at Joseph K. I deducted that K. cares a lot about his appearance, and that he is worried what these neighbors would think of him. Clearly, K. does not find himself in these kinds of situations very often. 

Comments on Max's Blog

I agree with Max here. The book really does not seem to be realistic at all. How could one possibly be arrested for no plausible reason? Although saying all of this, the end of Chapter 1 leaves the reader wanting more. As you can tell by my post, I want to continue reading and finally starting to decipher this big question that Kafka has left us with.

I also agree with Max's comments on how the reader can begin to see insight on K.'s personality as Chapter 1 goes on. We get an idea that the guy is arrogant throughout how he sees others, especially the policeman who barge into his house. He feels better than them, possibly because he is a successful banker I suppose. Again, im not entirely sure what his reasoning is for this behavior, but it makes sense that he feels higher in rank than these underlings who take orders from another person who is higher in rank than they are.

I also agree with Max's comments on how Joseph wants to be in control of every situation. We know he is a successful banker, making it easy for the reader to assume that he wants to be in control. Also (like Max points out too as well), he tries to give an immediate answer to what's going on. His first prediction is that this is all a little game that his colleagues are playing on him, instead of actually assessing the situation.

Possible Reasons for Arrest

Throughout the first chapter of the novel, Joseph K. is characterized as being a man who doesn't really like to deal with trivial nonsense. He is successful yet a bit conceded. The book has left us with a huge question in why he is in fact guilty.

This question mark has me guessing on why these series of unfortunate events have occurred for K. Waking up on his 30th birthday, K. is arrested for reasons that cannot be spoken about. The people who come into his house are underlings, taking orders from someone else, someone more important. This leaves me with two possible reason for his arrest.

The first being that he has been blackmailed. So far, all we know is that K. is successful and conceded. That leaves many other people who observe K. with a great amount of jealousy toward the man. Also, these 'policemen' are getting orders that have no intent behind them. This leads me to believe that someone is behind the whole scam.

The second being that he, being the arrogant individual that he is, might have ticked off another accomplice in an illegal banking transaction. Although very possible, I think its less likely that this is the case. He seriously has zero idea why this is happening to him. He initially believes that this whole thing is a big prank that his colleagues have set up. Although one possibility, I dont necessarily love it.

As you can tell, the book has me racing to find the possible reasons for the arrest. To me, its safe to say that this book is going to be a solid read.

Joseph's Need For An Explanation

So far the book had been quite interesting. After reading the first chapter, I am wanting to read more to find out what is the true cause of this arrest. Kafka does a great job in leaving an open ended question at the end of the chapter, as it truly grabs the readers attention and creates a sense of eagerness.

Through being able to witness Joseph K. when he is arrested, the reader can already begin to see his personality. Despite being in a serious situation, he is always trying to find around it or create an alternative explanation for what is going on. For example, he is not told why he is being arrested. In turn, Joseph attempts to try to figure it out and thinks that his colleagues are playing a practical joke on him. His reluctance to try to find out if he is truly being arrested because he does not want to show that he supposedly knows what is truly going on shows that he wants to be in control of every situation. In fact, he even states that he is superior to his colleagues.

However, there is one thing that I am very curious about. I understand that it is a book, but it is very unlikely for someone to get arrested and not told what they are being charged with. In fact, it is highly illegal. In my opinion, this makes it so the book is not as realistic as it should be.

Connection between the front cover and the plot

Camille Kelleher

8/24/13

Commentary on the beginning of The Trial

“Never judge a book by its cover.” Although this is an indisputable claim for all novels, the front cover of Franz Kafka’s The Trial are eleven simply drawn, yet glaring eyes that I expect will introduce an important theme in this story. Out of the eleven neatly and orderly arranged blue eyes, one is yellow. I predict that the yellow eye represents the deviation in society, a rare man with unconventional insight and opinions on human developments and institutions. This man has utter importance, especially during the early twentieth century in Germany during World War I when many aspects of humanity are uncertain.

In the first few pages of The Trial, Kafka describes an unconventional investigation with comedic guards and an investigator who are simply pawns for the government. This becomes clear when the guards and investigator lucidly refer to their orders when Josef K. questions their authority and intentions. These officials have little power and knowledge and act very casually given the situation of an arrest. This development suggests the inefficiency and red tape that accompanies the hierarchy of a bureaucracy.  This may be foreshadowing the numerous amounts of hurdles that K will have to defeat in order to finish his proceedings and get to his official trial, only to be declared not guilty.

Also within the first few pages, there was a motif of the lack of privacy. Between the neighbors who stare directly at him through the division of windows and the mindless guards, an atmosphere of confusion and urgency surrounds K. This motif connects with the glaring eyes on the front cover, creating no escape for both K. and the readers.