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.