Sunday, September 22, 2013

Fraulein Burstner

K.'s continuous quest to meet up with Fraulein Burstner seems to be getting harder and harder as the novel progresses. After her quick appearance in the novel, she has only been mentioned in the plot by other characters, not actually appearing as much as she should. I personally believe that she is playing a bigger role than perceived in the actions and motives of K. His obsession of speaking to her and his obsession of seeing her all seem to make his rash decisions and irritable personality come alive even more. In the first chapter we are revealed that K. has some feelings for her, and needs her attention. We haven't really seen much since that chapter, and it does not seem to be affecting K.s attitude correctly.

It almost seems as if she is purposefully avoiding him. He goes to knock on her door and after no answer, he opens the door and walks in. Her not being there makes K. act irrationally, which is what happens here in chapter 4. Maybe she has something to do with K.s whole legal situation, but it seems unlikely. Either that or she simply thinks he's a creep.

1 comment:

  1. As the story progresses and we experience more of K.’s character, we start to see that both his personal and public life are disrupted by his arrest. This is not unusual because this type of development should happen after a civilian has been penalized under the judicial system. I agree with Ben that Fraulein may be consciously avoiding him because of his current arrest; however, I want to take that further and consider what caused K to be arrested, and this may lead us to Fraulein. For all we know, she may have accused him of different charges, from trespassing to harassment. Given the randomness and irrational events in this story, Fraulein could have accused him of just about anything. K.’s attachment with Fraulein gives her leeway to affect him in anyway that increases her benefit. For example, if she tells him to conspire with the student’s wife to clear his arrest, then this may be secretly fulfilling her purpose of having him indebt himself further into the system. Her purpose may stem from her want to increase her status in that specific organization. Simply, Fraulein could be using her relationship with K. to serve her own benefit and promote herself in that secret organization. All of this supports my opinion that Kafka views society as fake, corrupt, and unreasonable.

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