Chapter 7

K’s bipolarity strikes again. Suddenly he is obsessed with the trial, and I want to know what it is that makes him jump back and forth from such extremes. Out of no where, this trial that is so important to his life; that pretty much dictates his freedom, becomes important to him again, and the carelessness that consumed him about the whole situation earlier in the book has completely disappeared.

            Although K has progressed and is now more involved in his trial, his lawyer is not doing much to help the situation. Once again, I noticed the unprofessionalism of the systems. Despite the fact that K wants to improve his situation, there are other obstacles that hold him back from proving himself innocent. I realized just how oblivious and unobservant Huld is as a person when Leni and K are fooling around right in front of him and he doesn’t even notice. To be a good lawyer, it is important to pay attention to detail and be alert, amongst other things, and those are qualities that Huld lacks. K clearly made a bad choice in hiring him as a lawyer. When he finally realizes that he is better off taking care of the trial himself, he finds it hard to stay motivated, even though he quit his job and devoted all of his time to the trial. K is always confronted with obstacles, and he never truly gets anything done. Whether it is his fault or not, K is definitely not the same powerful, correct man that he was at the beginning of the novel and it is kind of a let down.

            I really don’t like this book. Though I respect Kafka and his views, I hate the way he mindf***s the readers 24/7. I cant focus on what I’m reading and am always doubting if what I understood is actually what happened or if I was supposed to understand it in a different way. This novel is too much; so much information is given with so little value. He uses so many situations and words to say so little and it isn’t pleasant to read. We are repeatedly demonstrated through his writing that the government is corrupt and that the only way to get anywhere is through corrections. It gets boring. Out of all of the stories I have read by Kafka, this is probably my least favorite.