Camille Kelleher
After
reading some of Franz Kafka’s other works such as “The Judgment,” “The
Metamorphosis,” and “In the Penal Colony,” among others, I have a more
developed perspective on The Trial. I researched some dates and found
out that The Trial was written a couple of years after the named short
stories. While reading today, I noticed some references to “The Judgment” and
“The Metamorphosis.”
Along with
Gregor’s extreme transformation into a bug in “The Metamorphosis,” K. undergoes
the same process in this story. At the beginning of The Trial, K. was an
honest and hard workingman who was devoted to his career as a chief financial
officer. Now, K. seems somewhat lackadaisical, especially when his uncle comes
to help him. The uncle’s informative dialogue with K. gave me the impression
that K. has changed a lot over the process of his trial. He is less urgent to
finding the solution to his trial than what he once was before at the beginning
of his trial. His growing indifference may lead him to regretful mistakes.
There was
also a presence of “The Judgment” in Kafka’s writing. There is a hostile and
anxious relationship between the underground court and K. I think the
degradation of K. will continue as long as he remains in contact with this
judicial system and his trial does not end. I don’t think K. will give up like
the other victims described in the story when K. went inside the administrative
building because K. is naturally intelligent and has more motive and ability to
manipulate the system. It will be interesting to see how K. changes as his
trial continues, and if the judicial system holds the same control as the
father did over his son in “The Judgment.”
There is a
strong sense of an invasion of privacy when the uncle brings K. to the ill
private lawyer’s house. The uncle barges in on the private lawyer even though
he is very ill and turns his own familial problems into the private lawyer’s
responsibility. Also, K. finds it hard to get privacy when he wants to describe
his trial to his uncle because there are so many people watching him from his
assistant to officers around the bank. This motif parallels the cover of my
book with the eyes, although I have yet to determine the significance of the
one yellow eye among the rest of the eyes that are blue.
I also think there is a little bit from each of Kafka’s writings in “The Trial.” The author keeps the sense of confusion and distortions of reality in this novel, just as he did with “The Metamorphosis,” “In the Penal Colony,” and “The Judgment.” Clearly this is one of Kafka’s main themes and he carries it consistently throughout all of his writings.
ReplyDeleteLike Camille, I started reading “The Trial” differently due to the fact that I had gotten a better grip of Kafka’s writing from his other short stories. I have been more open-minded to the peculiar moments that randomly come about in the novel, and the theme of distortion is more obvious to me than it was before. I am glad to know that Camille also noticed K.’s lost sense of urgency, though she may not be as bothered by it as I am. Though I had already noticed this, Camille opened my eyes to the other aspect of this change in Joseph K.’s character. She emphasized the fact that K. was not always like this, and that his personality has in fact changed from the beginning of the novel. The true root of this change in his reactions is unknown, but he has undergone an alteration in the way he reacts to the things happening to him and it strongly relates to “The Metamorphosis.”