This weekend's reading in relation to last week's lectures

Camille Kelleher           

After last week’s lectures about Kafka and his opinion on society, I thought about this weekend’s reading in a different manner and tone. There were certain descriptions that seemed really odd; but as I accepted my reaction, I also accepted that my extreme and isolating perspective is developed by society. If I lived in another world where different values were average and tolerable, then I may have accepted the aforementioned odd descriptions as normal. One example of these odd descriptions is the interaction between the young nurse Leni and K. on page 108 when they are inside the lawyer’s office. K. caressed Leni’s “physical defect” or webbed fingers, which later caused Leni, who smelt like pepper according to K.,  make a move on him. I find this whole exchange very random and strange, especially K.’s choice of diction. Yet, after the lectures this week, I stretched the events in this story to my own external judgment developed by society. This tiny moment of bizarreness may have reflected Kafka’s step outside of the three societal pillars that we discussed in class. His innovation in norms and creativity led me to isolation because I was viewing the interaction between K. and Leni in accordance with societal tendencies. Now, I wonder if our developed societal standards are keeping us from progressing in certain sectors of life as if we were blindfolded from investments that would yield a high return in both monetary and nonmonetary success.

It was hard not to notice the connections between The Trial and the three societal pillars, especially the state pillar given the subject of this story. On page 112, Kafka describes the judicial system and its unfair procedures, and the irony of lawyers. I think that the inability of the defendants to find out their accusations is very unbalanced, especially when the influence of lawyers is trivial. This skews the opinion of the jury, if there is one in this particular judicial system, and favors their decision towards the accusers who I assume is the state, “They (the administration) want to eliminate the defense as far as possible; everything is to be laid upon the defendant himself.” This is almost like a handicap for the government to make sure that they are always right and win every case. It increases their authority and legitimacy in the face of its ignorant and adherent citizens. When the defendants become more attached to this system, they want to transform it and change its principles to make it more practical and fair; however, the administration prevents the changes to secure their own benefits. Kafka descriptively lashes out against society in a somewhat satiric tone. It will be interesting to see how he addresses the two other pillars, the family and the church.