Trial Blog Post

We have not had a blog post for this book in a while, and a lot has occurred since my last post. First, we are introduced to Block, a businessman who appears to be in a situation that is similar to Joseph K’s. Block is consumed by a trial that hit him, causing him to hire a legal team of five lawyers and exhaust all economic resources that he could, including from his business. This kind of makes you think if K. is going to be in the same predicament as Block is in. Block reveals one very important thing, he thinks that Huld is basically a terrible lawyer and did not really do anything for his trial. As a result, he hired these other ones. If I was K. then I would immediately go and hire a different lawyer. However, it is then revealed that K. fired Huld and leaves his office for good.

As I am reading this book there is only one thing that is going through my mind: how are the three institutions prevalent in the book and are the controlling K. and society as a whole. So far, these institutions are still controlling every aspect in the book. The two that are most apparent are the government and familial branch. K. only decided to use Huld as a lawyer because of the fact that he was his uncle’s friend. However, he did not do a sufficient job in the governmental branch as he did not really do anything that could benefit K. in his trial. This creates a separation in the two branches of society. Do you stay with Huld because of the familial relationship in respect for his uncle or do you do what is best for you legally? In my opinion, K. did the right thing. When these two institutions clash as they did, you have to side with the government side. You do what is best for yourself and what is going to keep you out of jail even though you might be upsetting people in your family. However, I am still waiting to see the one branch of government that has not really been present yet: church. I am wondering if it is going to magically appear at the end of the book similarly as it did in The Stranger by Camus. However, I am enjoying reading this book as a whole much more than I did before. I truly now know how to read and analyze Franz Kafka’s writing thanks to the lecture by Mr. Shapiro.