Last Chapter

The ending of “The Trial” can be described in the same way as the entire novel; perplexing. Throughout the last few pages, it seemed like everything that happened was foreseen by Joseph K., and that the two officials who took him on his birthday did not surprise him. The novel ended in a rather unexpected way, as if the author had never finished the book. After doing some research, I found that Kafka never finished writing the novel, which is why the ending seemed so open-ended and unfinished.

Once again I saw the repetitive emphasis on the unprofessionalism of our system; throughout the whole novel there were strange incidents and encounters that showed the unreliability of the state institution. Through K.’s story, I comprehended Kafka’s transmission of his views on society and his belief that the people are constantly being betrayed by the very institutions that are meant to support them.

It is clear that Joseph K.’s trial and the details of the crime he may or may not have committed are not truly valid in the story. By omitting this seemingly important information from the readers, Kafka achieved his goal of conveying his cynical yet arguably realistic views on society and the three institutions that are ingrained in every persons being. The conclusion of the story is a good representation of Kafka’s writing; illogical, confusing, yet communicative and meaningful.  However, the last few lines in “The Trial” also highlight so many of the major themes that Kafka evoked throughout his writing.

The relationship between the beginning and the end of the story is shown in the last paragraphs. At the start of the novel, when K. gets arrested, he is very self-conscious about what his neighbors will think and is more worried about their opinions than about his situation. At the end, the same idea is brought up and we realize how much the opinions of others influence a person’s life. His shame lives on, even after K. is dead. Kafka’s powerful words bring us back to his main points and give us a good perspective on how Kafka sees the world. Nevertheless, the conclusion is open-ended and lacks a sense of closure. Kafka stays true to his paradoxical style of writing and simultaneously expresses his outlook so that they are instilled in the readers’ minds.

Though reading the novel was kind of frustrating at times, as a whole I like the symbolism and rather strange writing that Kafka uses to express himself. I wish I had some more closure at the end, but in a way it kind of says a lot about Kafka, his ideals, and his style.