Reaction

I thought that the ending to this book was really abrupt. Kafka leaves the readers with a lot of questions about K and his trial, especially the details of his crime. Although I think that Kafka could have ended this story in a better and more rational way, it is definitely characteristic of how we view Kafka's work.

I love the parallel between the men at the beginning of the book and the men at the end. Just as K's trial started, it ended in an obscure manner that highlights the weaknesses of a bureaucracy. I think that Kafka intentionally describes the men at the beginning as rugged and poor individuals and the men at the end as formal and of a higher society because he wants to show that the role an individual holds in society is irrelevant to his vulnerability to hidden and oppressive institutions. Also, both groups of men are fools and ignorant about the institutions they are involved in. They have lost all sense of their natural intelligence and consciousness and when they come across issues that were not outlined in their directions, they find themselves hesitant about what they should do, “So one of the men asked the other to let him work on positioning K on his own for a while, but that didn’t improve things either. Finally they left K in a position that wasn’t even the best of those they had already tried.” In order to associate themselves with this institution, they have to give up all instincts that would allow them to thrive in reality. This institution inevitably arrests the men who thrive in reality, unless they avoid this institution by defying inherent logic, “logic is no doubt unshakable, but it can’t withstand a person who wants to live.” People are put under this pressure after they pass the stage of infancy described on page 226, “two small children were playing together behind a grille…not yet capable of moving from the spot.” They are trying to play and taunt each other, but their influences on the other individual are restrained by their inability to move.

In the last paragraph of the book, Kafka points out that life is less important than the influences of other individuals on you, “’Like a dog!’ he said; it seemed as though the shame was to outlive him.” People’s perspectives and influences on an individual are more important than how an individual lives their lives.