free booknotes online

Help / FAQ




<- Previous Page | First Page | Next Page ->
MonkeyNotes-The Trial by Franz Kafka
Table of Contents | Printable Version

The novel has a parable like quality. Parables are not known to keep track of time measured by chronometers. In the novel every stroke of every hour is counted. It emphasizes the empty course of outward life contrasted with the court's contrary demand. The warders though servants of the court have a great deal of power to control men's lives. They create a sense of fear. It is a sign of the spirit's restlessness, it's actualities, realities of the mind. From these confusing conditions Kafka's narrative humor is playfully developed. K. wonders what could prevent him from committing suicide when he is allowed to wander around freely.

Kafka's employs subtle narrative techniques. The narrative presence is felt throughout. There is already a narrative voice in the beginning telling us of "someone must have been talking lies about Joseph K." But for the inspector it is another round of his usual experience.

The arrest has a negative effect on K. He suddenly becomes withdrawn and others retreat likewise. The inspector and later even Frau Grubach refuse to shake hands with him. The withdrawal of handshaking has the reverse effect, influencing his behavior in the evening. He needs to be reassured and seeks Fräulein Bürstner friendship Frau Grubach is wise as becomes her age. She sees through K.'s appearance of calm and tries to restore confidence. She understands him more than he does himself he seeks a definitive opinion.


Though K. waits a longtime for Fräulein Bürstner he cannot remember what she looks like. What is most striking about the novel is the unreasonableness of the arrest. As he draws his narrative to a close with Fräulein Bürstner he draws Joseph K. initiating the inspector. It resounds with Captain Lanz's response. His sudden act of wooing Fräulein Bürstner is also to give vent to his eroticism. The self-conceited man suddenly wants company. But he still considers her a little typist. His relationship with her could not continue. Though she is a neighbor she becomes alienated. He withdraws into his self-righteous ego.

The reader is arrested and fascinated with the text. One also tries to emerge seeking justice from the jurisdiction of "The Trial". Like Joseph K. we swing from fantasies of absolute power to the reality of absolute arrest. Characters in this novel continuously prejudge each other. K. seeks Frau Grubach’s opinion as "the judgement of a sensible woman." Frau Grubach feels "K. is innocent". K. considers the warders to be "coarse" and "degenerate ruffians". He is keen on impressing Fräulein Bürstner, though she is disinterested in his story, she is alert to the condition of his arrest.

The novel also proves that it is not possible to live outside the jurisdiction of the courts. K. is like the reader of fiction and the other characters are like those who pass hasty judgements on one another. The criticism is grounded in structure. K.'s dream of living beyond the jurisdiction of the court seems to be distant. K. reflects "What authority is conducting those proceedings?" "What authority could they represent?"

Kafka's 'windows' are like most windows in romantic poetry. In the, "The Trial"-'windows' suggest the shifting process between the adjusted framing of reading and writing and the shifting of narrators. The act of the creative process and that of the interpretation are brought into focus. The distinction between the exterior and interior the basic fiction of so much of our thought process and the fiction which makes up great literature depends on this framing.

Table of Contents | Printable Version


<- Previous Page | First Page | Next Page ->
MonkeyNotes-The Trial by Franz Kafka

Google
Web
PinkMonkey

Google
  Web PinkMonkey.com   

All Contents Copyright © PinkMonkey.com
All rights reserved. Further Distribution Is Strictly Prohibited.


About Us
 | Advertising | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Home Page
This page was last updated: 11/12/2023 12:31:27 AM