Josef K., the main character, has
gained my sympathy after the first ten pages of The Trial; he is clearly in a confusing and frustrating situation
that seems to have no escape. Since the first line, I immediately wanted to
know why K. was arrested and K. clearly wants to know why he is being arrested.
The two men who come to K. apartment act nonchalantly towards the whole situation,
as if K. is acting ridiculously for frequently asking questions and acting uneasily.
Within the first ten pages, many social and political critiques are seen, most prominently
the incompetence and corruption of the police force and legal system. For
example, when K asks the two men why he is under arrest, they say that they
cannot tell him, a clear violation of human rights. The incompetence of the
police force is seen when Wilhelm states that he is not familiar with identity
papers and also states that he and Franz are the lowest level officers. K. is
in a state of denial upon learning that he is under arrest and assumes that the
whole situation is a joke setup by his friend and coworkers. K.’s thought
process is understandable and realistic because he is randomly arrested and
cannot think of any reason why, in addition to the fact that no one will tell
him why. The underlining question of the reason for K.’s arrest is one that I believe
will not be uncovered for time to come, keeping the reader as well as K. in
suspense.
Along with Ryan, I am sympathetic to Josef K.'s predicament. The thought of waking up one day and being held captive for an issue I am unaware of is absolutely frightening. Just the mere thought of being arrested is momentous. The entirety of Josef K.'s well being is about to change drastically and his life may never be the same. As a result, it is understandable that K.'s mindset is disoriented.
ReplyDeleteThe social and political matters in question are also an important element mentioned above. The legal system differs greatly from the one we are accustomed to in the U.S. presently, however the book is set in the early 1900's so it is hard to believe that any legal system was well developed during that era. I am eager to uncover more about the legal system and what measures are taken when one is arrested. The guards and inspectors are unlike any authority figures I have read about in any other piece of literature. They are indifferent about the situation and are only concerned with getting the job done so they can get paid. It is also extremely strange how all of them refuse to give any information to Josef K., yet they offer to get him breakfast from the café across the street. The arrest is suspicious and unpredictable.
Ryan I completely agree with you; this novel has kept and probably will continue to keep us in suspense. I agree with you that the legal system is corrupt and wrong; however, for two reasons we can’t say that the arrest is a clear violation of human rights. The first reason is that we do not know what crime Josef has been arrested for. They could have thought that Josef murdered the president (he probably isn’t being charged with murdering a president given that it was such a nonchalant arrest, but we don’t know). The second reason why we can’t say that this is a clear violation of human rights is that we don’t know the legal system of this country. We can already predict that the country believes in guilty until proven innocent, so human rights are probably very different than they are in America. To add to the idea of the corrupt legal system though, I found it weird that the inspector did not know what Josef was being charged for. It would seem normal that an inspector would know what he is inspecting; this all seems way to strange.
ReplyDeleteI actually disagree with you about when the uncovering of what Josef is being charged for will occur. I know that the author probably wants to keep us in suspense; but on the other hand, the title of this book is the trial not the arrest. I have a feeling that we will find out soon.