Maya's Reaction to Ch 7

         The seventh chapter of The Trial went from actually pretty normal to classic Kafka weirdness. When the manufacturer suggests that K. visit Titorelli, I thought that it might be a step forward for K. in sorting out everything related to his trial. Being that Titorelli paints judges, I thought that he might have some information about them that everyone else in the book seems to lack. Unfortunately, all the suggestions that Titorelli proposes are dead ends. They all seem pretty pointless to work towards, especially because one apparently doesn’t even exist in the real world. Titorelli explains to K. that an actual acquittal is basically a myth. K. trying to achieve an apparent acquittal seems completely useless because he can be arrested again at any other point. The likelihood of that in his society is probably pretty high, so he would just end up right back where he started. K. trying to achieve a protraction would be incredibly stupid considering he is trying to get out of the trial. A protraction would just put him in legal purgatory, leaving him living in a non-stop trial. 

         Earlier blog posts by the group expressed uncertainty as to whether the legal system in K.’s country is this way because of a totalitarian government or because his country is underdeveloped. Personally, I think that all of these extreme versions of legal “red tape” K. has experienced thus far in the novel are on purpose. It cannot be just K. experiencing this much difficulty with the legal system. I have now been lead to believe that K.’s country is run by a government that is not underdeveloped at all, it's one that fears losing power to the point that it must have complete control of those under it. This notion is only further supported by the fact that K. even considers quitting his own job and spending all his time and energy figuring out his trial.

         The heavy air that is hard to breathe in makes a reappearance in this chapter as well. It was just as weird at the second time, but it is hard to say that it has no meaning behind it as it has happened more than once. Is it a symbol of the oppressive “atmosphere” K.’s trial has brought upon him? Or is it K. displaying physical symptoms of being pressured by his need to beat the problematic court system?