Natalie's Comment on Kaylee's Topics

Kaylee I feel think your second and fourth topics are your strongest ones. They're both interesting and you can really elaborate on both of them.

I feel like your first topic is your weakest topic because it has been something that we have discussed a lot already, and I feel like it's not really anything new anymore.

Kaylee's Comment to Natalie's Topics

Natalie, I think that your first topic is the strongest out of the fourth. I really like how you chose to focus in on the story of The Law because it very powerful and has a parallelism with the course of the story.

I found your third topic to be the weakest. Although it is a valid point, I worry the paper will be repetitive because it is a simple topic that is easily spelled out. 

Natalie's Comment on Maya's Topics

Maya I think that your second topic is very interesting. This timeline is not something that was included in my book, but I think it is an interesting topic to discuss and it differs from many other people's topics (including mine).

Maya I think that your first topic is your weakest one. Although it could be elaborated and discussed in a 2000 word essay, I feel like it's something we talked about a lot and is "new".

Kaylee's Comment on Maya's Topics

Maya, I think that your second topic is the strongest for this assignment. The life of Kafka is very intriguing considering he faced a lot of adversity. So I think that if you can collect the right information and connect the event sin his life to The Trial, your paper could be very successful.

I also found your fourth topic interesting, however I think it is the weakest because it seems too broad and I don’t think it is the strongest of Kafka’s themes. 

Kaylee's Topics

The Three Pillars of Society – Church, State & Family

As previously discussed in class we find these three institutions in Kafka’s writing. In The Trial Joseph K. encounters each of these institutions and experiences the contradictions held within each. In chapter 9, the story of the man and the doorkeeper is a perfect example of how all three systems set the individual up for failure. The Trial tells a story of a man doomed to fail by the pillar of society. 

The Trials of Life & Fate

            In The Trial, Joseph K. is tested as he tries to work with the government and solve his trial. A reader can take a perspective of K.’s experience as a system of multiple trials/tests leading up to his judgment. The Trial questions the idea of having the ability to control the course of one’s life and the final judgment.

Totalitarianism

            The government presented in The Trial is seemingly totalitarianism. It involves a ruthless government, who is disconnected yet has all power over its people. The actions are not explained or disputable. Totalitarianism digs into the human tendency to have ultimate control and belief in one’s own ideologies. We have seen similar themes in Notes from the Underground. Kafka also provides us a sense of corruption and suppression with the repetitive use of the smothering air quality. The Trial takes a look into the struggle of power between the individual and the government.

Consciousness

            In The Trial, Joseph K. seems to float about society, disconnected and alone. Throughout the novel we find numerous points where K. is lost in thought and unsure of what to do in his current situation. At times we have said that Kafka’s writing style is “dreamlike” and at points it is unclear what is reality and what is fantasy. Analyzing The Trial uncovers a certain level of consciousness and its effect on an individual. 

Ryan's Comment on Raoul's Topics

                Raoul, I think your first topic is your weakest one. although you present an interesting point, I don't feel you will have anything else to add regarding the topic. Other than what you have already stated

                I really like your third topic, you make an interesting argument that I had never thought of myself. I think you might struggle to write 2000 words about it, but I think you can find enough examples, that show K. as a threat to the government. I also like the topic because it targets one of the fundamental questions about the novel, Why was K. the one to be arrested?

Ryan's Comment on Natalie's Topics

               Natalie I think your third topic is you weakest one because I don't think there is enough material to write about. You basically covered the whole argument in that one paragraph and you have stronger topics to choose from.

             I think your fourth topics is your strongest one. There are several points to be made about the disorganization of there government and the idea that people are doomed to fail, which Kafka alludes to in most, if not all, of his stories.

Natalie's Essay Topics

Theme One:

At the end of the novel K. has a conversation with the Priest. During this conversation the Priest tells K. the story of The Law. This story has many parallel connections with The Trial. Both K and the protagonist in the story are attempting to enter into a place that seems almost impossible. Like the guard in the story stated, no one ever entered past the door. Similarly in the society K is living in it is almost unheard of to have an innocent verdict. Other similarities arise between the guard, and the policemen in K.’s society. Both seem to be following laws and rules they themselves do not even understand. Other similarities exist, but overall I think that the story that the Priest tells K. reflects his own life and his inevitable outcome.

Theme Two:

In K.'s society there is an omnipresent government, who uses their abilities to control the individual. The government seems to be able to govern almost every single aspect of an individual’s life. We see this manifested in the numerous encounters K. has with government officials, or individuals associated with the government. For example when he goes to visit his lawyer and a member of the court comes out from the dark corner. Also when his arresting officers are getting beaten in his banks closet, and later when he meet with the Priest and it turns out he also works with the government.

Theme Three:

K.’s eventual outcome was different then that of Blocks or any of the others that he met in the court offices. All of those people had accepted their fate and did little to fight it. In the beginning it seems that most had been like K. frantically trying to clear their name, but then they accepted it as their fate. K. on the other hand never did this, and that is the reason for his eventual outcome.

Theme Four:

It seems that in K.’s society, and accused person is doomed to fail. From the beginning of K.’s arrest when he is not told the actual reason he is being arrested, it seems that his fate has been decided. The way in which the court system works makes it so that no individual can ever succeed. It lack of structure and unorganized nature does not allow for this. When K. has his first court hearing, the judge tells him that he is not allowed to see the book with all the laws inside it. Also there is an emphasize placed on who you know, and what your connections are, rather then what is the actual truth and facts.

Maya's Comment to Raoul's Themes

       Raoul, like Ryan, I think your fourth topic is the strongest out of your four. I think this topic will allow you to analyze the encounter with the priest and present new things that others overlooked or didn’t pick up on. I think it’ll also allow you to produce your thoughts about how the ideas concerning the encounter with the priest are applicable outside of The Trial. 

       I think that the first topic can’t really be expanded into 2000 words. I feel like you explained the idea that you want to expand on really well within those few sentences. Therefore, I don’t think it’ll work as anything longer. 

Maya's Comment to Ryan's Theme

         Ryan, I think your fourth topic is the strongest one. I think that it’ll be easy to support well and coherently because of K.’s behavior that you mention occurs throughout the novel. I feel like you could also introduce a new topic that we haven't associated with Kafka yet.

         I think that the first one is the weakest because I think it would create redundancy. I feel like if you were to choose this one, you would spend the majority, if not the entirety, of your term paper just talking about oppression, governments wanting all the power, and other topics of that nature without really presenting anything new. 

Maya's 4 Themes

Theme 1

Earlier on this year, the class read the short stories by Kafka. The material was explained through the “three pillars of society”: the church, the state, and family. Further down the curriculum, Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground presented the idea of how the underground man’s consciousness “rendered him incapable”. K., for the majority of The Trial, runs around in circles trying to figure out exactly what he can do to clear his name. However, the government of his country is organized in a haphazard and secretive manner where no one really seems to know what is going on. I believe it can be argued that in The Trial, it is the three pillars that have rendered the individual incapable. 

Theme 2 

In my edition of The Trial, a timeline of Kafka’s life was provided at the end of the book. It details the fact that Kafka was asked to take over his father’s business while living in Prague. This was when he had one of the few mental breakdowns he had and he supposedly considered suicide. Shortly after this event, he wrote his short story The Judgement where a young business man ends his life because he is told by his father that he will never amount to anything. I think it can be argued that if one were to look at a more in depth timeline of Kafka’s life, one could find where he drew inspiration for The Trial. 

Theme 3 

One of the ideas that was presented in the Kafka lecture was that inherent contradictions within the three pillars have those living under them predetermined to fail. When K. meets with the priest in the cathedral, he tells the story of a man giving the “doorman” everything he owns to pass through a gate, but he ends up just dying never having known what’s on the other side. This, to me, seems like a metaphor that Kafka uses to convey the message that we give all we can to comply with the rules of the institutions we live under, but they don’t really reciprocate. 

Theme 4 

The way the judicial system in Kafka’s The Trial operated was extremely confusing and convoluted. As stated earlier in the post, K. spends the majority of his time seeing what he can do to prove his innocence. K.’s extensive journey to understand the court system ultimately ends with his death and a next to nothing amount of knowledge about the judicial system. This can be an example of a certain quality that humans possess; an inexplicable need to understand everything.

Ryan Possible Topics

Topic #1

            Throughout The Trial, Kafka makes it a point to establish the omnipresence of the government in the society. The ubiquitous nature of the court system, and government in general, gives off an atmosphere of corruption and oppression. The story barely goes more than a chapter without a representative of the government showing unexpectedly. K. describes the government presence in a way that implies a type of habituation, in which K. is not surprised to see court officials and judges sitting in corners of room. Kafka implies that even when a citizen is not involved in a trial, the government still has a questionable presence in society.

Topic #2

            Josef K. has a superiority complex that is clearly seen in the novel and affects his decisions about his trial and his interactions with other characters. K. takes social status rather seriously, and once he deems someone as being below him, his actions immediately reflect that. K. frequently talks down to people and is usually cynical about people’s motives in the novel. K. believes he can do everything himself, which serves as an advantage and fault. K.’s superiority complex is broken down by the trial as he eventually accepts his fate.

Topic #3

The role that Kafka gives to the women of The Trial is particularly interesting. The women of the novel seem to be K.’s weak spot, in regards to distracting him from the matter at hand. K. develops sexual relationships with most of the women in the novel rather quickly. It seems as though whenever K. meets a woman he is immediately captivated by her presence and forgets what he is doing. Although K.’s affections are all over the place, he feels as if all of the women belong to him and he becomes defensive and concerned when another man enters the picture. Kafka gives women an overall low position in this society as a large portion of the women seem to be in place to serve the men of the novel.

Topic #4

            Josef K. seems to lack free will in the novel, he rarely makes his own decisions and lets the government and the people around him tell him what to do. K.’s absence of internal locus of control might represent Kafka’s own existential crisis. Much of the novel is left up to fate and K. seems to simply accept his destiny, especially at the end of the novel. K.’s passive behavior is also seen in some of Kafka’s other characters, such as the country doctor. K. struggles to get things done as he lives in a society in which the government seems to predetermine everyone’s lives, most clearly seen in the fact that K. is randomly arrested one morning and never told what he is accused of.

Raoul's Term paper ideas

Essay 1:

In Kafka’s novel The Trial, we find that our main character is wrongly accused a crime, which he has not committed. However, the government finds him to be guilty can condemns him to death. Interestingly, the struggle of not allowing a guilty man go free while still preventing an innocent man from being condemned, has been a problem for many legal systems. In order to insure that no guilty men go free sadly many innocent men will be condemned. On the other hand, in order to insure that no innocent men are condemned many guilty men will go free. In the society Kafka created, it is clear that members are ok with the collateral damage of insuring that no guilty men go free.

Essay 2:

In Kafka’s stories, we find that the pillars of society continually collapse and inevitable fail the individual. In the case of The Trial, the government, and in particular the legal system, fails Joseph K. through not only its inborn contradictions but also its corrupt system. For being part of society, K. was left with no path to success.

Essay 3:

As we read Kafka’s novel The Trial, we begin to ask our selves “why is K., a good hardworking man, in such a bad situation?” Our narrator lives in a world of corruption and an unstable government. Honestly I believe that the government feared K.. They feared the individual because he posed a threat to the government. It was not flagrant, but K. did believe that the government was corrupt and had negative views for the government system before his arrest. Once, he had his examination it was clear to the government that he would have to be eliminated for the safety of their system.

Essay 4:

Towards the end of Kafka’s novel The Trial, our protagonist has a conversation with a priest. This conversation in Kafka’s world represents the church attempting to convert K. towards their beliefs, similar to the priest at the end of The Stranger by Camu. However, we interestingly find not only corruption within the church symbolized by the podium but also a story that represents many of ideas brought along with the novel. The priest gives K. the story of the guard and present several different perspectives. Ironically enough, this story represents K.’s current position in life.

Kaylee Final Reading Post

The last chapter of The Trial served as a goodbye for K. and the struggle of his trial. As the men come to summon him, K. pretty much knows what is happening and everything is over for him. I thought it was strange how it wasn’t clear what exactly what their occupation was. Were they government officials? Or actors like K. assumed? In addition, when they are taking him away, they ask him which direction he wants to go. In the end, it doesn’t matter which direction he chooses because his fate still remains the same. The two men resemble the doormen in the story that the champlain tells K. because they too are following the rules of the government and are ultimately below K. It is ironic because they technically work for him, yet they end of destroying him in the end with the help of the trial itself. At the end when the men strip K. and begin passing the knife back in forth; I believe it says a lot about K. in regards to his refusal of using the knife on himself. Throughout the process of the trial he has conserved his level of pride/dignity. In the end, K. dies with a lasting image of the terrifying faces of the men looking down on him. Although he was ready to leave, it was sad to see him go.

The fact that the last two chapters of the novel were not written by Kafka really pisses me off. It’s annoying because it is another person’s interpretation of what the end should be, which is a big deal considering the end of a novel ties everything together and is supposed to bring some sort of resolution. As a reader, you can’t help but think, is this actually how Kafka would have like to end his story? No. Why didn’t they just let it be and leave the rest for interpretation? Collectively, this novel was not completely dreadful to read. It was even intriguing at points. But I kept waiting for something climatic to happen; yet it never really did. So much of the novel is K. wandering around doing things with little significance. Although when you look at the novel as a whole there is a great deal of significance. I guess that’s Kafka’s way. In the next couple of weeks, I plan to discuss the three institutions and how they are implicated in the story, along with other important themes in the story. 

Ryan Cordero Chapter 10 Post

            This final chapter of K.’s journey ends rather Kafkaesque, even though Kafka did not write the ending. When the novel first began I did not think K. would end up dying, but as the novel progressed I realized that K. would ultimaltey have to die. Like in every chapter new characters are introduced, and the two men introduced in chapter ten, who are only referred to as gentleman, are the ones to kill K., I first questioned if they were sent by the court, as a bizarre and seemingly inexplicable end as Kafka himself could envision. K.’s manner of death seemed rather fitting, given the randomness of the noel in general. I was surprised to see Miss Bürstner return, although the narrator pointed out that it might have not been Miss Bürstner after all. A particularly peculiar aspect of the ending was when K. realized, or thought, that the two men wanted K. to kill himself. Maybe they wanted K. dead but did not want his blood on their hands, but why did they want K. dead? The plot of the novel reminded me of a Shakespearean tragedy, in that K. was thrust into an apparent struggle and no matter how hard K. tried to fix his situation nothing was getting better. And like any tragedy, K. dies in the end. In the end my sympathy did lay with K., I could only imagine how frustrating of a position he was in, although, K.’s predicament seemed rather normal in this society. The man that K. saw in the window, who was he? Why did he make a gesture? And did he say anything about K.’s death? I would like to know what this man does after K.’s death, I think he would report the incident, but his story would instantly be dismissed. Also, how will the people in K.’s life react to his death? Will they care; do people often go missing in this society? The ending of the novel is extremely open-ended, which is appropriate to the novel as a whole, as Kafka left many things open to the reader’s interpretation. I think Kafka wanted the reader to judge K. and decide themselves if K. was guilty of a crime, the reader never actually knows, which I correctly predicted. All in all, the novel was interesting to read, however, at the end of every chapter, and the end of the book, I wanted more information, as if Kafka always left something out. I am also kind of annoyed that I will never know how the novel was truly supposed to end.