Natalie

This weeks reading began with K.’s conversation with the church. It seems that the priest is involved with the court and knows about K.’s trial. This relates back to our previous class discussion of the connection between the three pillars of society and how they are connected. Here it can clearly be seen that the church and the government and intertwined. The priest tells K. that is case is not going very well, it seems that Leni’s previous phone call was true. I think that in a way K. saw this coming. Then the priest tells K. a story about a man who tries to enter The Law, but is not allowed to enter and then dies trying to enter. They go off to talk about the possible meaning behind this story. I think it relates to K.’s own case, and his attempt at proving his innocence. I think that the guard at the door represents the court officials and that K. is the man trying to enter. Similarly K. died trying to prove his innocence, which I feel is symbolically what is behind the door. The priest talks to K. about the truth, and that it is more important to accept it’s importance then to accept the actual meaning. I think this has a lot to do with the court system and the way the courts work. “The truth” has been discussed various times throughout the novel, and it seems (from what various characters have told K.) that court officials do not care that much about the truth but more about how it is presented and viewed. I think this is why they always stress knowing the right people and getting the right favors. Despite K. constantly saying that he was innocent, I think it would have been more beneficial to him to have talked and moved within the right “circles”. The ending of the novel seemed sort of abrupt and left me asking many questions. What I did like about the ending, was that it left the novel completely finished, because K. dies then there are no questions that could be left wondering about his future. Had he continued living, then I would wonder whether he was once again brought on trial, or if his trial ever ended. I felt that he would have to die, because (as it had been previously stated) few people were ever announced innocent and had their charges completely dropped. Therefore the only way for it to end would be with K.’s death.