Ryan Final term paper

       Most, if not all, of Kafka’s literary works depict the interaction between society and the individual, how they serve each other, and how they take advantage of one another. The Trial is no exception; the novel deals with Josef K. and his conflict with the society of the novel. Over the course of the book, the reader learns about both Josef K. and the society itself. One of the main vehicles of the depiction of K. and society is the women of the novel. K. meets several women through the book that affect him and his situation. Due to the novel’s nature, the women in the novel are all supporting characters and rarely appear for more than a few chapters at a time. The women in the book have several functions, some of them give K. advice about his trial, some are K.’s sexual partners, and others K. dismisses altogether. More than just being involved with K., Kafka also illustrates the status of women in society, which is almost exclusively low. Furthermore, women can be seen as an extension of the court system itself, as they are often associated with judges and courtrooms, such as Leni and the washerwoman. Although the women of The Trial, by Franz Kafka, are primarily secondary characters, as a whole they reveal a great deal of both Josef K. himself, the society of the time, and further critique the court systems.

            As K. takes steps to move his trial forward, he usually meets a new woman in every chapter; the interactions between K. and the several women reveal K.’s superiority complex and overbearing presence. K. develops interesting relationships with the women in the novel, he is involved with most of the women both casually and romantically. Beginning with Ms. Bürstner in the first few chapters, K. is involved romantically with Ms. Bürstner, and is preoccupied with Ms. Bürstner’s thoughts about K. He seeks to apologize to Ms. Bürstner for the actions of the police officers who took over her room, K.’s mission seemed rather odd since he was apologizing for the actions of other people. The only other woman K. is involved with for more than a few chapters is Leni, whom is also associated with Huld, K.’s lawyer. K. clearly wants a romantic relationship with Leni as she distracts him immensely form his trial. K.’s actions regarding the women of the novel reveal a considerable amount about the character that is K. For example, the women show K.’s possessive nature. When K. first meets the washerwoman, he quickly develops an attraction to her, after visiting her apartment and learns that she is basically the court official’s sex slave, K. becomes rather enraged, not because he thinks she is being taken advantage of, but because K. want the washerwoman to himself. The women also show K.’s general uninterest and nonchalant attitude about his trial, most clearly noticed with Leni. Rather than discuss his situation and options about his trial with Huld, K. walks around following Leni attempting to spark a relationship. Huld notices K.’s disinterest and questions why K. is not in the room discussing the trial. K. then becomes rather defensive and begins the train of thoughts to fire Huld. K.’s actions with Leni show that he is not taking the trial seriously and thinks everything will work itself out, revealing and external locus of control. Furthermore, K. is overly concerned with appearances and people’s perception of K., his action s with women show this. For example, K. visits the court offices and is approached by a man and a woman, despite becoming claustrophobic and having a minor panic attack, K. continues to declare that he does not need help because he is in the presence of a woman. The several minor roles gives the women of trial, may seem insignificant, but the encounters between K. and the women reveal a great deal about K.’s nature.

            More than just revealing K.’s characteristics, the women of The Trial also depict the status of women in this society and the role they play, more specifically a low status in society as well as a degrading role. Only two women that K. meets in the novel have somewhat respected occupations in society: Ms. Grubach, the landlord, and one of the officials K. meets in the court offices. Other than those two, none of the women have respected occupations or considerable influence in their situation. Moreover, Kafka depicts the low esteem that women are held in since they are easily taken advantage of in the novel. For example, the washerwoman’s home doubles as a court office and it is because it doubles as a court office that she can keep her apartment, furthermore, the washerwoman is basically a sex slave to the court officials as they can stop by whenever and take her. That particular situation the washerwoman is in upsets K., because he thinks she belongs to him, which not only shows K.’s character but shows how women were considered property to a certain extent. Moreover, K. is romantically involved with most of the women he knows or meets, who shows that the men of the novel only interact with women if something sexual is soon to follow. For example, one of the reason K. returns to Huld’s office is in hopes to form a connection with Leni, whom he finds desirable. Despite, their low status and degrading functions, the women of the novel do have a certain sphere of influence both in society and over K. himself. K. is preoccupied enough by the women in the novel to seemingly forget about his trial at some points. For example, after he is first arrested, K. drops his predicament and sets out to meet with Ms. Bürstner and apologize, implying that he does not want to be held in low esteem by her, demonstrating the influence she has over him. Kafka also implies that the women in the novel are aware of the status of their gender and are opportunistic. For example, when Leni and K. first meet each other, Leni takes K. to a private room and throws herself onto K.; Leni is aware that K. is a well-respected man with an admirable profession. Leni then asks if K. is single, to which K. shows a picture of woman, yet Leni does not flinch at this information and is keen to have K. to herself. Kafka is depicting the women of the trial as having low status in society, yet being both ambitious and aggressive.

            The entire novel is a critique of judicial systems in general and Kafka goes so far as to critique the court system of this society by having the court systems represented by women who have an explicitly low status in society. As the novel and K.’s trial advances, K. meets different women who hold various positions; most of the women he meets are connected to the judicial system in some way. For example, the washerwoman’s home is used as a court office and the officials and Leni works with Huld the lawyer who is in contact with the courts. Thus, the women of the novel can be seen as an extension of the court system itself and since women hold a low place in society, Kafka is critiquing the court system by associating the system with the women of the society. Furthermore, whenever K. meets a new woman, something unfortunate is bound to follow, the most clear exam[le is at the end of the novel. As the two men take K. away from the city, the last image K. sees is a woman, who K. is convinced is Ms. Bürstner, (Kafka 156) K. is then executed shortly after, thus associating women with death. The Trial as a whole is a clear critique of judicial systems around the world, and Kafka uses every opportunity to degrade the institution, even going so far as to critique the court system through association with women.

            The women of the novel have an explicitly low status in society and the outlook for social mobility is not positive; however, this does not reflect Kafka’s perception of women. Kafka does not believe that women should be kept at the bottom of society. Kafka recognizes the current predicament that women suffer and his novel reflects society itself. Maybe Kafka exaggerated the status of the women in the novel so readers would realize just how poorly women are treated in society. Kafka’s novel represents the gender roles of a society that needs to be changed immediately, rather than a reflection of Kafka’s view of ideal gender roles.

            Kafka uses the women of The Trial as a vehicle to reveal more about the main foundations of the novel, K., the court system, and the society in general. Despite centering around K., a man, the women in the novel offer great insight into the society that Kafka creates. The women serve as an excellent foil towards K. himself and the court system. Although it is easy to disregard the women, because they hold such low status, a closer look revels just how important they are to the novel. Just how The Trial serves as a assertion and critique of the court system, the novel also serves as a dictator of social change, in terms of gender roles.

           

Works Cited

Kafka, Franz. The Trial. New York: Schocken Books Inc., 1998. Print.