crickety 's review for:

The Trial by Franz Kafka

3.75

challenging reflective

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 Absurd, humorous, but also noticeably unpolished. There’s a lot to reflect on in this relatively slim novel and I understand why it is so revered. Like Joseph K, I too grappled with the court system and trying to make sense of the informational tangle. It’s quite uncomfortable that Joseph is shoved into this parallel world where everybody else are in the know, and Joseph is isolated by his ignorance. What begins as a normal life is slowly infected with strangeness that seem to grow and appear in more and more areas of life. 

 

Joseph is not likable as he’s quite smug and elitist. However, he did try his best against an unbeatable opponent. The more we learn, there’s a realization that his fate has already been sealed, the best option is to delay. There are no rational choices that can be taken to resolve this. The only option is to dedicate your life and thoughts to extending this unceasing process. But those who choose this path seem to suffer a fate worse than conviction, one of groveling and centering the court above all else. I’m not sure that is preferable.
 
The execution of Joseph shocked me. The court system was so impenetrable that I did not contemplate what conviction meant. These last paragraphs completely re-contextualized the whole story for me. Due to the silliness of the court, of the complete irrationality in most things that occurred, I viewed the court as strange but no necessary as having teeth. If the ending is a brutal death, the humor becomes even darker, and the logic of the system utter cruelty. There’s no place to turn to, nothing to do but accept the absurd situation you’re trapped in.
 
“Never attract attention to yourself! Stay calm, however much it goes against your character! Try to gain some insight into the size of the court organism and how, to some extent, it remains in a state of suspension, and that even if you alter something in one place you'll draw the ground out from under your feet and might fall, whereas if an enormous organism like the court is disrupted in any one place it finds it easy to provide a substitute for itself somewhere else.”