Term Paper

Kafka uses the story of Joseph K. in The Trial to criticize the system that every human being is a part of. Joseph K. is a common man who works at a bank who finds himself as the defendant in a trial where he is unaware of his so called crimes. Through K.’s experience with the government and its judiciary system, Kafka reveals his thoughts about the world that people created for themselves. Kafka argues that although the government was created to abolish the flaws of the individual, it contains the same flaws that it was supposed to erase.

In the opening scenes of The Trial, Kafka demonstrates the attitude and initial reactions Joseph K. has towards his situation. K. wakes up and he is told that he is being arrested. He cannot be told what he is being arrested for, but he is nonetheless arrested. K.’s initial thoughts are that the situation must be a practical joke by his colleagues or possibly a mistake. He is so untroubled by the idea that the only conclusion the reader can draw from his emotions is that he must be innocent. Kafka is demonstrating one of society’s biggest fears; being charged for something that you did not do. In every country, the judiciary system is not just imperfect, but there is also corruption from within the system. Justice does not always prevail and it could happen to any individual. The judicial system was created so that every person could have a fair trial and so that the innocent could live peacefully and happily and the guilty would be forced to live in oppression in prison. The evil of the individual is what the government tries to prevent. The flaws of the government are a result of corrupted individuals. Because the government’s imperfections stem from the individual, its flaws mirror those of an individual. The government tries to suppress the evil in society but inevitably has some evil member of its own. The individual does exactly the same, trying to suppress evil feelings and emotions.

Kafka forces the readers to begin to create their own idea of what is to come next because the beginning of the novel is so unclear. The reader does not know what K. is being tried for. They do not know much of his character. The imagination that Kafka forces the reader to have reveals the reader’s perspective and attitude towards life. Some people fear for K. while others find him insane for the dismissal of his own arrest. The reader becomes a witness in K.’s trial.

Later in the story, K. goes to an inquiry about his trial after he is called and told about the event. When K. arrives to the government room, there is a crowd awaiting him. The crowd cheers, which gives Joseph a sense of confidence and gives him the idea of being able to control the crowd. K. talks about his arrest and he criticizes the government for their actions towards him. After a commotion in the room, K. tries to move closer to the disturbance. “Had he misjudged the people? Had he overestimated the power of his speech? Had they been pretending all the time he was speaking…?” (Kafka, 51). Kafka saw that the crowd was more interested the new commotion than in his speech about the government. Kafka then finds out that the people in the crowd were not spectators, but government workers. The government had placed Kafka in that situation to make him feel powerful, although he was being controlled completely. The state is trying to make it seem as if K. is being tried fairly. They’re trying to convince K. himself that he is undergoing an honest trial. Society tries to make the individual feel powerful, but in reality society suppresses the individual. Mankind is attracted to society based on false motives. They believe that they will be protected and free within a society, but even those two ideas contradict one another. Joseph K. is a victim of this system. He is being controlled at the whim of the government.

After K.’s annoyance with the crowd, he decides to leave and as he walks out the door, the magistrate tells him that he is losing the right of being interrogated for his case. K. remains angered and walks out of the room. The government has played K. like a puppet. K. has almost given the government the right to assume anything they want of him. The government planned everything that happened on that day. K. was supposed to get excited so that he would become angry when he found out that the crowd was filled with government workers. They wanted him to ignore the obvious choice of being interrogated so that they could do whatever they want with him “justly.” Because K. is a part of the government system, he has already lost all of his control over his life. Society strips all power from the individual.

Joseph K. returns to the government room a few days later on his own behalf. When he arrives the same woman that had opened the door for him the last time greets him and tells him that there is no sitting on that day. They begin to talk and she flirts with him, but a student interrupts. While the woman is away from K. he thinks to himself that he would like to have sex with her. When individuals have sexual thoughts, they try to suppress their emotions and thoughts. These thoughts that people have are not “socially acceptable” although they are the least fabricated thoughts a person can have. Although K. thinks about having sex with the woman in his mind, he would never admit to being after her only for sex. A person’s thoughts are the individuals that make up the society, which is the mind. K., like any other person, has many thoughts at any given time. K. suppresses and ignores many of them. These thoughts that K. had parallel K.’s roll in society. K. does not want his thought to become important so that he can tell himself he is a “good” person, although his thoughts are not morally wrong. Although this thought was suppressed for a reason, other thoughts are suppressed because people are so focused on one way of thinking that they do not want to give other thoughts a chance. K. is just a thought within the government’s mind that at the moment is elsewhere, focused on other things. The judicial system parallels the way people reason and breakdown thoughts. People create arguments towards thoughts that are illogical and that do not make sense. This allows people to not dwell on that thought and continue with what they are already committed to doing. K. is being dismissed illogically and it is only K., the thought, that suffers.

In the fifth chapter, the events that take place in the story get even stranger. On his way out from work, K. heard groans as he exited through a hallway. He opened the door that the sounds were coming from and found a whip man getting punish two warders. These men are being punished because K. had supposedly complained about their behavior in a prior interrogation. K. did not actually complain about these individuals, he just criticized the way every government worker treated him. K. leaves the room and the men are whipped and as a result K. feels terrible for being the reason they are whipped. K. thinks to himself that he would have done more for the warders if there had not been clerks outside the door that he had to explain the noises to. He creates a thought that allows him to not feel bad about what he has done. In this situation, K. tries to erase the genuine thought to believe in a fabricated one.

The whipping that K. witnesses is another act of the government. The warders were being whipped on K.’s exit route from his office so that he could not avoid the site. By forcing K. to witness the warders’ punishment, they win emotional control over K. Because this event stays with K. because he feels it is his fault, he will no longer complain about government workers out of fear of having them punished. This gives the government even more flexibility with what they can do with K. He does not just feel bad about the whipping, but he is tormented by it.

K.’s final experience with the government occurs when two men come for him. K. is forced to go with the men and he is taken to a quarry where one of the men takes out a butchers knife. These men pass the knife back and forth over K. He understands that he is supposed to kill himself with the knife. K. just sits until the two men kill him. As he is dyeing, he says “‘Like a dog!’” after seeing that he was being watched from a building (Kafka, 231). K. had already been controlled mentally and emotionally by the government, but in the final chapter he is controlled physically. The government made K. feel as if he did not need to avoid death anymore. K. was removed from society without giving him any chance of protecting himself. K. was manipulated the same way thoughts are manipulated in people’s minds.

Kafka believes that institution of government is conflicted from within. This institution is supposed to protect the individual and allow them to be free, but the judicial system convicts innocent men and allows murderers to continue to live. Because there is no perfect person, there can never be a perfect society. Everything depends on each individual’s perspective and moral values. There must be judgments to control society, but who is to say that one person had better judgment than another. Anyone can be tried for anything depending on who is looking at the situation. Because of these differences within mankind, many people believe the judicial system is a failure. The flaws of the government mirror the flaws of the individual because the flaws of the government stem from that of the individual. People will always see flaws in the government, just like people always find flaws in others. Throughout The Trial, Kafka demonstrates that the conflicted government can condemn whoever they wish to be condemned.

Helplessness in "The Trial"

 Helplessness in “The Trial”

Written in 1925, “The Trial” is Franz Kafka’s commentary on corrupt court systems that exist, and will always continue to exist in society. To Kafka, society was always controlled by something greater than any one man, greater than the human being. This showed in almost all of Kafka’s works, from less known novels like “Amerika”, to better known novels such as “Metamorphosis” and “The Trial”. His characters, like those of Albert Camus, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are preoccupied, if not controlled by the institutions of the societies that they live in. These characters develop of sort of helplessness that no human being should have to endure. In “The Trial” the main character Josef K, experiences this type of a situation. One in which he has no control of his own fate, or at least he thinks so. Therefore, in “The Trial” Franz Kafka demonstrates the power that institutions have over the individual; revealing through Josef K the physical and mental helplessness that the court system can cause over man.

         Born in Prague, Bohemia Franz Kafka had a father who was very interested in social movements. This gave Kafka the ability to see the institutions at an extremely young age.  Because of this, Franz was sent to German schools instead of the Czech schools in Prague ("Franz Kafka Biography"). His childhood was an early stepping stone to his view of the world. Although Kafka was Jewish he went to the German schools, and lived in Prague, which at the end of the 19^th century had become anti-Semitic towards Jews. Since there were many riots, this was probably this start of the feeling of helplessness that is so evident in his novels and short stories.

          At the beginning of “The Trial” it becomes evident that the main character Josef K, is being tried for a crime. Yet, throughout the entire book Kafka does not reveal neither to the reader, nor to the main character the exact crime that he is being tried for. When he is first tried with the crime, Josef thinks that it must be a practical joke set by his friends and colleagues because it is his birthday. As reality sets in, K begins to realize the dire situation that has overcome him. He attempts to appeal the case, but realizes that he is fighting a hopeless fight. Both the police and court system seem to give him no options, as they have complete control of his situation, basically control of his life. This is when the first signs of paranoia start to appear.

       Paranoia seems almost always to lead to a feeling of helplessness. According to John Mirowsky, author of “Paranoia and the Structure of Powerlessness” paranoia is an alienation from others that has gone beyond a sense of disconnection to one of persecution (Mirowsky 228). This is completely true when it comes to the main character Josef K. Josef K first becomes paranoid in the scene “In the Empty Courtroom”. As a result of his arrest, K starts to feel the anxiety and stress that only contributes to the paranoia. The paranoia continues to put more stress and pressure on him, as the trial becomes nearer. This ultimately leads to a panic attack that occurs in the Law Court Offices, panic attacks that continue to happen throughout the book. His paranoia seems to subside a little as soon as he steps out of the offices, furthering his distance away from the Court system.

      Although Josef’s panic attacks stop momentarily they come back later in the book. This could be a result of the feeling of helplessness that increases as the novel goes on. John Mirowsky believes that powerlessness leads to the belief that important outcomes in one’s life are controlled by external forces and other persons, rather than by one’s own choice and effort. This interacts with the threat of victimization or exploitation to produce mistrust which can develop into paranoia (Mirowsky 228). Mirowsky’s characterization of powerlessness coincides with the novel “The Trial”. Josef begins to believe that he has no control over his own life, mostly because of the control that the Judicial System has in his society. Instead of being able to plead with the courts, Josef feels like a victim in his own town because he has no idea what he is being tried for, and no idea how to defend himself. This in turn, leads to Josef’s basic mistrust of people in his society. He even goes so far as to call out (verbal or in thought) his Uncle, his lawyer, and a priest for being a part of the institution that is the Court System.

     In the chapter “The Cathedral” Josef demonstrates his extreme mistrust and paranoia. Josef is assigned to escort an Italian to the cultural spots of the city, the cathedral. Josef starts to doubt the court system, and the people around him, thinking that they want him away from his office so that they can look through things when he is gone. This demonstrates the mistrust that Josef has of the institutions. The Italian never shows, but a caretaker escorts Josef inside the cathedral where a priest, who actually works for the court, tells Josef of his case being caught up in the lower courts. Josef seems to trust the priest completely, ignorantly believing some of his advice. Josef’s paranoia is evident in the fact that he doubts many of the events that occur to him. Almost like a puppet, Josef is helpless to the control that the government and court has over him. Even as he realizes that they have control over him, Josef is not able to do anything about it.

      The panic attacks that occur in the Law Court Offices, also occur in other scenes throughout the book. One scene is when Josef K meets with the painter in a studio who also happens to be commissioned by the court. Josef goes to see the painter because he supposedly has information about his case. The painter turns out to be a painter for the Court and he explains to Josef the three different types of acquittals that may occur with his case. The three types seem to be quite mysterious and uncertain and the acquittals may take a long time thus he may be liable for arrest at any moment. As the story unfolds Josef’s panic attacks, and his paranoia get worse and worse. After Josef converses with the painter he has another panic attack, as he begins to get paranoid and overwhelmed with stress. All that the painter described just further creates a sense of helplessness for Josef K.

    This helplessness that is evident throughout the novel had to stem from somewhere. Thomas M. Havanagh wrote in “Kafka’s “The Trial”: The Semiotics of the Absurd” that “paranoia and schizophrenia (in different proportions and various refinements) have been proposed as that which “explains” both the novels and their creator” (Havanagh 244). Therefore, at some point in his life, probably when he was writing “The Trial” Franz Kafka must have experienced some sort of paranoia resulting from either helplessness or a mild case of schizophrenia. This most probably occurred while he was writing the novel, as he must have been feeling helpless since he was fighting tuberculosis at the time ("Franz Kafka Biography"). Therefore, this helplessness must have been projected in Josef as a result of Kafka’s own feelings.

      Kafka’s true emotions also show up in the novel through the almost pointless ‘relationships’ that Josef has with Leni and Ms. Burstner. Similar to in his own life the relationships that Kafka starts with women almost never seem to last. In his real life Kafka was seen as a bachelor, never being able to commit, continually breaking off engagement after engagement (“Franz Kafka Biography”). Kafka must have felt some sort of helplessness, as he could never actually commit to a relationship, not until his deathbed when he proposed to Dora Diamant. Similar to this are Josef K’s relationships with Leni and Ms. Burstner. Ms Burstner rejects Josef, who then intern Josef rejects Leni because he thinks she flirts with other men. This seems very hypocritical as Josef himself flirts with other women. This demonstrates the mistrust that goes hand in hand with paranoia, causing that same feeling of helplessness because not only can Josef not control the trial, he cannot control his own love live. Possibly as a result of all the pressure, and because of his paranoia Josef rejects any relationship that could have been good for him.

       The helplessness that occurs in Josef K throughout the novel is most evident in the final scenes of the book.  Yet again on his birthday, two men come for Josef. Instead of attempting to flee them, to keep his freedom and free will, Josef goes with them. This is because Josef feels helplessness towards that institution, towards the court, and the system that these two men represent. He willingly goes with them, and when given the chance to escape, the chance to call to a police officer to free him, he chooses to do otherwise. Instead of calling towards the officer, he runs (with the two men) away from the officer, almost insuring his own death. Josef feels hopeless, and although he knows that the institution, the court is flawed and deceitful, he submits to them. Even though he knows the truth, he accepts the fate that he truly knows they have chosen for him.

“The Trial” by Franz Kafka demonstrates the power that institutions have over the individual; revealing through Josef K the physical and mental helplessness that the court system can cause over man. In all aspects of his life Josef K experienced this feeling of helplessness. Whether it be in his relationships with women, or in his problems with the court system and crime, he could never find trust. This mistrust that he had with almost everyone was mostly due to his paranoia, which is caused by and parallels hopelessness. In creating the character Josef K, and writing of his situation, Kafka wrote and vented on his own life, the mistrust he experienced in all aspects of his life, and the hopelessness that he must have felt after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. 

last body and conclusion

The helplessness that occurs in Josef K throughout the novel is most evident in the final scenes of the book.  Yet again on his birthday, two men come for Josef. Instead of attempting to flee them, to keep his freedom and free will, Josef goes with them. This is because Josef feels helplessness towards that institution, towards the court, and the system that these two men represent. He willingly goes with them, and when given the chance to escape, the chance to call to a police officer to free him, he chooses to do otherwise. Instead of calling towards the officer, he runs (with the two men) away from the officer, almost insuring his own death. Josef feels hopeless, and although he knows that the institution, the court is flawed and deceitful, he submits to them. Even though he knows the truth, he accepts the fate that he truly knows they have chosen for him.

“The Trial” by Franz Kafka demonstrates the power that institutions have over the individual; revealing through Josef K the physical and mental helplessness that the court system can cause over man. In all aspects of his life Josef K experienced this feeling of helplessness. Whether it be in his relationships with women, or in his problems with the court system and crime, he could never find trust. This mistrust that he had with almost everyone was mostly due to his paranoia, which is caused by and parallels hopelessness. In creating the character Josef K, and writing of his situation, Kafka wrote and vented on his own life, the mistrust he experienced in all aspects of his life, and the hopelessness that he must have felt after being diagnosed with tuberculosis.

bodies 6-8

The panic attacks that occur in the Law Court Offices, also occur in other scenes throughout the book. One scene is when Josef K meets with the painter in a studio who also happens to be commissioned by the court. Josef goes to see the painter because he supposedly has information about his case. The painter turns out to be a painter for the Court and he explains to Josef the three different types of acquittals that may occur with his case. The three types seem to be quite mysterious and uncertain and the acquittals may take a long time thus he may be liable for arrest at any moment. As the story unfolds Josef’s panic attacks, and his paranoia get worse and worse. After Josef converses with the painter he has another panic attack, as he begins to get paranoid and overwhelmed with stress. All that the painter described just further creates a sense of helplessness for Josef K.

This helplessness that is evident throughout the novel had to stem from somewhere. Thomas M. Havanagh wrote in “Kafka’s “The Trial”: The Semiotics of the Absurd” that “paranoia and schizophrenia (in different proportions and various refinements) have been proposed as that which “explains” both the novels and their creator” (Havanagh 244). Therefore, at some point in his life, probably when he was writing “The Trial” Franz Kafka must have experienced some sort of paranoia resulting from either helplessness or a mild case of schizophrenia. This most probably occurred while he was writing the novel, as he must have been feeling helpless since he was fighting tuberculosis at the time ("Franz Kafka Biography"). Therefore, this helplessness must have been projected in Josef as a result of Kafka’s own feelings.

Kafka’s true emotions also show up in the novel through the almost pointless ‘relationships’ that Josef has with Leni and Ms. Burstner. Similar to in his own life the relationships that Kafka starts with women almost never seem to last. In his real life Kafka was seen as a bachelor, never being able to commit, continually breaking off engagement after engagement (“Franz Kafka Biography”). Kafka must have felt some sort of helplessness, as he could never actually commit to a relationship, not until his deathbed when he proposed to Dora Diamant. Similar to this are Josef K’s relationships with Leni and Ms. Burstner. Ms Burstner rejects Josef, who then intern Josef rejects Leni because he thinks she flirts with other men. This seems very hypocritical as Josef himself flirts with other women. This demonstrates the mistrust that goes hand in hand with paranoia, causing that same feeling of helplessness because not only can Josef not control the trial, he cannot control his own love live. Possibly as a result of all the pressure, and because of his paranoia Josef rejects any relationship that could have been good for him.

bodies 3-5

Paranoia seems almost always to lead to a feeling of helplessness. According to John Mirowsky, author of “Paranoia and the Structure of Powerlessness” paranoia is an alienation from others that has gone beyond a sense of disconnection to one of persecution (Mirowsky 228). This is completely true when it comes to the main character Josef K. Josef K first becomes paranoid in the scene “In the Empty Courtroom”. As a result of his arrest, K starts to feel the anxiety and stress that only contributes to the paranoia. The paranoia continues to put more stress and pressure on him, as the trial becomes nearer. This ultimately leads to a panic attack that occurs in the Law Court Offices, panic attacks that continue to happen throughout the book. His paranoia seems to subside a little as soon as he steps out of the offices, furthering his distance away from the Court system.

Although Josef’s panic attacks stop momentarily they come back later in the book. This could be a result of the feeling of helplessness that increases as the novel goes on. John Mirowsky believes that powerlessness leads to the belief that important outcomes in one’s life are controlled by external forces and other persons, rather than by one’s own choice and effort. This interacts with the threat of victimization or exploitation to produce mistrust which can develop into paranoia (Mirowsky 228). Mirowsky’s characterization of powerlessness coincides with the novel “The Trial”. Josef begins to believe that he has no control over his own life, mostly because of the control that the Judicial System has in his society. Instead of being able to plead with the courts, Josef feels like a victim in his own town because he has no idea what he is being tried for, and no idea how to defend himself. This in turn, leads to Josef’s basic mistrust of people in his society. He even goes so far as to call out (verbal or in thought) his Uncle, his lawyer, and a priest for being a part of the institution that is the Court System.

In the chapter “The Cathedral” Josef demonstrates his extreme mistrust and paranoia. Josef is assigned to escort an Italian to the cultural spots of the city, the cathedral. Josef starts to doubt the court system, and the people around him, thinking that they want him away from his office so that they can look through things when he is gone. This demonstrates the mistrust that Josef has of the institutions. The Italian never shows, but a caretaker escorts Josef inside the cathedral where a priest, who actually works for the court, tells Josef of his case being caught up in the lower courts. Josef seems to trust the priest completely, ignorantly believing some of his advice. Josef’s paranoia is evident in the fact that he doubts many of the events that occur to him. Almost like a puppet, Josef is helpless to the control that the government and court has over him. Even as he realizes that they have control over him, Josef is not able to do anything about it.

My Term Paper first few paragraphs

Helplessness in “The Trial”

Written in 1925, “The Trial” is Franz Kafka’s commentary on corrupt court systems that exist, and will always continue to exist in society. To Kafka, society was always controlled by something greater than any one man, greater than the human being. This showed in almost all of Kafka’s works, from less known novels like “Amerika”, to better known novels such as “Metamorphosis” and “The Trial”. His characters, like those of Albert Camus, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are preoccupied, if not controlled by the institutions of the societies that they live in. These characters develop of sort of helplessness that no human being should have to endure. In “The Trial” the main character Josef K, experiences this type of a situation. One in which he has no control of his own fate, or at least he thinks so. Therefore, in “The Trial” Franz Kafka demonstrates the power that institutions have over the individual; revealing through Josef K the physical and mental helplessness that the court system can cause over man.

Born in Prague, Bohemia Franz Kafka had a father who was very interested in social movements. This gave Kafka the ability to see the institutions at an extremely young age.  Because of this, Franz was sent to German schools instead of the Czech schools in Prague ("Franz Kafka Biography"). His childhood was an early stepping stone to his view of the world. Although Kafka was Jewish he went to the German schools, and lived in Prague, which at the end of the 19^th century had become anti-Semitic towards Jews. Since there were many riots, this was probably this start of the feeling of helplessness that is so evident in his novels and short stories.

At the beginning of “The Trial” it becomes evident that the main character Josef K, is being tried for a crime. Yet, throughout the entire book Kafka does not reveal neither to the reader, nor to the main character the exact crime that he is being tried for. When he is first tried with the crime, Josef thinks that it must be a practical joke set by his friends and colleagues because it is his birthday. As reality sets in, K begins to realize the dire situation that has overcome him. He attempts to appeal the case, but realizes that he is fighting a hopeless fight. Both the police and court system seem to give him no options, as they have complete control of his situation, basically control of his life. This is when the first signs of paranoia start to appear.

Beginning of my Term Paper

Kafka uses the story of Joseph K. in The Trial to criticize the system that every human being is a part of. Joseph K. is a common man who works at a bank who finds himself as the defendant in a trial where he is unaware of his so called crimes. Through K.’s experience with the government and its judiciary system, Kafka reveals his thoughts about the world that people created for themselves. Kafka argues that although the government was created to abolish the flaws of the individual, it contains the same flaws that it was supposed to erase.

In the opening scenes of The Trial, Kafka demonstrates the attitude and initial reactions Joseph K. has towards his situation. K. wakes up and he is told that he is being arrested. He cannot be told what he is being arrested for, but he is nonetheless arrested. K.’s initial thoughts are that the situation must be a practical joke by his colleagues or possibly a mistake. He is so untroubled by the idea that the only conclusion the reader can draw from his emotions is that he must be innocent. Kafka is demonstrating one of society’s biggest fears, being charged for something that you did not do. In every country, the judiciary system is not just imperfect, but there is also corruption from within the system. Justice does not always prevail and it could happen to any individual. The judicial system was created so that every person could have a fair trial and so that the innocent could live peacefully and happily and the guilty would be forced to live in oppression in prison. The evil of the individual is what the government tries to prevent. The flaws of the government mirror the flaws of the individual. The government tries to suppress the evil in society but inevitably has some evil member of its own. The individual does exactly the same, trying to suppress evil feelings and emotions.

Kafka forces the readers to begin to create their own idea of what is to come next because the beginning of the novel is so unclear. The reader does not know what K. is being tried for. They do not know much of his character. The imagination that Kafka forces the reader to have reveals the reader’s perspective and attitude towards life. Some people fear for K. while others find him insane for the dismissal of his own arrest.