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.