European and Western disillusionment with life was at a peak after World War I. The twentieth century was supposed to be humanity’s greatest; instead, it was full of greater ways (think, nerve gas, machine guns, and trench warfare) for humans to destroy themselves. In this context, Kafka wrote this novel, published only after his death. In this story of an everyman, the dilemma of Josef K. (or just K.) raises the question of what we should do in face of life’s seeming meaninglessness.
By forces beyond his control and beyond even his cognition, K. is thrust into a trial. He maintains his innocence of the charges – though those charges seem vague and unspoken – but lacks an adequate defense team of lawyers. He falls in and out of love with several women; even love is fleeting and provides little hope. He is judged by a legal system that he cannot meaningfully interact with.
He has discussions with three mainstays of Western life – the law, the arts, and the church. All of them do not provide adequate explanations for how he ought to live life. The arts, symbolized by a painter, provided the most compelling narrative (one of clairvoyance, or “clear seeing”), but by hiding the paintings, K. even rejects that this gloomy reality should be celebrated.
In a manner reminiscent of original sin, he lives under the cloud of deadly forces that he cannot control. This sentence of an unfair death is one that everyone is born into and cannot escape. Despite protests of innocence, no one is permanently acquitted of their fate. Even the priest’s explanation seems confusing at best. The ending fittingly resolves this tension.
I could not help but feel empathy for Kafka in this novel. I also could not help but picture scores of Europeans killing each other in trenches. An entire generation of young men from all over the continent are suddenly gone. And for what? The status quo ante bellum? This disillusionment was shared all over the arts community and by the populous during this era. A “Lost” Generation, they were nicknamed.
This novel should not be read by those looking for hope because it contains little. Instead, it presents the realities of life squarely. Hope must be brought in by the reader through some external means or else despair will reign triumphant, much as it did after World War I. Nonetheless, the existential story sheds light on the seeming meaninglessness that life offers. Fortunately, the remainder of the twentieth century resulted in human progress. Though still not perfect (as Kafka so vividly reminds us), the human story is not over.
The Trial
By Franz Kafka
From Franz Kafka: The Best Works
Copyright (c) 2020
Pandora’s Box
eBook
Genre: Fiction
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