Response to "The Trial" (Pages 166-231)

With the introduction of Block, we, the readers, see the extent to which the corrupt court of “The Trial” can succeed at stripping away identity. Once a successful merchant, Block is forced to live out his years whilst enveloped in his case. Though he was not immediately punished by the court in the technical sense, the court now consumes every aspect of his life and he has become a shell of the man he once was. Kafka includes imagery that likens Block to a dog, including him “listening with a bowed head, as if he were breaking some rule by doing so” and by the lawyer asking Leni how “he has behaved” (194). K. notes that Block was “no longer a client, he was the lawyer’s dog. . . if the lawyer had ordered him to crawl under the bed, as into a kennel, and bark, he would have done so gladly” (195). The desperation Block feels to be acquitted has resulted in his dog-like obedience to the lawyer, the only person who could possibly help him. Through this metaphor, the court’s power to strip away identity is reaffirmed; however, not just to the point of a identity-less man. The court’s corruption is so great, and the sense of entrapment to those in its clutches is so strong, that the court is able to strip away humanity.

The end of “The Trial” executes what we, the readers, ultimately knew was coming due to the vast corruption of the court: K. is not acquitted. However, rather than to be placed in jail, he is sentenced to die in a peculiar fashion. At least, it appears that he is sentenced to die, as there is no concrete court sentence delivered to K. On his thirty-first birthday, K. is taken by guards, is presented a knife, and it is implied that K. must kill himself. This scene is the first time we see K. actively fighting against the court. Throughout the entire novel, K. expresses his frustration with the court, but nonetheless complies with its ways and acknowledges the court’s power. He attends his court dates, he seeks out a lawyer, and he lets the thoughts of the trial cloud his mind to the point that he can no longer focus on work. In this scene, we see K. refuse to be taken by the guards, making his body limp so that the officers are forced to drag him. Furthermore, when the officers (symbolic of “The Law”) offer K. the knife, they are symbolically trying to make him erase his own identity. K. refuses to kill himself, and the officers have no choice but to murder him. Through the murder of K., the officers are required to acknowledge his identity, ending the seemingly endless amount of cases where “The Law” erases the identity of those in its clutches. K.’s last words are “like a dog,” finally confronting “The Law” about the extent of its corruption, and Kafka writes “it seemed as though the shame of it was to outlive him” (231). Though the officers are forced to acknowledge his identity, they only acknowledge him as if he were subhuman, concluding the novel with the fact that “The Law” strips away humanity.