Dear readers,
Hope you are doing well! I am sure you have all completed three stages of Trial's reading but I wanted to post some of my ideas about stage 2nd reading,
*I think it's a chronicle and the writer shows us reality through physical details (like court buildings or cathedrals).
*To me, the central character, K., wants to learn why he is convicted and prove his innocence. But K. Is arrested and although officers arrest him, he accuses the corrupted system. So, his block is the system. He tries to overcome the difficulties by seeking help. He wants to use his own methods and he tries to learn as many things as he can.
*In terms of who is telling the story, I can say that it is a third person limited. The story is told from K.'s perspective and we do not see the other views as much as we do for K. This strategy allows us to focus on K's problems and we can follow his struggle for freedom. We also learn a lot about authority and power.
*Story setting: The building where painter lives and the court building reflect the chaos. Painter's house is so hot and overwhelming. For the cathedral building, it can be said that the inside and the outside is dark.
*style is not complex! the way the characters talk differ. Usually women are interested in different things and they talk differently.
*images and metaphors: women point something low. Light/dark: at the last page seeing a flickering light makes K. Think that it can be a sign of help.
*Beginning: immediately while the ending is a resolution.
Hope I did not make it too long!
Warm regards,
Esin
Esin! Thanks for sharing your ideas. It was a very interesting, though bleak, book--wasn't it? I'll just share a few things from our discussion that respond to your comments.
ReplyDeleteWe agreed that it was a chronicle, as well...but we talked a lot about K's shift in reality from normal to a strange dream-like reality. This change came on so gradually that K doesn't seem to notice how strange things have become...like doors behind beds, offices in attics, people getting beaten in a closet two nights in a row. This seems to illustrate that when government/religion/law systems change gradually we can accept new laws, bad practices, unjust systems, while if it happened at once, the people would rebel...something like that.
We all had something a little different for what K wants. I decided that ultimately K wants his freedom...this is a desire that all people can relate to. Even for an average person, like myself, complete freedom doesn't exists. We are bound by our settings, circumstances, time itself. Our family expectations can bind us. K's lack of freedom, seemed to me, self-imposed, because, although he was arrested, he was not held in prison or required to appear before court, or pay any penalty. Most of his anxiety was caused by his own musings. I believe this is true of humans. We impose guilt/oppression/depression upon ourselves...often we blame it on our circumstances...but actually, we have an extend of freedom and happiness at our fingertips if we will accept it.
We talked about setting as human constructed...not any nature or natural surroundings...even the place where he is executed in man-made.
My favorite chapter was the chapter in the cathedral...I believed this to be the climax of the book because it is where the light fades. K loses his last bit of hope when the priest leaves him standing in the dark after telling him the story of the Doorkeeper. I thought this chapter was significant because it gives us a clue about Kafka's view of God and religion. First, that it is man-made. Second, it is oppressive. Third, though it places requirements upon us, it doesn't make clear what those requirements are. Religion holds us responsible and guilty, but people are unsure of what. Ultimately religion is something that can be thrown off...it is useless....but people are too afraid to do this...they are under the "spell" of religion.
I have to go for now...
Any thoughts in response? Thanks again for sharing!
Thanks for these invaluable comments, Lynette. I like especially the man-made emphasis. I did not look at from that perspective, I just focused on the system. But maybe our perceptions are equally important.
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