Faulstick11.30.00Soph. SemBarbara ResnikThe Paradoxical Nature of the Absurd Presented in Kafka’s The Trial As I read through Kafka’s The Trial I was struck with a fusion of frustration, ubiquity, and the overt absurdity of the story at hand. The most surprising aspect of this conglomeration of feelings was that beyond my overriding reaction of confusion there was and undeniable sense of understanding. As I explored this paradoxical juxtapositioning I came to realize that my relation to this seemingly nonsensical accumulation of conflicting ideas was that I, or rather we as humans are exposed to the bearucratic absurdities illustrated so diligently by Kafka in our every day life, and through no fault but our society, history, or cultures effect on our lives. Once I had established this I could then be able to synthesize the alliteration of the absurd that Kafka presents from the examples that we are faced with in our lives.Franz Kafka’s The Trial is a fictional account of a man who is indicted to a crime that in all actuality has not occurred, or if it has Josef K. (the stories main character) has was unaware that his actions, if their were any, were against the law. One morning Josef K. wakes up to find a team of “officials” in his boarding house. He is told that he cannot leave his house until the examining magistrate speaks with him. These officials then proceed to eat; his breakfast, invade another boarders’ room and is told that there is a trial being brought against him. There is no explanation of the charges at hand and no clear delineation of whom, how, or what this trial is about. After a brief account with the examining magistrate he is told to arrive at the courthouse the following Sunday. Herr. K proceeds to this courthouse of sorts the next Sunday to be confronted by a ramshackle tenement that doesn’t seem fit to lodge criminals let alone a supposed court of law. After going on a ...
