The Court as Religious Allegory
Kafka's The Trial has often been read as a religious allegory, even though the novel itself seems to eschew specific religious references. This is perhaps most notable in Chapter 9, which should be...
The World as Stage
Theatrical metaphors permeate Kafka's The Trial, giving the events in the novel an unreal, even farcical quality. From the get-go, the main character wonders if his arrest is a joke and whether the...
Air, or, would somebody please open a window?
One of the defining features of the court is its stuffy, muggy, suffocating air. While court officials seem to do just fine in the close atmosphere of the court offices, the air seems to have a deb...
Children
The court seems to attract children, from the child who guides K. to the examining magistrate's platform to the precocious girls who lead K. up to Titorelli's studio. Perhaps one of the most arrest...
Lights
Turn off all the lights in your room, and turn on a flashlight. Chances are, you can make out everything within the narrow circle of light created by the flashlight, but everything outside that nar...