ATIMANGO FAITH

n the novel , the trial by Franz kafka The voice is the author’s voice. This falls under folkalization where the author uses third person limited omniscient narrator. limited omniscient narrator describes the internal thoughts, feelings and motivations of one character, usually the main character. In most cases he reveals the views of the protagonist Josef K and does not reveal the thought of other characters though to some extent he does reveal the views of other characters. Therefore the effectiveness of this voice in articulation of themes and characters can be discussed as below. The theme of law versus Justice In this novel, the law states that everyone is an outlaw therefore, there is no way you can be innocent because according to the law, we are all guilty , you cannot escape this kind of law whether you try to break it. Josef .K ,struggles against the law. He stands accused of an unknown crime, and his trial is supposedly required for justice to be served. However Josef seems to receive little justice. By most standards, K is denied anything resembling justice /a fair trial, he is not informed on how he has broken the law. He is forbidden from learning essential details of his case and he is eventually executed without or what he could have been done to oppose it more than anything, the actions carried out against Josef deem to optimize injustice. Ironically, the very law designed to ensure justice. Paradoxically, Josef K is repeatedly given an assurance that whatever treatment he receives from the system, will be the just treatment. Another theme is alienation and control. There is no camaraderie or collaboration in the trial. Every individual acts as an isolated agent, and people are focused on controlling themselves and otehrs in order to fulfill personal desire. Josef k’s interpersonal interactions are governed by hierarchy and ambition. He obsessively tabulates his status relative to others and calculates how he cause this positioning to his greatest benefit. Josef worries about how he may be manipulated and constantly devises ways to manipulate others to his advantages. Every decision he makes at work is a stratagem in his power-jockeying rivalry with the bank’s deputy director. One of Josef’s few uncalculated actions is his spontaneous kissing of Fraulein Burstner and even this moment of passion only ends in alienation. Josef never speaks to Fraulein again, and when he sees her at the novels end /close, he care so little or has been so ground-down – that he does not bother to stop walking. Inspite of all his efforts, Josef comes nowhere close to controlling his life. He is at the mercy else who might gain some sort of leverage over him. The ladder of alienation and control even extends higher even the individuals who hold power over Josef, like his judge are in the end nothing more than a powerless cogs in a larger machine. This fact is reinforced by the chaplain’s parable: while the first door keeper may have authority over the man who seeks to access the law, the doorkeeper himself is subject to other doorkeepers whose power lies beyond his understanding each of these doorkeepers is inturn subordinate to the next. Therefore in the Trial, no single person is autonomous or sovereign. Through the female characters, the theme of sex and seduction is realized. Leni is the lady who try to seduce Josef K or are regarded by him as potential sexual conquests like Fraulein Burstner. However , this lustfulness is hollow and insincere. Just like nearly every other interaction in the book, romantic encounters are depicted as individuals attempts to sue otehrs to achieve their goals rather than as moments of tenderness, vulnerability, and connection. Josef is observed with controlling his paramours, and the women he associates with seem drawn to him because of his power and status. The closest thing to a loving relationship in Josef’s pre-trial life is weekly engagement with his call girl, Elsa , which is undoubtedly more transactional then affectionate . For the women of the trial, physical intimacy is something of a bargaining chip. The courts’ custodian forexample, obliges the sexual demands of the law student and the judge because she understands that they hold power over her livelihood. The impersonal nature of sex in the novel further affirms that the trial’s universe is devoid of any sort of meaningful interpersonal connection. There is also the theme of the unknowable and interpretation (absurdity). The fundamental absurdity of Jesef k’s world is a consequence of its inscrutability , there is no decisive way to make sense of Josef’s situation. Because there is no unequivocal truth in the trial’s universe, every fact can be recast in conflicting ways. Moreover, the facts themselves are often dubious on altogether inaccessible. This theme is evident from the very first words of the book: someone must have been telling lies about Josef K.