Existentialism is a movement in both philosophy and literature that highlights the importance of individual freedom and choices. According to the philosophy of existentialism, some events or occurrences that happen with a person are irrational or absurd having no explanation for that. They believe that there are no universal guidelines to follow as well as there is no objective form of truth. Therefore, existentialism is based on one’s choices, decisions that are unique and unchangeable. The philosophers of existentialism argue that human choice is a subjective matter, because individuals are supposed to make choices without external influence of societal standards (ethical rules, traditions, laws). Hence, those individuals making their own decisions are free and fully responsible of their own choices. However, the existentialists emphasize on the fact that those individuals are forced to choose for themselves, to have their freedom, thus, their responsibility and, as a result, be “condemned to be free”, as Jean-Paul Sartre said. I’ve decided to take a closer look at the ideas of Soren Kierkegaard, who was the first to call himself an existentialist. Therefore, the forthcoming analysis of “The Trial” by Franz Kafka will be mainly based on his philosophical views.
First I would like to pay attention to the quote of Kierkegaard regarding the place of truth in an individual’s life : “I must find a truth that is true for methe idea for which I can live or die” (Kierkegaard). Here we may claim that the philosopher has a different understanding of the highest good from the traditional one since he argues that vocation is of a crucial importance for an individual. If we implement his idea on “The Trial”, we will see that Kafka follows them in his own way. The main hero, K. have been searching for the truth for him to believe in and to explain his situation. However, with the flow of the story he finds only absence of understanding and absurdity. He is imprisoned but has the right to go on work but not to find out the truth. K. has his own idea – the idea of being innocent, however, he could not manage to protect it and, as a result, died for it accepting the view of society and putting it above his inner feelings.
Kafka exaggerates the absurdity of judicial system and bureaucracy in total: “Mind you, what we can do is make sure that the high officials we work for find out just what sort of person it is they’re going to arrest, and why he should be arrested, before they issue the warrant. There’s no mistake there.” (Kafka 8). Kafka twists the logics of the system and shows the negative side of it. Taking into account the fact that K. is working in a bank with similar organization, it is understandable that he is a part of the system and is supposed to know its processes. However, Kafka shows us another scenario: even representative of the system cannot find out the reasons explaining this or those actions. In the context of Kierkegaard’s philosophy, the main hero is fighting for the truth in a search for it. However, his existentialist strivings cannot be fulfilled accordingly and he never finds out the reason for being accused of.
It is worth mentioning that Kierkegaard pays a lot of attention to the religion. He claims that the conceptual distinction between good and evil is ultimately dependent not on social norms but on God. However, Kafka does not fully share his religious worldviews. According to Hubben, the works of Kafka reflect the loss of faith: “God has indeed died. Kafka, who is neither an atheist nor one capable of rallying himself to a strong affirmation of his Jewish faith. Kafka’s men are living in that world without God of which Nietzche predicted that it would be somehow older, strange, and suspicious, a late hour of mankind” (Hubben 144–145).
Nevertheless, Kafka implements religion as a concluding element of “The Trial”, when Josef K. meets the priest, the prison chaplain who tells him the story about law and freedom of choices. Here we can see that the representative of church is willing to help the main hero, however, following a certain schedule to gain his attention. First he is talking from balustrade, thus, being higher both physically and morally, tries to influence the main character. Then he goes down, being equal to K., tells him a story about the doorman and the law that was meant to clarify the situation. In this story, Kafka presents the existential idea of the importance of choices that an individual is free to make. According to Kierkergaard, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced”. He believes that individuals should be ready to deny the accepted rules of the society if it is needed to lead a meaningful and personally valid life. In “The Trial” we can see that K. is an individual and, first, is not following the rules of the society. However, with the flow of time, he falls under the influence of society and loses his freedom of defying the judicial norms. The pressure of the trial and the impossibility to change the system make him feel guilty for nothing.
In “The Trial” it is clearly visible that the main character fails to remain his authenticity – K. loses his identity during the process of the trial. We see the change in his behavior and even appearance: at the very beginning K. insisted on him being innocent, but a huge number of people that take part in the process, changed his mind and attitude. The main character starts behaving like an accused person even though there were no logical reasons of his guilt. Therefore, it was his choice to play the given part till the end – K. gets killed at the end of the novel, being sentenced to death without even a proper trial and still not knowing for what he has to die.
Taking into account the above-mentioned information, I would like to single out the concept of alienation in existentialism and its reflection in the novel. Kierkegaard claims the following: “People understand me so poorly that they don't even understand my complaint about them not understanding me”. In “The Trial”, Kafka supports the very same idea. He shows the social alienation is present, when the main character fails to reach mutual understanding with other people. For example, at the beginning of the novel, K. is trying to clarify the reason for the policemen to come to his home and explain what he is accused of but he receives the following reply: “Our authorities as far as I know, and I only know the lowest grades, don’t go out looking for guilt among the public; it’s the guilt that draws them out, like it says in the law, and they have to send us police officers out. That’s the law” (Kafka 8). Having heard such an absurd comment, K. replies pointing out the fact that he is not aware of such a law. In the context of these responses, another comment done by one of the policemen supports the concept of alienation: “Look at this, Willem, he admits he doesn’t know the law and at the same time insists he’s innocent.” “You’re quite right, but we can’t get him to understand a thing,” said the other” (Kafka 9). At the same time, the author provides the thoughts of K. who believes of being right in his positions: “It’s only because of their stupidity that they’re able to be so sure of themselves. I just need few words with someone of the same social standing as myself and everything will be incomparably clearer, much clearer than a long conversation with these two can make it.” (Kafka 9). Therefore, we can see complete alienation between the representatives of two social classes who can never reach the appropriate level of understanding. The police officers represent the society that seem to be illogical and absurd in its actions for the main hero. Therefore, Kafka shows that the whole system cannot be called normal. The same situation can be understood from a completely different point – K. may be truly guilty of not being a part of the society, being not the one society wants him to be. Kafka provides subjective point of view, we see and perceive every detail that happens with Josef K., but what’s important, the reader cannot embrace the situation objectively taking all the minutiae into account.
On balance, I would like to say that Kafka provided a strong existentialist background in “The Trial”. He implements a number of Kierkegaard’s philosophical ideas on the matter of choices made by an individual. Also, the concept of alienation is clearly visible in the story – it is used to emphasize the idea of absurdity in the given society.
Works Cited
Hubben, William. Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Kafka. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Print.
Kafka, Franz, and David Wyllie. The Trial. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2009. Print.
"Soren Kierkegaard." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2014. 11 December 2014. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/sorenkierk414008.html>.
McDonald, William. "Søren Kierkegaard." Stanford University. Stanford University, 3 Dec. 1996. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/>.
