Revolutionary Sensibility "Block's animal characteristics"

He was no longer a client, he was the lawyers dog. If the lawyer had ordered him to crawl under the bed, as into a kennel, and bark, he would have done so gladly. (pg. 195 the Trail by Kafka Franz)

I think that he acts this way for many different reasons other than he does not want to upset his lawyer. I think he acts like a dog because he wants to please his lawyer so that he will keep on using his contacts to help Block out. Also Block is acting like this because he knows that it is illegal to have more than just one lawyer which Block has more than just one and he does not want to get into more when his trail is moving on slowly which if he did get into trouble again it could speed up his trail and instead of having a favorable outcome it could change for the worse. The irony of Block acting like a dog is that his lawyer is no stupid man and is already aware that he has more than just one lawyer.

"'How can I go to the bank if I'm under arrest?'...'But in that case, even the notification of arrest scarcely seems necessary,' said K.,"(17).

As K. speaks to the inspector, he is unclear as to why he is allowed to go about his normal, everyday business affairs, when he is supposed to be "under arrest"; the very notification of arrest seems pointless if he K. is to face no consequences. The reader can relate to K. through this passage - due in part to Kafka's obscure writing fassion - because both the reader and K. face internal uncertainties. For example, society has created an image/understanding of the word "arrest" that is questioned in this passage. Both K. and the reader are forced to question the definition of arrest, seeing as how there are no evident consequences, and no answer as to why K. has been arrested. This scene compels the reader to question the very state of their own existence/position in society, and urges one to analyze how much control each of us really possess over our own lives. Are we all under a similar type of "arrest" in our positions in society?

Readings of Kafka's Trial

Please post your four or five (approximate) sentence interpretation of a passage, or a motif, or feature, of Kafka's The Trial in the 'comments' section below.

Feel free to respond to other posts which interest you.

Art Strum

"You once said that death was not significant, but only a change in condition."

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

They are in it from childhood with their legs and necks in bonds so that they are fixed, seeing only in front of them, unable because of the bond to turn their heads all the way around.(Plato’s Allegory of the Cave)

You said once that death was not significant, merely a change in condition.

The Blue Flower

David Tangren

Immanuel Kant-What is Enlightenment

The Enlightenment by Kaunt

Casting "light" or "night"?

In Act 2 of Tristan and Isolde, Tristan explains his previous behavior by contending that 'deceitful day' had blinded him, by appealing to his ambition, desire for glory, etc. Love for Isolde, on the other hand, has made him "night-sighted" -- he sees behind conventional appearances of 'day' and 'appearance/shine' to the truth of 'night.' This truth seems to involve an experience in which various separations and boundaries fall away: between people, between the human being and the world, etc. I asked you to discuss the relative virtues and faults of being 'light- or 'night-sighted', and to write down your thoughts in a sentence or two. Please post your thoughts below in the comments section to this post below.

Looking forward to reading what you have to say...

Art Strum

Chris Porter

After the guardians have first made their domestic cattle dumb and have made sure that these placid creatures will not dare take a single step without the harness of the cart to which they are tethered, the guardians then show them the danger which threatens if they try to go alone. Actually, however, this danger is not so great, for by falling a few times they would finally learn to walk alone. But an example of this failure makes them timid and ordinarily frightens them away from all further trials. -Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”