The Trial

"-I saw how things work here, now I want to go. -You haven't seen everything yet. -I don't want to see everything, I want to go, how do I get to the exit? -You have lost your way already?"

“Be with the world in your struggle with the world”.In this aphorism of Kafka, there is no doubt that the characters that Kafka created in his works draw attention with his missing, powerless and desperate aspects in such a struggle. It is not surprising to see such characters in Kafka's works, who say that he has nothing else but himself. Both in family relations and in the sense of being individuals, Kafka was weak and helpless and was one of the losers.

In this case, I will talk about the story of Josef K., who is born from such a lack and weakness. Kafka discussed the isolation of the modern individual in society through a defendant. But the story begins with a defendant story which the character does not know what his crime is, nobody actually knows,. Josef K. learns that he was arrested by police officers who came to his house one day, but when he asked why he was arrested, the only answer he receivex would be just “I don't know”. Perhaps this is the reflection of the routine life of K. in the unknown in a single word. Everyone else except K. believes he is guilty, but no one knows the inner face of the incident.

Although Josef K. is under arrest, it is said that he can continue his daily life as he wishes, but for K., everything will never be the same; Because - from an excerpt from the book- “For someone under presumption, moving is better than being stationary because the person who is stationary can be put on one of the scales without even being aware and weighed with their own weight. Therefore, Josef K. finds himself in all kinds of struggles, he tries to find the court where he is not said, and finds himself in the courtroom, and he is faced with the supreme pressure of authority. Those who want to make him feel their authority at the core of them. In this episode, it is thought that Adolf Hitler (Hynkel), who was portrayed in the movie which is named The Great Dictator , was invited to join Napoloni (Mussolini) and to raise his seat by using psychological tactics to accept his authority. In fact, if we set out from this recollection in Kafka's novels - both in the Litigation and in other novels, there were areas of philosophical and psychological meaning outside the characters' own subjective here. Supporting the aphorism of “One of the cages came out looking for a bird”, we see the efforts of the societies to tell us that in order to be a cage that will ensue the individual, they are trapped in the illusion of freedom both with their bureaucracy and their norms.

So actually, Kafka tries to explain that Josef K.'s main cause is about life, its existence to readers. K was actually in custody since the moment he opened his eyes to the world, into a society, but he was not aware of it until he was informed by the police officers. K. became aware of the case of the existence of life in an alienation. The self-alienation of K. has been positively revealed in the book and became concrete in the book. And as an individual, or as a bird, we actually have no difference from Josef K.. We are hopefully waiting for the days when our wings will flutter with the cages we have weakness and desperation. At the end of the book, we are waiting for days full of miracles like a hand extended through the lights during the execution of Josef K., with hope because; There's a lot of empty things going on about justice! With nothing in the middle, the court creates a crime.

Aysenur Civelek