Week 4 Study Questions

(See previous post for information about the grading criteria and the meaning of the letter grades.)

These questions are all for next Thursday, since we'll be watching a film on Tuesday.

In the reading by Franz Kafka, a priest is telling a character named Joseph K. a parable, a moral or educational story. It is a tragic story about a man trying (and failing) to gain entrance into "the Law" and about the doorkeeper who guards the entrance.

1. The priest and "K." debate a number of different interpretations of this story. K. originally suggests that the doorkeeper is guilty of deceiving the poor man who is trying to gain entrance to the Law. But the priest suggests an alternative interpretation, in which the doorkeeper is a decent citizen doing his duty, and maybe even a victim of deception himself. What support does he give for this view? Do you agree?

2. In The Trial, it appears that the authorities eventually find K. guilty. What is he guilty of? What could he have done differently to avoid the film's unhappy end?

3. The Trial can be interpreted as a story about human justice and the human institution of law. Viewed in that way, does it have anything unique or important to say?

4. The Trial can also be interpreted as a symbolic story. On this view, we don't have to interpret K.'s trial literally. For example, his trial might be a symbol for the human condition, or for the relationship between the human and the divine, or between the individual and society. Can you think of ways of interpreting the story symbolically rather than literally? Interpreted in this way, what are the main ideas that The Trial expresses about human existence?