The Trial: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

Josef’s unwillingness to display weakness simply renders him weaker still. This illustrates that Josef’s inflated sense of self and misguided attempts to be independent actually make him less able to act on his own. He is as controlled by his job as he is by the trial.

Josef’s every attempt to control and comprehend his surroundings is undermined. His extra professional responsibilities prevent him from getting work done even when he comes in early for that specific purpose. On top of this frustration, he is unable even to understand the man whom he needs to show around the cathedral.

In a rare instance of two individuals interpreting an event in the same way, Leni recognizes that Josef’s professional obligations seem designed to thwart him and keep him from controlling his work.

The Italian’s unexplained absence highlights Josef’s lack of control over his situation. The mystifying gestures of the church employee hint at still another form of communication that Josef cannot apprehend or properly interpret.

Josef now seems to be targeted not only by human institutions, but by divine ones as well. This appropriately comes after the judicial system has consistently revealed itself to be more and more powerful and extensive, and less and less understandable. The system seems less like a bureaucracy than a religious faith. Another way to look at it would be to say that the judicial system on display in the story seems to be constantly revealed as bigger than Josef thought—perhaps so big that it should not even be described as a judicial system by merely as “the system,” encompassing everything.

The chaplain’s collusion with Josef’s employers suggests a conspiracy against Josef that encompasses every aspect of his life. Furthermore, the priest’s remark to Josef implies that Josef lacks the ability to perceive essential details for understanding his predicament. This is the archetypal nightmare of the accused: to fail to take helpful action out of ignorance.

While this interaction superficially seems like one of the most sympathetic Josef has experienced, the chaplain is quick to remind him that he can rely on no one. Thus, in a disturbing reversal, Josef’s arrogant self-reliance has changed from a luxury into a necessity. It’s not that he should rely on himself because to do so is a show of strength; he must rely on himself because he is fundamentally alone.

This parable is an allegorical representation of Josef’s futile quest to understand the law. Like Josef’s ordeal, the man’s experience before the doorkeeper seems devoid of reason and compassion. Furthermore, the doorkeeper himself is simply following the mandates he receives from a larger, more powerful system—one whose extent and power the doorkeeper himself cannot grasp. Crucially, the doorkeeper’s willingness to accept the man’s bribes illustrates the way in which the justice system fuels itself by convincing citizens that there may be some way for them to influence their case. This is the impulse that prompts Josef to devote himself so fully, and so futilely, to his trial. Finally, the deafness the waiting man develops symbolizes the absurdity of his confrontation with the Law. Again this parable of the Law also can be read metaphorically as a parable of a larger Law than of innocence or guilt: it could be the Law of life, governing the facts of life and death, the unknowable “meaning” of life, etc. And the tailoring of the door to the man seems to imply the way that each person is alone in this journey, each gets a door just for him or herself, and it is a door they never get to go through. Everyone’s experience is theirs alone, and no one ever gets understanding.

Josef’s inability to pin down the parable’s significance marks a crucial point in the novel. He has begun to realize that his trial may not in fact be undergirded by any truth or meaning whatsoever. He will get a “verdict”—but the judiciary of The Trial is completely detached from these concerns of truth, and thus out of touch with justice itself. This is a deeply disturbing structure, but it isn’t unrelated to Josef’s own approach to life. His obsession with hierarchical status and control, coupled with his need to routinize his lifestyle and to impose rules upon himself to mitigate his own agency, are the individual practices that legitimize the absurd, inhuman judicial system that oppresses him. For example, when Josef devised a story to avoid being spotted near Franz and Willem’s whipping, he himself concocted a lie that he then rationalized into a rule of his own world. It is also significant that Josef is told this message by the chaplain, in a cathedral: the justice system has been elevated to the level of a god.

Josef cannot make sense of this encounter, and his only response is to revert to the routine to which he has become accustomed. When meeting a chaplain one expects guidance and comfort. But the chaplain leaves Josef alone, in the dark—he still has no understanding or connection. The chaplain’s parting words further characterize the judiciary as an entity unconcerned with truth and justice—a system that operates simply in order to perpetuate its own meaningless structures, and which is vastly bigger than any individual.