Volume 18, No. 6, 2021
Franz Kafka’s The Trial As A Critique Of Bureaucratic System
Upasana Handique , Dristi Dhekial Phukan
Abstract
In his remarkable work The Trial, Franz Kafka tries to draw the crisis of modern man. This novel chiefly portrays the surreal and an absurd nature of the legal world that arrests Joseph K for something; but for what exactly, nobody knows. Throughout the novel, K has been watched over or in a way under constant surveillance. However, the readers do not find any physically tangible force like bureaucracy but, we cannot deny its presence. Moreover, one can compare the condition of Joseph K with the notion of Benthamian panopticon. In The Trial, the bureaucratic apparatus is just like a panopticon, which constantly keeps under its surveillance.
Pages: 3397-3402
Keywords: Franz Kafka, crisis, modern man, surreal, absurd, legal world, surveillance, bureaucratic apparatus, panopticon.