The Trial Sex Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph). We used Breon Mitchell's translation.
| Quote #1 I'm fascinated with court matters. The court has a strange attraction, doesn't it? But I'll certainly increase my knowledge in that area, because I start next month as a secretary in a law firm. (2.10) |
The term "court" may as well be interchangeable with "sex" here. That Fraülein Bürstner is becoming a secretary in a law firm is doubly ironic because, as we learn throughout the novel, all the women associated with the courts have a tendency to sleep with anyone remotely associated with the courts.
| Quote #2 You needn't spare me in any way. If you want it spread around that I assaulted you, that's what Frau Grubach will be told and what she will believe, without losing confidence in me, that's how devoted she is to me. (2.11) |
K.'s willingness to take on the guilt for a crime he didn't commit is odd, given that he struggles so much against his indictment for a crime he may or may not have committed. This passage introduces the association of sexual violence and criminal guilt that we get throughout the novel.
| Quote #3 K. […] rushed out, seized her, kissed her on the mouth, then all over her face, like a thirsty animal lapping greedily at a spring it had found at last. (2.11) |
K. here virtually attacks Fraülein Bürstner, "like a thirsty animal," as she seems to barely tolerate his embraces. Ironically, he's actually committing the crime – sexual violence – that he was going to take the guilt for to protect Fraülein Bürstner (see Quote #2).
