Page 57 - the-trial

able to achieve that for himself. That is why policemen try
to steal the clothes off the back of those they arrest, that is
why supervisors break into the homes of people they do not
know, that is why innocent people are humiliated in front
of crowds rather than being given a proper trial. The po-
licemen only talked about the warehouses where they put
the property of those they arrest, I would like to see these
warehouses where the hard won possessions of people un-
der arrest is left to decay, if, that is, it’s not stolen by the
thieving hands of the warehouse workers.”
K. was interrupted by a screeching from the far end of
the hall, he shaded his eyes to see that far, as the dull light
of day made the smoke whitish and hard to see through. It
was the washerwoman whom K. had recognised as a like-
ly source of disturbance as soon as she had entered. It was
hard to see now whether it was her fault or not. K. could
only see that a man had pulled her into a corner by the door
and was pressing himself against her. But it was not her
who was screaming, but the man, he had opened his mouth
wide and looked up at the ceiling. A small circle had formed
around the two of them, the visitors near him in the gallery
seemed delighted that the serious tone K. had introduced
into the gathering had been disturbed in this way. K.’s first
thought was to run over there, and he also thought that ev-
eryone would want to bring things back into order there or
at least to make the pair leave the room, but the first row of
people in from of him stayed were they were, no-one moved
and no-one let K. through. On the contrary, they stood in
his way, old men held out their arms in front of him and

The Trial