Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka Study questions

The Metamorphosis

Facts about Franz Kafka

➾ Kafka requested his long-time friend Max Brod to burn all his letters, diaries, and unpublished manuscripts, but Brod ignored him and published them posthumously.

➾ His famous novella The Metamorphosis features a man who wakes up one morning transformed into a giant insect.

➾ He worked full-time as a clerk for an accident insurance office, composing his entire literary oeuvre largely in his spare time.

➾ While working in insurance, he implemented policy changes credited with saving the lives of numerous workers.

➾ He was engaged and disengaged twice to Felice Bauer over five years, maintaining the relationship mostly through letters.

➾ He fathered a son with Grete Bloch, a relationship he kept brief, and he never knew about the child, who died young.

➾ Haunted by his father’s powerful build, Kafka pursued various diets and health regimens to improve his own physique.

➾ His “Letter to His Father,” a deep analysis of their conflict, was given to his mother but never actually reached his father.

➾ He belonged to a doubly marginalized group in Prague—German-speaking Jews—who were neither fully German nor Czech.

➾ All three of his most famous novels (The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika) were left unfinished and in disarray upon his death.

➾ He found true independence and lived with a woman he was not related to (Dora Dymant) for the first time in his life just before he died in 1924.

Franz Kafka MCQs

1. What is Franz Kafka best known for combining in his signature literary sensibility?

A. Romanticism, classicism, realism
B. Allegory, realism, history
C. Realism, absurdism, surrealism, humor
D. Gothic, satire, stream

C. Realism, absurdism, surrealism, humor
Kafka’s unique style blends mundane reality with bizarre, dreamlike, and absurd situations.

2. Kafka’s thematic interests include alienation, guilt, existentialism, and what other pervasive concept often seen in his work?

A. Industrial automation
B. Oppressive bureaucracy
C. Revolutionary politics
D. Religious dogma

B. Oppressive bureaucracy
His work often features characters lost in vast, impersonal, and illogical bureaucratic systems.

3. What was Franz Kafka’s profession after he completed his legal education?

A. University professor
B. Self-made storekeeper
C. Insurance company clerk
D. Political journalist

C. Insurance company clerk
He worked at an insurance institute, a job that gave him direct experience with bureaucracy.

4. Where was Franz Kafka born?

A. Vienna
B. Budapest
C. Prague
D. Berlin

C. Prague
He was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, the capital of Bohemia.

5. How did Kafka manage to compose his oeuvre (body of work)?

A. Full-time writer, family funded.
B. In spare time due to full-time insurance work.
C. Took long leaves to write.
D. Wrote only in sanatoriums.

B. In spare time due to full-time insurance work.
His writing was confined to his spare time, mostly late at night, after his demanding office job.

6. Who was responsible for compiling, editing, and publishing most of Kafka’s writing posthumously, despite Kafka’s request that the manuscripts be burned?

A. Dora Dymant
B. Hermann Kafka
C. Felice Bauer
D. Max Brod

D. Max Brod
His friend Max Brod defied his wishes, believing the work was too important to destroy.

7. Which of the following novels did Kafka request his literary executor to burn?

A. The Trial, Amerika, The Man Who Disappeared
B. Metamorphosis, Judgment, Castle
C. Country Doctor, Penal Colony, Before the Law
D. Description of a Fight, Report to an Academy

A. The Trial, Amerika, The Man Who Disappeared
He requested all his unpublished manuscripts, including his major novels, be burned.

8. What ultimately led to Kafka’s widespread popularity and established his prominence as an influential figure of twentieth-century literature?

A. Initial public readings.
B. Publications during his lifetime.
C. Posthumous publications
D. Policy changes as a lawyer.

C. Posthumous publications
His fame rests almost entirely on the works Max Brod published after Kafka’s death.

9. What specific condition characterized the German-speaking Jews of Prague, including Kafka, in relation to the local population?

A. Fully assimilated into Czech culture.
B. “Doubly outsiders” (German speakers in Czech city)
C. Comprised the population majority.
D. Non-believers who rejected assimilation.

B. “Doubly outsiders” (German speakers in Czech city)
They were isolated from the Czech-speaking majority and distinct from the Austrian rulers.

10. What was the primary origin of the neurótic tension found in Kafka’s writing?

A. Isolation in an ivory tower.
B. The events of his life
C. Study of quantum theory.
D. Service during World War I.

B. The events of his life
His personal life, including family conflicts and isolation, was the main source of his literary themes.

11. Kafka’s ambivalent take on authority, characterized by the ability to respect, rebel against it, and blame himself, is primarily traced back to his relationship with whom?

A. Max Brod
B. Felice Bauer
C. Hermann Kafka (his father)
D. Milena Jesenska

C. Hermann Kafka (his father)
His domineering father created a lifelong complex regarding authority, guilt, and self-blame.

12. How did Kafka’s father, Hermann Kafka, regard his son’s writing?

A. Highly respected profession.
B. Enthusiastic early editor.
C. Waste of time; thought Franz a disappointment.
D. Encouraged full-time writing.

C. Waste of time; thought Franz a disappointment.
His father viewed his literary pursuits as a failure, preferring a practical business career.

13. What specific action did Kafka take while working at the insurance office that benefited others?

A. Compiled letters with Brod.
B. Policy changes that saved workers’ lives.
C. Published brochure on proletariat.
D. Wrote “The Judgment” in one sitting.

B. Policy changes that saved workers’ lives.
Despite his literary focus, he was a diligent employee who advocated for better worker safety.

14. Which year is cited as a breakthrough year for Kafka, during which he wrote “The Judgment,” “The Metamorphosis,” and much of Amerika?

A. 1905
B. 1912
C. 1919
D. 1922

B. 1912
1912 was a period of intense creative energy, producing some of his most iconic works.

15. What characterized Kafka’s relationship with Felice Bauer after they met in 1912?

A. Married immediately, moved to Berlin.
B. Engaged/disengaged twice (5 years), little physical contact.
C. Had a son who died young.
D. Deep relationship-by-letter (two years).

B. Engaged/disengaged twice (5 years), little physical contact.
Their five-year relationship was agonizing, conducted mostly through letters, and ended twice.

16. Which of Kafka’s novels, though unfinished, is noted as the only one with a written ending?

A. The Castle
B. Amerika
C. The Metamorphosis
D. The Trial

D. The Trial
Although chapters were unfinished, Kafka wrote the final chapter detailing Joseph K.’s execution.

17. What disease was Kafka diagnosed with around the time he finally broke off his engagement to Felice Bauer?

A. Influenza
B. Pneumonia
C. Tuberculosis
D. Typhoid

C. Tuberculosis
His 1917 tuberculosis diagnosis ended his engagement and led to his early retirement.

18. What significant piece of writing, cataloging his view of his relationship with his father, did Kafka write in 1919?

A. The Judgment
B. The Metamorphosis
C. Letter to His Father
D. The Trial

C. Letter to His Father
This lengthy, unsent letter details his feelings of inadequacy and fear toward his domineering father.

19. Which novel, written around 1922, features power described in the form of “benign indifference”?

A. The Trial
B. The Castle
C. Amerika
D. The Metamorphosis

B. The Castle
In *The Castle*, the protagonist K. is thwarted by a vast, indifferent, and unreachable bureaucracy.

20. Who was Dora Dymant, whom Kafka met and moved to Berlin with late in his life?

A. His mother.
B. His second fiancée.
C. His literary executor.
D. Companion; lived with her independently for the first time.

D. Companion; lived with her independently for the first time.
Dora Dymant was his final companion, with whom he shared a brief period of happiness and independence.

21. What happened to Kafka’s later dream of moving to Tel Aviv with Dora Dymant?

A. They successfully moved there.
B. Covered by “black cloak of futility” as TB worsened.
C. Postponed by army draft.
D. Father disapproved, forced stay in Prague.

B. Covered by “black cloak of futility” as TB worsened.
His worsening tuberculosis made his final dream of moving to Palestine impossible.

22. During his lifetime, Kafka had an audience of admirers primarily within which group?

A. Czech nationalists.
B. English novelists.
C. Small circle of German-reading intellectuals.
D. Workers from the insurance company.

C. Small circle of German-reading intellectuals.
Only a small intellectual circle, mainly in Prague, recognized his genius while he was alive.

23. From what group of writers is Franz Kafka considered the most important prose writer?

A. Vienna School of Literature.
B. The Prague Circle
C. Bohemian Realists.
D. Berlin Modernists.

B. The Prague Circle
He is the most prominent and influential prose writer associated with this German-language literary group.

24. Where is Kafka’s tiny flat, which is a major attraction today for those seeking traces of the author, located?

A. In the Jewish ghetto.
B. On Alchemists’ Lane behind Hradschin Castle.
C. In Berlin with Dora Dymant.
D. Near sister Ottla’s farm.

B. On Alchemists’ Lane behind Hradschin Castle.
This tiny house, where he wrote for a time, remains a popular tourist site in Prague.

25. What characteristic is given as the secret behind the enormous appeal of Kafka’s simple, sober, and dense language?

A. Resemblance to mainstream German.
B. Elevated, complex metaphors.
C. No gap between spoken/written word (Prague German).
D. Direct translation from Czech.

C. No gap between spoken/written word (Prague German).
His “Prague German” was a pure, unadorned language, giving his prose its unique, clear, and dense quality.

26. What traumatic childhood factor is cited as a cause of young Franz’s early seriousness and anxiety?

A. Raised by a tyrannical father.
B. Brought up by a nurse; lack of home life.
C. Forced to study law.
D. Outbreak of World War I.

B. Brought up by a nurse; lack of home life.
His parents’ focus on their business meant he was raised by servants, leading to early feelings of isolation.

27. What fundamental philosophical belief did Kafka express as early as 1905 in his “Description of a Fight”?

A. Necessity of totalitarian rule.
B. Man can obtain certainty via intellect.
C. Denial of man’s ability to obtain certainty (sensory/intellectual).
D. Triumph of reason over chaos.

C. Denial of man’s ability to obtain certainty (sensory/intellectual).
This early work already contains his core theme of skepticism about finding ultimate truth or certainty.

28. According to Kafka’s philosophy, what happens when a character appears to have found a boundary between reality and the realm of dreams?

A. Achieve metaphysical certainty.
B. Enter into the law.
C. Turns out it’s only something to cling to against chaos.
D. Communicate important messages.

C. Turns out it’s only something to cling to against chaos.
In his work, any perceived boundary is illusory and just a temporary defense against underlying chaos.

29. When did Kafka first meet Max Brod?

A. 1912
B. 1922
C. 1902
D. 1883

C. 1902
He met Max Brod while both were students at Charles University, beginning a lifelong friendship.

30. In the years until 1912, Kafka familiarized himself with far-reaching new ideas, including the theories of Einstein, Planck, and which psychoanalyst?

A. Carl Jung
B. Sigmund Freud
C. Franz Brentano
D. Soren Kierkegaard

B. Sigmund Freud
He engaged with new scientific and philosophical ideas, including Freud’s revolutionary psychoanalysis.

31. According to his own conviction, when did Kafka’s literary productivity reach a peak?

A. During law education.
B. When anxiety over marrying Felice reached a climax.
C. After TB was cured.
D. After moving to Berlin.

B. When anxiety over marrying Felice reached a climax.
His intense anxiety about his engagement to Felice Bauer fueled his most productive creative periods.

32. What themes assumed the mysterious qualities of an ineffable god in works like The Trial and The Castle?

A. The literary executor.
B. The importance of marriage.
C. The father figure
D. The search for a new language.

C. The father figure
His complex relationship with his father was transformed into the abstract, god-like authorities in his novels.

33. Which Danish philosopher did Kafka begin reading in 1913, whose views on the inadequacy of rationality to comprehend Divinity paralleled Kafka’s own radical skepticism?

A. Friedrich Nietzsche
B. Soren Kierkegaard
C. Arthur Schopenhauer
D. Fyodor Dostoevsky

B. Soren Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard’s existentialist philosophy deeply resonated with Kafka’s own views on faith and uncertainty.

34. What is the central difference between Kafka’s hero in “Before the Law” and Kierkegaard’s dilemma?

A. Kierkegaard: political; Kafka: marriage.
B. Kierkegaard has God’s presence; Kafka’s man has no guidance/faces uncertainty.
C. Kafka enters law; Kierkegaard rejects it.
D. Kafka religious; Kierkegaard non-believer.

B. Kierkegaard has God’s presence; Kafka’s man has no guidance/faces uncertainty.
Kierkegaard’s man must leap toward God; Kafka’s man faces an uncertain and silent authority.

35. Which story reflects Kafka’s feeling of sheer horror and disgust with politicians in power at the outbreak of World War I?

A. The Judgment
B. A Report to an Academy
C. In the Penal Colony
D. The Metamorphosis

C. In the Penal Colony
This brutal story of an automated execution machine reflected his horror at the mechanism of war.

36. What autobiographical detail links Kafka’s life to the plot of The Trial, where Joseph K. is executed on the eve of his thirty-first birthday?

A. Began studying Hebrew.
B. Decided to break off first engagement on his thirty-first birthday.
C. Received TB diagnosis.
D. Wrote “Letter to His Father.”

B. Decided to break off first engagement on his thirty-first birthday.
The “judgment” and “execution” in *The Trial* mirror his own decisive, painful break from Felice.

37. What is the symbolic description of modern man living outside a binding universal order in the title story of the volume A Country Doctor?

A. Lost in bureaucracy.
B. Brought to death by sensuality and aimlessness.
C. Transformation into an insect.
D. Starving oneself in public.

B. Brought to death by sensuality and aimlessness.
The doctor is destroyed by his lack of faith and inability to act, symbolizing modern aimlessness.

38. What is the subject of the parable “The Imperial Message”?

A. Terrifying description of messages failing to pass bureaucracy.
B. The dilemma of seeking faith.
C. Farmer seeking redemption.
D. Life of the hunter Gracchus.

A. Terrifying description of messages failing to pass bureaucracy.
It describes the impossibility of a divine message ever reaching its human recipient through endless bureaucracy.

39. The hero of which 1922 story starves himself because he cannot find the spiritual food he requires?

A. The Castle
B. Investigations of a Dog
C. A Hunger Artist
D. The Judgment

C. “A Hunger Artist”
The artist starves because no food (spiritual or physical) in the world satisfies him.

40. What was Kafka’s stance on Judaism late in his life?

A. Deeply orthodox believer.
B. Never fully accepted Judaism, learned Hebrew, dreamed of Palestine.
C. Completely uninterested.
D. Rejected traditions after meeting Dymant.

B. Never fully accepted Judaism, learned Hebrew, dreamed of Palestine.
He developed a deep interest in his heritage, but his relationship with it remained complex and ambivalent.

41. What ultimately led to Kafka’s widespread popularity?

A. Initial public readings.
B. Publications during his lifetime.
C. Posthumous publications
D. Policy changes as a lawyer.

C. Posthumous publications
His fame rests almost entirely on the works Max Brod published after Kafka’s death.

42. What was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia at the time of Kafka’s birth?

A. Prague
B. Vienna
C. Czech Republic
D. Hradschin

A. Prague
He was born in Prague, which was then the capital of Bohemia and part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

43. What did Kafka dream aimlessly of becoming at his sister Ottla’s farm?

A. Editor or publisher.
B. Professor of law.
C. Potato farmer or moving to Palestine.
D. Politician or diplomat.

C. Potato farmer or moving to Palestine.
These dreams represented his desire for a simpler, more authentic life away from Prague.

44. What happened to the “Letter to His Father” (1919)?

A. Published immediately.
B. Reached Hermann Kafka.
C. Never reached father (gave it to mother).
D. Max Brod published it.

C. Never reached father (gave it to mother).
He gave the letter to his mother to deliver, but she never gave it to his father.

45. In addition to German, Czech, and Jewish heritages, what other element contributed to Kafka’s background due to Prague’s history as a major second capital?

A. Russian
B. French
C. Austrian
D. Polish

C. Austrian
As part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Prague’s culture was heavily influenced by Austrian bureaucracy.

46. What caused the friction between Kafka’s parents, Hermann Kafka and Julie Lowy?

A. Hermann wealthy, Julie poor.
B. Marriage arranged by Max Brod.
C. Socio-economic/educational differences (Hermann poor Czech, Julie wealthy German-Jewish).
D. Hermann’s disinterest in literature.

C. Socio-economic/educational differences (Hermann poor Czech, Julie wealthy German-Jewish).
His father was a self-made man from a poor background, while his mother came from a wealthier, educated family.

47. To what extent did Kafka join literary or social circles during his lifetime?

A. Actively participated with Brod/fiancées.
B. Avoided them, remained an outcast for literary productivity.
C. Founded the Prague Circle.
D. Joined only for writing recognition.

B. Avoided them, remained an outcast for literary productivity.
He consciously avoided literary circles, believing his productivity depended on isolation.

48. What contribution did Max Brod make to Kafka’s early career before his death?

A. Gave him high-ranking job.
B. Introduced him to Kierkegaard.
C. Encouraged readings to small private audiences.
D. Helped him move to Berlin.

C. Encouraged readings to small private audiences.
Brod was a crucial supporter, arranging small readings that helped Kafka gain some recognition.

49. Which philosophy intensified Kafka’s interest in themes of suffering, punishment, and judgment?

A. Freud’s experiments.
B. Planck’s quantum theory.
C. The philosophy of Franz Brentano
D. Camus’s existentialism.

C. The philosophy of Franz Brentano
Brentano’s ideas about the inability of concepts to explain moral action fueled Kafka’s themes.

50. What is the subject of the parable “The Imperial Message”?

A. Terrifying description of messages failing to pass bureaucracy.
B. The dilemma of seeking faith.
C. Farmer seeking redemption.
D. Life of the hunter Gracchus.

A. Terrifying description of messages failing to pass bureaucracy.
It describes the impossibility of a divine message ever reaching its human recipient through endless bureaucracy.

The Trial MCQs

1. Why did Josef K. initially assume he was arrested one morning?

A. He had stolen from the bank
B. It was a joke for his birthday
C. He was late for work
D. Someone had told lies about him

D. Someone had told lies about him.
K. strongly felt he had done nothing wrong, concluding that someone must have been telling lies about him.

2. What was the name of the first arresting officer K. encountered in his bedroom?

A. Willem
B. Franz
C. Schubal
D. Hasterer

B. Franz.
The first man K. spoke to, who wore black clothes, was referred to as Franz by his companion.

3. What specific duty did the junior officers say was their involvement in K.’s case?

A. Finding the original warrant
B. Guarding K. for ten hours daily
C. Judging K.’s level of guilt
D. Collecting K.’s lost items

B. Guarding K. for ten hours daily.
The junior officers explicitly stated their job was merely to keep an eye on K. for ten hours a day.

4. In whose room did the supervisor conduct K.’s preliminary questioning?

A. Mrs. Grubach’s sitting room
B. Miss Bürstner’s private room
C. K.’s own bedroom
D. The bank manager’s office

B. Miss Bürstner’s private room.
The questioning occurred in the room belonging to the typist, Miss Bürstner, using her bedside table as a desk.

5. Which three junior staff members from K.’s bank were present during the arrest?

A. Franz, Willem, and Hasterer
B. Pollunder, Green, and Mak
C. Rabensteiner, Kullich, and Kaminer
D. Block, Titorelli, and Leni

C. Rabensteiner, Kullich, and Kaminer.
The supervisor introduced the three young men looking at photographs as K.’s junior staff: Rabensteiner, Kullich, and Kaminer.

6. What unusual activity did K. engage in while apologizing to Miss Bürstner late that night?

A. He offered her a bribe
B. He acted out the arrest scene
C. He discussed the maid, Johanna
D. He asked her to leave town

B. He acted out the arrest scene.
To explain the mess, K. moved the table and physically acted out the roles of the supervisor and policémen.

7. K. was informed of his upcoming hearing via which method?

A. A formal warrant
B. A newspaper article
C. The telephone
D. A visit from Dr. Huld

C. The telephone.
K. was notified about the small hearing scheduled for the following Sunday by receiving a telephone call.

8. Where was the location of K.’s first scheduled hearing?

A. In the High Court
B. In his usual pub
C. In a poor, unfamiliar suburb
D. At the bank

C. In a poor, unfamiliar suburb.
The hearing was set for a building in a street in a suburb located well away from the city center.

9. What was K.’s profession, according to the examining judge’s initial assumption?

A. Architect
B. Chief Clerk
C. House painter
D. Tailor

C. House painter.
The examining judge looked at his notebook and asked K. if he was a house painter.

10. What distinctive item did K. finally notice all the assembly members were wearing?

A. Religious symbols
B. Badges on their collars
C. Black dress shoes
D. Ceremonial swords

B. Badges on their collars.
K. noticed badges of various sizes and colours shining on the collars of all the assembled men.

11. What surprising image did K. find inside the judge’s legal books?

A. Pictures of his family
B. Indecent pictures
C. Detailed statutes
D. War maps

B. Indecent pictures.
K. opened one book and found an indecent picture of a naked man and woman dominating the page.

12. Who was the influential student the usher’s wife (washerwoman) was forced to submit to?

A. Kaminer
B. Franz
C. Berthold
D. Willem

C. Berthold.
The usher’s wife complained that the student, later named Berthold, who chased her, would soon be powerful.

13. Where were the Court Offices surprisingly located, according to the sign K. found?

A. In the police barracks
B. In the bank basement
C. In the tenement building’s attic
D. At the city centre

C. In the tenement building’s attic.
K. saw a note stating the wooden steps led to the “Entrance to the Court Offices” in the attic.

14. Why did K. experience faintness and dizziness while visiting the offices?

A. He had a sudden illness
B. He was highly emotional
C. The air was heavy and thick
D. He had been drinking

C. The air was heavy and thick.
The heat from the sun on the roof made the air thick and heavy, causing K. to feel unwell.

15. What specific ailment did Dr. Huld, the lawyer, suffer from?

A. Heart trouble
B. Gout
C. Insomnia
D. Migraines

A. Heart trouble.
When K.’s uncle visited, the lawyer said he had a recurrence of his heart trouble.

16. Who was the small country landowner who came to the city to help K.?

A. Josef K.
B. Uncle Karl
C. Dr. Huld
D. Block

B. Uncle Karl.
K.’s uncle, a small country landowner, was named Karl and had been K.’s former guardian.

17. What was the name of Dr. Huld, the lawyer’s, female carer?

A. Erna
B. Leni
C. Klara
D. Miss Bürstner

B. Leni.
The lawyer’s carer, who had dark, bulging eyes, was the young girl named Leni.

18. Who was the important figure K.’s uncle had arranged to meet, found hiding in the corner?

A. The Office Director
B. The Chief Clerk
C. State Attorney Hasterer
D. The Examining Judge

A. The Office Director.
The élderly gentleman introduced himself as the Office Director, who had moved his chair to the room’s corner.

19. What physical anomaly did Leni show K. on her hand?

A. Missing a finger
B. A scar on her wrist
C. Slightly webbed fingers
D. Six fingers

C. Slightly webbed fingers.
Leni showed K. her right hand, where the skin between two fingers reached almost to the top joint.

20. What was K.’s primary conclusion regarding the burden of conducting his own defense?

A. He had sufficient time
B. It was simple, if he was innocent
C. He lacked information about the charges
D. He was afraid of writing

C. He lacked information about the charges.
K. felt preparing a defense was hard because he did not know what the charge or its consequences were.

21. What did Dr. Huld claim usually happened to the initial defense documents submitted to the court?

A. They determined the verdict
B. They were often mislaid or lost
C. They were publicly debated
D. They secured great lawyers

B. They were often mislaid or lost.
The lawyer said the first documents submitted were generally mislaid or lost completely, only kept until the end by chance.

22. Who was the painter K. was directed to, who was said to know many judges?

A. Titorelli
B. Block
C. Kaminer
D. Mendel

A. Titorelli.
The manufacturer advised K. to visit a painter named Titorelli, who worked for the court and knew many judges.

23. What strange characteristic did the painting of the figure of Justice feature in Titorelli’s studio?

A. A halo around her head
B. Wings on her heels
C. A broken scale
D. A mask covering her eyes

B. Wings on her heels.
K. noticed the figure of Justice, which was also the goddess of victory, had wings on her heels.

24. What official title did Titorelli admit he held within the court hierarchy?

A. An examining judge
B. A trustee of the court
C. A petty lawyer
D. A supreme court painter

B. A trustee of the court.
K. asked if Titorelli was a trustee of the court, a position the painter immediately confirmed he held.

25. Which type of acquittal did Titorelli say was impossible to achieve through his influence alone?

A. Deferment
B. Apparent acquittal
C. Absolute acquittal
D. Temporary freedom

C. Absolute acquittal.
Titorelli stated that absolute acquittal was unobtainable through influence; only innocence itself could achieve it.

26. What happens after an “apparent acquittal,” according to Titorelli?

A. The defendant is fully free forever
B. Proceedings continue, risking re-arrest
C. The documents are destroyed
D. The lawyer gets a big bribe

B. Proceedings continue, risking re-arrest.
Proceedings continue secretly, meaning the indictment is withdrawn temporarily, but K. risks sudden re-arrest later.

27. What does “deferment” of the trial mean, according to the painter?

A. The case is dismissed completely
B. Proceedings are kept permanently in early stages
C. The judge delays the verdict indefinitely
D. K. must confess to a minor crime

B. Proceedings are kept permanently in early stages.
Deferment involves keeping the proceedings permanently constrained within their earliest stages through continuous attention.

28. Why did K. decide to go to the painter’s studio using the hidden back door?

A. He was tired of the heat
B. He wanted to avoid the girls screaming outside
C. The painter forced him through
D. He thought the front door was locked

B. He wanted to avoid the girls screaming outside.
K. asked the painter to open the other door to avoid being bothered by the girls who were screaming behind the main door.

29. What was the businessman Block’s specific occupation?

A. Banker
B. Manufacturer
C. Lawyer
D. Grain/Cereal dealer

D. Grain/Cereal dealer.
Block, who had been Dr. Huld’s commercial client for years, bought and sold cereals.

30. How did the businessman Block confess he was being “unfaithful” to Dr. Huld?

A. He was cheating the court
B. He reported K. to the bank
C. He hired five other petty lawyers
D. He gave Leni money

C. He hired five other petty lawyers.
Block hesitantly admitted that besides Dr. Huld, he had hired five petty lawyers to handle his case.

31. How long had Block’s personal trial been running?

A. Six months
B. Over five years
C. Three weeks
D. Two days

B. Over five years.
Block said his trial had been running for “more than five years,” starting soon after his wife’s death.

32. What did Block say was a superstitious belief held by defendants in the waiting rooms?

A. You can find acquittal signs in the court records
B. The shape of a defendant’s lips reveals guilt
C. Only single men are found guilty
D. Wearing black guarantees freedom

B. The shape of a defendant’s lips reveals guilt.
Block said many people believed that the shape of a defendant’s lips could reveal the outcome of his case.

33. What shocking fact about Block’s five-year trial did the lawyer reveal in K.’s presence?

A. Block had paid no bribes
B. Block was totally innocent
C. The trial had not yet officially started
D. The lawyer had forgotten the case

C. The trial had not yet officially started.
The lawyer quoted a judge who said they hadn’t even rung the bell to announce the start of Block’s proceedings.

34. Why did Block consent to sleep in the maid’s small room at the lawyer’s apartment?

A. He enjoyed the quiet
B. He feared going home
C. He had to be ready if summoned at night
D. Leni forced him to stay there

C. He had to be ready if summoned at night.
Block needed to be ready for the lawyer, Dr. Huld, who sometimes wanted to see him urgently in the night.

35. K.’s decision to dismiss the lawyer was triggered by the realization that Block had become like what?

A. A lawyer’s dog
B. A faithful servant
C. A great lawyer
D. An examining judge

A. A lawyer’s dog.
K. realized Block was no longer a client but had become fully dependent, acting like the lawyer’s dog.

36. K. was given the task of accompanying an Italian business contact to which building?

A. The High Court
B. The bank director’s house
C. The cathedral
D. The opera house

C. The cathedral.
K. was chosen to show the important Italian business contact some of the city’s cultural sights, specifically the cathedral.

37. Why was K. unable to communicate effectively with the Italian client?

A. K. forgot all his Italian words
B. The Italian spoke a hard dialect and wore a thick moustache
C. The Italian refused to speak
D. K. only spoke French

B. The Italian spoke a hard dialect and wore a thick moustache.
The Italian spoke a gushing dialect and wore a thick moustache, obscuring his lips and making him hard to understand.

38. Where did K. wait for the Italian client after arriving at the cathedral?

A. Near the main altar
B. In one of the side naves, on a pew
C. Outside in the rain
D. At the main entrance

B. In one of the side naves, on a pew.
K. found a carpet, moved it to a nearby pew in the side nave, and sat down to wait.

39. Who was the tall, stout candle attached to a column near K.’s waiting spot?

A. The examining judge
B. The prison chaplain
C. The man in the cassock
D. The Italian client

C. The man in the cassock.
K. noticed the man in the cassock watching him; this man later led K. with his arm gesture.

40. What was the function of the second, simpler, small pulpit K. noticed in the cathedral?

A. For singing hymns
B. For the organist
C. For the priest to preach
D. For the choir

C. For the priest to preach.
K. saw a lamp fastened above the small pulpit, which usually indicated that a sermon was about to be given.

41. What specific title did the priest reveal he held within the court system?

A. High Court Judge
B. Prison Chaplain
C. Trustee of the Court
D. Examining Judge

B. Prison Chaplain.
When K. asked, the priest confirmed his role, stating, “I am the prison chaplain.”

42. According to the priest, K.’s case was going badly because K. was assumed to be what?

A. Too rich
B. Too busy
C. Guilty
D. Too old

C. Guilty.
The priest told K. that he was “considered guilty” and that his guilt was seen as provisionally proven.

43. Who did the priest warn K. he relied on too much for assistance with his case?

A. His lawyer, Dr. Huld
B. His family, Uncle Karl
C. The bank director
D. People he didn’t know, especially women

D. People he didn’t know, especially women.
The priest disapproved of K. relying too much on help from people he didn’t know, especially women.

44. In the priest’s parable, who comes to the door of the Law seeking entry?

A. A man from the countryside
B. A chief clerk
C. A thief
D. The doorkeeper

A. A man from the countryside.
The priest began the story by stating that a man from the countryside approached the doorkeeper at the door of the Law.

45. Why did the doorkeeper accept the man’s many expensive bribes over the years?

A. To keep him quiet
B. To ensure the man felt he tried everything
C. To pay his salary
D. To buy new clothes

B. To ensure the man felt he tried everything.
The doorkeeper accepted the gifts, saying he did so only so the man would not feel he had failed to try everything.

46. What was the man’s last question to the doorkeeper just before he died?

A. Why the door was still open
B. Why the Law needed a doorkeeper
C. Why no one else had sought entry
D. If he was truly guilty

C. Why no one else had sought entry.
The dying man asked why, over all the years, no one else had asked to be let into the Law.

47. What did the priest say was the date K.’s execution took place?

A. On his thirtieth birthday
B. On a Monday morning
C. The evening before his thirty-first birthday
D. On a Saturday night

C. The evening before his thirty-first birthday.
K.’s execution happened at nine o’clock in the evening, the day before his thirty-first birthday.

48. What was the distinguishing attire of the two men who came to collect K. for the execution?

A. Army uniforms
B. Black frock coats and top hats
C. Priest’s cassocks
D. Dirty nightshirts

B. Black frock coats and top hats.
The two men were pale and fat, dressed in black frock coats and wore stiff, unusual top hats.

49. What place was the final, empty location where the men led K. for the execution?

A. A cathedral basement
B. A bank vault
C. A nearby quarry
D. A public square

C. A nearby quarry.
The men ran until they reached an empty and abandoned quarry near the edge of the built-up area.

50. What were K.’s final words after the knife was pushed into his heart?

A. I am innocent!
B. Like a dog!
C. Help me!
D. I thank you.

B. Like a dog!.
As his vision failed, K. spoke his last words, saying, “Like a dog!” conveying shame.

Brief Overview

The Trial is an unfinished novel by Franz Kafka. It is a profound work of existential literature that addresses themes of alienation, guilt, and bureaucratic absurdity.

The story follows Josef K., a chief clerk at a large bank. One morning, K. is suddenly arrested. The men arresting him refuse to state the charges. K. is released but soon learns that the law and court system are secret and strangely inaccessible.

K. attends a secret hearing the following Sunday. The court is held in a crowded, dirty attic space. K. strongly argues with the examining judge. K. later visits the court offices, which are also located in uncomfortable attic spaces, and notices that the accused look humble and defeated.

K.’s uncle, Karl, brings K. to see a lawyer, Dr. Huld. K. feels the lawyer is slow and ineffective, which causes him more worry. K. learns that true acquittal is considered impossible. A painter named Titorelli explains that K. can only hope for temporary freedom or a permanent delay of the trial. K. eventually decides to dismiss his lawyer and handle the case himself.

Before his trial ends, K. meets the prison chaplain in a cathedral. The priest tells K. that he is already considered guilty, at least provisionally. On the evening before K.’s thirty-first birthday, two men lead him outside the city to an empty quarry. K. is stripped naked. One man pushes a butcher’s knife into K.’s heart, and K. dies thinking, “Like a dog!”.