Chapter 51 Castle of Souls - Fate and Rebellion

Compared with the K in the picture, the K in the picture is no longer the K who is simply struggling in the face of fate. This K's struggle has already taken on a rebellious nature, and he is no longer a simple deceived person. He learned tricks from his formidable opponents and used them creatively.The K in the picture is almost a straight line leading to the ultimate goal, but the trajectory of the K in the picture has a lot of randomness, like many "zigzag" lines printed on the snow, and there is no clear explanation of where it ends up. The K who thought he would die earlier did not die. He walked into the maze he built unconsciously with the determination to fight to the death, and started his pursuit again in this new world. At this time, K, To a large extent, he got rid of those superficial, vain, and unrealistic habits in himself, honestly regarded himself as a small person, and honestly fought for small goals. When he did this, The target is hidden behind the clouds and is almost invisible. Therefore, K's pursuit has less sense of anxiety and terror, more planning and timely adjustment of himself, and often reveals a kind of "cut first, play later". " (ignorance is more courageous), and he no longer panics when facing the endgame. Regarding the situation waiting for him ahead, K's consciousness is still vague, maybe even more blurred. Even with his superhuman Shrewdness is not accurate. He still sees four signs from time to time as before, and feels the urgency of the atmosphere. These remind him to be careful, not to act recklessly, and to avoid the trap in time. But all the reminders have no effect On the contrary, it aroused his desire to destroy, and the result was always that he did irreversible things recklessly. K, who once finally understood that his end is "death", and it is difficult to die in the end, is now much more scheming and calculating , he is no longer anxious about simple "death" all the time, he has a small calculation of living day by day, and sometimes he is complacent. This kind of gallows frying for fun has made his destiny change to some extent , A lot of new hopes have been conjured out of despair, making people feel that everything is far from over. In this sense, K is a person who holds fate in his own hands. He said he wanted to live, and he lived. As predicted at the end: logic is unshakable, but it cannot resist a person who wants to live. What K in here is a demonstration of rebelling against fate and living in the face of the gallows; this new type of liveliness, with its infinite Richness and profundity lead us to the world of the spirit, where we linger for a long time. Compared with the talented and thoughtful country bumpkin in front of us And the self-righteous bank ban, the level is much higher. This K is no longer so superstitious about the power of thought (reasoning), but also often acts arrogantly, pushing the boat with the current, taking a scoop for a scoop, and sometimes doing the opposite, thinking differently. , flexible and flexible; in short, he is a bit of a chaotic style. It's just that his chaotic world has a certain self-consciousness, so it is also a chaotic world with ideals. Compared with the self-righteousness of the past, now he is always doubting himself and falling into In the confusion, every time he breaks through the confusion is an impact of the original force in his body. He no longer thinks that his common sense is capital, but more of a "wait and see". Perhaps because he broke free from the shackles of common sense, he now It is more energetic, and has a greater momentum. It can be said that it emphasizes the restraint of fate on people,What stands out is man's rebellion against fate, which leads to the liberation of human nature.Let us see what man can do under the strict restrictions of the castle system.

From the moment K broke into the village, he revealed his wish: he came here to accept a job with a little more freedom.He also knew that freedom would not come by itself, it had to be won through struggle.He clearly regards the castle as his opponent, and while the opponent evaluates himself, he also weighs the opponent repeatedly.He confessed to his boss: He is not a timid person, nor is he honest.This kind of confession indicates that he will use all means to get what he wants in the future.Of course, even if K's mind has been liberated to such a degree, the enemies he faces are still extremely powerful, and the most deadly point is: what K obtains must be confirmed by the castle, otherwise it is just a meaningless "None".And the castle is so stingy on this point that it will never give him any proof.First of all, K ignored the opposition of the villagers and stayed in the hotel like a rascal.This move was reported to the castle. Although the castle hesitated for a while, it finally approved his move.This is K's first victory, but this victory has lost its meaning because his identity has been deposed, and he must continue to fight.So K tried to break into the castle alone, and found the castle gentlemen to prove his identity.As a result of his wandering, he was sent back to the hotel.Although the adventure failed completely, new hope beckoned to him seductively: the castle sent him an assistant, and the messenger seemed to come down from the sky, bringing him a letter from the master. Is K satisfied? K was even more dissatisfied, what he wanted was confirmation, not this deceitful consolation, he was irritated by this deception.He caught up with the messenger Barnabas, let him drag him on the snowy ground with a beggar hanging tightly by his shoulders, and made up his mind to follow him to the castle to find out the truth.Along the way he had sweet dreams about the castle.Before the dream was finished, Barnabas took him to his dilapidated home, and his hopes were once again dashed.This disillusionment made him even more irritated. He couldn't live with the Barnabas family, and because of this anger, he unexpectedly got a big harvest—meet Frieda, the mistress of the castle official Kram, and fell in love with her at first sight. , hit hard.Because of his boldness and daring to break through taboos, he now has the capital to bargain with the castle. He wants to make full use of Frieda as a bargaining chip to force the authorities to admit his identity in exchange for more freedom.Since he was able to seduce Kramm's mistress, the purpose of connecting with Kramm would not be missed.Has his purpose been achieved?The fact is that the climax has not yet passed, and their relationship has shown an illusory nature: he does not own Frieda, Frieda still belongs to Klamm, and she cannot bring K and Klamm together at all. All that can be done is to be content with the status quo.What is the status quo?The status quo is still hanging in the air, fearful. K's victory did not have the meaning he imagined at all. K is really not reconciled, isn't such an environment driving people crazy?Isn't everything around him demonstrating that he can only be a mediocre person with nothing to do?He rose again.He found the village headman's house, and was dejected by the village headman's words: it turned out that not only could he not prove his identity, but his identity was also the core of an incident similar to a conspiracy planned by the castle authorities.If you want to prove it, you have to be involved in that incident, and you will never come out.Even if he didn't want to be involved in that incident, he would have to be investigated.This kind of iron-clad rejection made Zheng had no choice but to leave.He turned his breaking point to the VIP hotel, where he was going to wait in that cold courtyard for Klamm to come out.He waited and waited, in vain tension and anxiety.Kramm strictly enforced the rules, and the rules were that he must wait for K to leave before coming out. How could K not understand this?Of course he was not a fool, he finally understood the hint of the castle's silence, and the hint of a few hours in the snow was enough for him.Later, the proprietress summed up the experience and lessons for him, and when he finally heard Klamm's carriage start, his heart was almost clear.It's a pity that this kind of understanding after the fact only brought him despair.Despair is despair, so what, he still wants to find hope.In order not to let go of every bit of hope, he is now even going to deceive Frieda, he stays at Barnabas' house against his conscience, and asks Olga about the situation of the castle, hoping to see if he can take advantage of it. profitable.Knowing that Frieda forbade him to do so, he actually sat by the stove with Olga in that family, talked secretly for most of the night, and was deeply moved by Olga's female twist during the conversation.Through secret talks, K found out the history of the relationship between the Olga family and the castle, and also found out that the messenger Barnabas would not bring him any substantial benefits. In short, all he got was frustrating. information.Of course, he did get something else, that is, he was encouraged by the fighting spirit of the Olga family who was unwilling to sink.Barnabas, who had been looking forward to it for so long, came out again at this juncture, bringing him great news: the castle officials wanted to meet him in person. After K got the good news, no one made specific arrangements for the interview.K, who already had a lot of experience, was not surprised at the way the castle behaved.He subconsciously broke into the place where the officials lived, subconsciously chose and judged, and finally met a junior official in that dreamlike place, and had that wonderful discussion about the spirit of the castle.On the surface, that discussion had nothing to do with his original intention (to prove his identity), but in fact it was a discussion about the way out of human nature, an overall description of the spiritual status quo, an interpretation of the highest purpose of art, and an enlightenment about human freedom. It is an explanation about K's own identity.This kind of explanation can't bring K a basis for life at all. The castle's stinginess is the same as before, and it once again throws K into a helpless situation, because the principle of the castle is self-reliance, let Zheng himself use his own strength as a basis.K, who was left alone in the corridor, finally met the official who recruited him. The information he got from the official was that he wanted to break up with Frieda, and the castle asked Frieda to return to her original job. All K's efforts so far have come to naught!How many days and nights of uneasiness, how many times of alternating between excitement and depression, how many times of falling into encirclement and breaking out, it doesn't make any sense now, the little achievement he has already slipped out of his hand again, and his heart Empty, nothing left!If he is not a devil, shouldn't he give up his original pursuit in such a situation?But he didn't give up, he was still standing on that forbidden land, reluctant to leave, the mysterious affairs of the castle attracted him so much, he forgot his current desperate situation, and only focused on observing the internal mechanism of the castle.This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to feast your eyes, and he is even quite comfortable in the busy vortex!It seems that "getting along" has become a protective layer like a steel plate on K's body!Now no one can even think about defeating him or defeating him.He stood in the corridor and looked and looked, completely fascinated by the miraculous scene in front of him, how could he remember any prohibition!He felt and felt ecstatically, until the boss and the boss's wife rushed over and scolded him angrily (the kind of scolding contained appreciation for him), and he was driven away.He broke into the forbidden area, met the officials, and now he is at the bottom again, with nothing left.Is there really nothing left?Listen to Pebby's talk, no matter how tortuous the road is, hope still beckons ahead!Although spring and summer are short, they will always come, and hope will come at that time, and the clothes of the proprietress of the VIP hotel are another new mystery within a mystery.Is his field of activity narrowing, or, on the contrary, widening?

The above is what K, who was resurrected after being sentenced to death by the trial, did.This K built the castle as his own destiny, just to resist and betray it, and the purpose of resistance and betrayal is just to gain more freedom.Passive waiting is no longer K's survival mode, and this mode has undergone some changes.He had waited in the snow in the yard, and that wait had shown the change.Instead of waiting in a proper manner (like the countryman in the picture), he is always on the lookout for opportunities, and even climbs into the master's sleigh to steal wine and drink.What exactly is a castle of destiny?It is not a simple refusal, nor a promise, and the right to shape it is in the hands of the helpless K; only when K is truly helpless, fate will show the essence of "whatever it wants to be" Come.In that case, K can lie (like he cheated the castle on the phone, Frieda, etc.), he can lie at length (to the little boy Hans), and he can break the law at will (break into the gentlemen's house) If you tell a lie after violating the prohibition, you can still beg for nothing and be mercenary.In short, this K who belongs to the castle is simply obscene and shameless, without any principles of life.How did he become such a person?because of the persecution of the castle.Why should the castle persecute him?Because he pursues freedom, but he is not used to true freedom, and he will never get used to it, so he must be pushed all the time, and he must not relax at all.Castle grasped the ending in his hands and completely handed over the process to K himself.What is the process?That is, being in the air, having no one to rely on, that is, freedom, is his original intention of entering the castle, and it is also the situation he has always wanted to get rid of.It turns out that what he wants to get rid of is what he has been longing for.He is constantly using new pursuits to get rid of what he has got, what he can't bear, seeking - getting rid of - seeking again - getting rid of again, never ending, this crooked track leads to the castle, leads to him. Use the struggle at hand to create your destiny. K. has fashioned the castle out of his own rebellion, and all his activities seem intelligible, except for one thing, which is the colossus he has fashioned, his eternal rival.The mystery is not only not eliminated, it is even more incomprehensible.What is waiting for him ahead?How will he proceed?Everything has no bottom.Only one thing is certain, the castle's restraint on him will not be relaxed at all, and will become tighter and tighter. Everything that has been done has been irrevocably cast into the iron pincers of fate, and can only be used with a bigger force. Vitality, more intense struggle to compete with it.The strange thing is that such a tense relationship between K and fate is exactly what he subconsciously longs for and never wants to give up. He has never wavered in this regard.He rejected Frieda's suggestion of fleeing; he drilled holes everywhere, provoked new disturbances, and tightened the already tense string even tighter.Why did he go to such extremes and refuse to turn back?All this can only be attributed to his abnormal personality and vitality, and to the impulse in his body that exceeds ordinary people.Freedom can only exist in the rebellion against the castle, and this K really cannot be separated from the experience of freedom for a moment.At the same time, freedom is something that cannot be grasped. Once it is obtained, it is no longer freedom and has to be pursued again.So we see K, a guy who is exhausted, a guy who has endless frustrations waiting for him, his life is really miserable.But is it so?What he wants, what none of us can dream of, doesn't he—has it all?There is really no one in the world who is more greedy than him.Now he's not just trying to "catch life with twenty hands" (see), he's downright mad, a bit of a bandit.Moreover, he was scheming, causing trouble everywhere, and whenever he found something that might be profitable, he would jump there like a fly seeing blood, making the already tangled personal life even more complicated.Let's take a look at what he got. It turned out that without exception, it was "nothing" and it was a new round of persecution.This is how the strange circle of fate mocks people round after round.After weighing it carefully, we can only say that the Creator is very fair.

The relationship between the castle and K is also the relationship between fate and individual life. K used his many years of life to forge his own destiny. Fate restricted him and forced him. The purpose was to let him release greater energy, break through the limitations, and enrich and develop the existing destiny.Destiny is by no means a passive, immutable thing. Sometimes it becomes an iron wall in front of K and forces him to detour, and sometimes it turns into a road under K's feet, and K needs to use the momentum in his body to walk out.Everything seems to follow an iron law, and there seems to be no law, and there is nothing more unpredictable than it.The castle forces K to do as he pleases (think of the series of perversions after K entered the village), forces him to rebel, and never tells him where he will lead him.For K, the meaning of all rebellion lies in the sense of liberation experienced during the process.This was the only priceless gift the Castle gave him.The original intention has been achieved unconsciously.

January 4, 1998, Yingcai Garden