Chapter 57 Castle of Soul - Endless Torture

The mechanism of the castle is the mechanism of torture. It tortures everyone endlessly without mercy, and does not relax at all, chasing and forcing people to fall ill.What does it torture?Without exception it is always a question: do you exist, or do you not exist?No one can answer this question, because the question itself is an embarrassing situation for people.But it is impossible not to answer the questions raised by the castle. People who are desperate can only use actions to answer, and work hard towards the answer that is not the final answer.This huge problem hangs above people's heads, and no one can escape its torment. People who are tortured by it also have the spirit of the castle. Even if they are physically sick or disabled, they are spiritually invincible.Looking back on the journey of everyone in the village, who is not like this?They were bruised and bruised and suffered from various physical diseases, but from their brows and their garrulous conversations, there was a kind of self-confidence and superiority of an informed person.They are men of faith, and that faith has been strengthened in the process of their own exploration, and exploration is the answer to torture.

Take the identity of K as an example.First of all, K Xueye's motivation for rushing to the castle is vague.It seemed to speak of his being called, but there was no sign of it, not on the outside, not in him, because even he couldn't remember, couldn't tell.Everything originates in the chaos, which is the beauty.This also means that he will be tortured all the time.It was only later that it became clear that his identity was a trap and conspiracy by the castle.The purpose of the castle to lure the enemy deep is to spread its net, and the net will be stretched as far as K walks.Years ago, the mayor had received a letter offering to hire a land surveyor, but he was not named, or would never have been K; the letter was lost, and the matter itself was forgotten. , but not really forgotten, it became a plot, a plot to torment the villagers with uncertainty; then it turned into a big life-and-death question of whether the local area needed a land surveyor, implicating the whole village Go in and mobilize everyone to test their beliefs.After all the people were mentally tortured repeatedly, the situation finally calmed down temporarily.And at this pass, an unidentified land surveyor suddenly appeared, and a new round of torture to the villagers began again.Such an appointment is a trap from the start, namely: K is hired as a land surveyor, but there is no need for a land surveyor here.The previous question of whether to be hired has not been resolved, and it has evolved into a question of whether to be needed, and the villagers must fight each other for this. The only thing K can do to prove his identity is to fight, and even fighting will not solve the problem, it will only make the problem evolve further.It seems that the harsher the castle's torture, the more active everyone is and the stronger their faith in the castle.The same goes for K, who doesn't know.Of course, the belief in the castle includes the examination of one's own real situation. For this point, please refer to Sotini's torture of the village chief:

"Sortini asked me why it suddenly occurred to me not to hire land surveyors; I wrote back, relying on Mizzi's good memory, that the matter was originally raised from above (as for the fact that it was a document from another ministry, this We have long forgotten one point); Sottini’s response to this is: Why did I mention this official letter from my superiors until now; I replied to him: because I only remembered this official letter now; Sottini said: This is very strange; me: it is not surprising that a matter has been delayed for so long; Sotini: it is indeed strange, because the official letter I recall does not exist; I : Of course it does not exist, because all the papers on the matter are lost; Sottini: If there is such a first letter, there must be a relevant record, but such a record does not exist."

What did Sortini mean?Could it be that what he meant to say was that the castle is a nothingness?Is he just going to say this?of course not.His torture is to test the mayor's loyalty to the castle, that is, the kind of loyalty that knows that the existence of the castle cannot be proved, but still makes every effort to prove it.Being loyal to the castle requires the courage to face up to the embarrassing situation between "being" and "not being".A thing conceived out of nothing actually mobilized the whole village to invest in it and changed everyone's life. Doesn't this effort itself prove its existence?The situation of the village chief has indeed become miserable because of this. Countless tortures and countless questions have completely broken his body. Even lying on the bed in Narita, he cannot escape the torture inside.But he is willing to sacrifice his health to pursue spiritual pleasure, and torture can make him constantly feel his own existence.So when K came, he pretended to express his distaste for the new troubles K had caused him in his work, but in fact he was eager for it; otherwise, with his sick body, how could he have the energy to tell the ins and outs of the intertwined "incidents"?The narration gave him a lot of entertainment, he was not only happy to tell, but he also wanted to keep an eye on K and control K so that he could not break free from the shackles of the "event".The inconsistency and elusiveness of the castle can't frighten him, the pleasure of self-torture maintains his excitement, and the loss of physical strength is just to achieve spiritual goals.The village chief told K about Sotini's views, and he became Sotini himself. This is how the spirit of the castle's documents was passed down to the grassroots.The torture finally fell on K's head, and the question was: Does his relationship with the castle exist?If so, what kind of relationship is that?If K. had nothing to do with the castle, how did he get here?It was a fact that he had come, but it was a pity that he had not been summoned by the castle, and he could not think of any evidence for it even if he racked his brains.Take a step back and assume that he was called. What was he called for?He was not needed here at all, and even Sottini said that the recruitment documents did not exist.The village chief's logic is pressing every step of the way, and K, who is running around like a rabbit, can only break out blindly, otherwise he is nothing.The village chief just wanted him to run around, not to leave. He was free in the castle domain, and any other persecution was a bluff except for the persecution of his own inner logic.Of course, the subtext of the village chief did not fully express it. What is K's inner logic?It was the reasoning about the Land Surveyor's being, which was always shattered by the castle, and then regrouped and carried on with more obstinate paranoia.He firmly believes that he was summoned by the castle, and has never doubted this. He also firmly believes that the castle needs him. He has not yet been able to prove it, but he will prove it one day, and he will try hard at all costs.

The question was traced again: Where did K's belief come from?What was he doing in the first place, how could he suddenly break into the castle, and then he has always believed in the castle?There must be a reason. You don't say that you are a land surveyor for no reason, and you think so in your heart?In the article, K himself mentioned the matter of being hired and an assistant, so he couldn't be fabricating it out of thin air, right?It doesn't look like he looks at all.But later, K mentioned that if Schwarzer hadn't forced him to contact the castle directly, he wouldn't have to claim to be a land surveyor hired by the earl, but just claim to be a wandering craftsman. If you stay in the village, your situation will be much better than it is now.If K's reasoning is based on this statement, then there is nothing about his appointment before he came to the castle.His purpose is nothing more than to hang out in the village and gain more freedom.If the land surveyor was a lie he had come up with, and probably the castle itself too, how did he know there was a castle here?When we analyze K in this way, we forget one thing: reasoning does not work on this foreigner, everything that is impossible is possible to him. K's strange belief just came out of uncertainty. Before that, he had neither heard of the castle nor received any appointments, but it can't be said that he didn't have any, anyway, he couldn't be sure.So when he said the word "castle" as if intentionally or unintentionally, the castle really existed; then he said "land surveyor", and the castle also acquiesced."Being" emerges from uncertainty, which is the core origin of the castle world.It's just that this "being" that was created can't get rid of the brand of nothingness, so K is always in the pain of being tortured.He created the castle in the muddy pool, and his whole life was tortured by this monster with sharp contradictions.So it seems that when he entered the castle, he claimed to be a land surveyor hired by his lordship, instead of claiming to be a wandering craftsman. It was his subconscious desire to deal with the castle directly and face to face; It was the kind of torture he unconsciously longed for, the pursuit of self-torture only because of the fatal contradiction contained in his beliefs.

Even if K has shown loyalty to his convictions, the Castle will not believe him, its doubts are absolute, and more severe torture awaits him.There is no room for autobiography and self-sigh in the castle. People can only tense their nerves to accept the test of their superiors. In this way, K fell into the position of handyman, but it was not the kind of official handyman, but the kind that was neither fish nor fowl and was not needed.The female teacher Jisha is a strong person who embodies the spirit of the castle. Her duty is to say "no" to K;It can be said that she herself is the incarnation of the nihilistic wind of the castle, and her boyfriend is always in a state of trepidation because of her disposition.For such a person, one can imagine her hatred for the smart K.Miss Giza's torture of K is the castle's new torture for him. If K wants to prove that he is a qualified handyman and not a waste, he has to endure endless troubles, contempt, and physical hard labor, and become a servant and a servant who is beaten and scolded; not available.The cold light in Miss Giza's round eyes was never softened.Her boyfriend was oppressed by her, and he wanted to take all his anger out on K.See how he scolded K:

"You, handyman, are, of course, immediately dismissed for having committed this disgraceful duty; and I reserve the right to punish you further; pack up your bedding and get out of school at once! So we I just got rid of a big burden, and I can finally start class. Get out!" The castle has subjected K to this kind of brutal torture more than once, if it weren't for a bewitched guy like K, who would have endured it!The strange thing is that the purpose of the male teacher scolding K is not to drive him away immediately (the principle of the castle is that whether to go or not is up to K to decide), but to emphasize that he is a "waste" and there is no need to stay in the school. Everywhere is a burden. (Even if he has a "job" and a "family", the essence of the matter remains the same.) This is tantamount to saying to him: "You die, death is your only way out!" K does not want to die, he wants to die. Complete the great cause of entering the castle!He came all the way here, and he has already fought so much, how could he die!Once again he faced the gloomy castle without bowing his head, and once again said to himself: "I exist, and the castle also exists! I am a lowly man, and I am not fair, but I do feel the castle, and I am trying to enter it. Struggle.' Why did Tborg torture K through one intermediary after another? If he really wanted to deny his existence, wouldn't it be over to drive him away? This again comes down to the castle's will, that weird will. Yes. The village chief, Miss Jisha, and the lady’s boyfriend are all bluffing. No one really wants to drive K away, but just wants him to suffer more severe torture, and wants him to be more and more real. He felt the castle and himself deeply and deeply. It was because of this that the fat cat's sharp claws scratched the blood on the back of K's hand. What could be more real than this piercing pain, Ji Ms. Sha really deserves to be a strict and fair teacher. After losing her job in the school, the interrogation did not relax in the slightest, and the environment worsened. When Frieda broke up with him viciously, he wailed like this:

"Oh, if only we had gone away that night, so we could be in a safe place now, together forever, with your hand always by my side, and I could grab it if I reached out. to; how much I need you by my side; since I've known you, how lonely I feel when you're not there; believe me, I want you always by my side, that's the only thing I do all day Dream." It was useless to say anything, and he didn't even have time to feel sorry for himself.See, the foundations have been emptied beneath his feet, all those even flimsy grounds have been lost, and now he really is nothing.what is heCan he find a speck of evidence?Perhaps because of the imminence of the fatal torture, or because he was nothing but light, the foreigner threw himself into the trap of the gallows, and faced the official representing the god of death, and simulated it once. Last Judgment.The real judgment is always postponed, and as long as it is within the confines of the castle, there can only be this simulated test.It can be seen that the torture mechanism of the castle is set up for survivors, and it excludes death. Survivors who enter this mechanism will be locked in layers like K, and will continue to experience catastrophic severe torture and the gallows. previous horror.

(Biggle) "Think about it, the common people who have never seen it before, are looking forward to it every day, are really eager to see it through, but are not unreasonably regarded as unattainable, and now they are sitting in your seat alive. In front of my eyes... Strictly speaking, man was in a desperate situation; strictly speaking, he was very lucky. " Bigger was talking about himself, and he was implying K's situation.In the face of people's blind momentum, the executor of the system is helpless (or shows helplessness); he can only hold a stalemate with people, and this stalemate process itself is a kind of luck, not only for him, but also for the intruders.If there is no castle mechanism, how can people get the pleasure before execution?This eerie feeling is still pleasure in nature, because the experience will suggest that it is all just a simulation.The moment the prisoner put his neck into the snare, his heart immediately clinged to the castle. He was not only impressed by the strength of the castle, but also moved by the fact that he dared to fight against the castle.He, this little foreigner, this scumbag everyone despises, against the colossus above him hidden in the mist, into which no one can enter!Who could sentence such a man to death?Is the castle really going to sentence him to death, or is he going to experience bliss in this mischief?As K becomes more and more unbelieving, Castle becomes more and more humorous, and these two aspects develop in parallel.No matter what K does, the castle will always have strange tricks to deal with him; no matter how the castle deals with him, K still does not back down as always.Through the superficial chaos of things, readers can always hear the poet's vaguely vicious laughter, a special kind of heavenly laughter, coming from afar.

In the face of the ubiquitous, absolutely negative, harsh and even cruel mechanism, human existence seems vulnerable, but only on the surface.Life, with its meanness, its obscenity, its endurance, with its terrible knack for surviving poison, still makes that resistance.Maybe every obstacle crushed K, but it was not so easy for K to perish or give up; the superficial weakness was just an illusion, just like those seaweeds that multiplied rapidly, no matter how ruthless they were wiped out, they could not be wiped out. Plants, while God endowed them with the right to exist, let them encounter disasters of extinction time and time again.

April 29, 1998, Yingcai Garden