The Castle · Chapter
XVII explained
K.
What happens
K. waits outside the Herrenhof with a group of clients for an audience with the secretary Erlanger. The group discusses the landlady's strict rules about waiting inside and the officials' demanding schedules. K. is eventually admitted, along with Gerstäcker, and they proceed through a narrow, brightly lit passage lined with small rooms occupied by secretaries. They find Erlanger asleep, and the servant advises them to wait until he rings.
Themes in this chapter
Bureaucracy and Authority
The elaborate procedures for meeting Erlanger, the officials' inflexible schedules, and the landlady's rules highlight the oppressive and arbitrary nature of authority.
Alienation and Isolation
K. stands outside in the dark with other clients, excluded from the inn, and the passage's cramped, noisy, and impersonal setting underscores his isolation.
Characters to notice
- K.
K. waits with the group for Erlanger, is recognized by Momus, and is led with Gerstäcker to Erlanger's room.
- Erlanger
The secretary who has come to the village for official business; he is found asleep in his room, having sacrificed his night for work.
- Gerstäcker
The carrier who greets K. and is also waiting for Erlanger, hoping to discuss a carting contract.
- Momus
He admits clients to Erlanger and remarks on K.'s earlier unwillingness to be examined.
- Jeremiah
He slips past Momus into Erlanger's room, claiming to be a waiter, and is greeted with a slap on the shoulder.
Key passages
“he could easily if he wished—and it would probably be more in accordance with the regulations too—he could easily send an undersecretary and let him draw up statements. Still, he usually refused to do this, he wanted to see and hear everything for himself, but for this purpose he had to sacrifice his nights, for in his official timetable there was no time allowed for journeys to the village.”
Erlanger could delegate the work to a subordinate, but he prefers to handle matters personally, even though it means working through the night because his schedule doesn't include trips to the village.
Explains the dedication and personal involvement of the secretary Erlanger, despite the bureaucratic constraints.
“It was certainly not the fault of Erlanger, who was always very accommodating, knew nothing about it, and would certainly be very annoyed if it were reported to him. It was the fault of the Herrenhof landlady, who in her positively morbid determination to be refined, wouldn’t suffer a lot of people to come into the Herrenhof at the same time.”
The clients blame the landlady's obsessive desire for refinement for their being forced to wait outside, not Erlanger, who is described as accommodating and unaware of the situation.
Highlights the landlady's petty tyranny and the clients' resentment toward her rules.