To what does the “law” mean to you? To a woman assaulted on the street, the law is protection. To our kids growing up in America, the law is group of men and women that they aspire to be like when they grow up. Unless you are a teenager of course…then the law usually is come to thought of as a nuisance and unwanted. Though these are great interpretations of what the “law” is to others, in Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law”, it rather represents the distance between fear and freedom. Life or Death.
In this story, a man comes from the country to an open gate. On the other side of this gate sits what the man refers to as the law. Yet, there is a gatekeeper there to watch over it. The gatekeeper tells the man that it is possible for him to one day gain entry through the gate, but at this time he cannot obtain him access. The man then proceeds to spend the rest of his life at this gate waiting to be permitted to enter. While there, he continuously asks the gatekeeper to consent to letting him pass, and still he is not allowed. Many years later when the man is old and has gone blind, all he can see is the illumination form the gate. Nothing else, just pitch back darkness. Just as he is about to die he asks the gatekeeper why no one else had come to the gate in all of his years of waiting…the gatekeeper then responds by telling him this was his gate to enter and only his. He then closes the gate forever and the man seemingly dies without ever gaining entrance to the ‘law’.
Why is the man so weak? When he first approached the gate appears to have been wide open. Understandably, there is a gatekeeper who says, “If it tempts you so much try it in spite of my prohibition. But take note: I am powerful. And I am only the most lowly gatekeep...
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...nknown we can loose ourselves along the way. And, while obedience can have its place we must understand that it is okay to have our own thoughts and questions, not everything we are told is the “WAY”. The gate itself was not the obstacle in the story as the man thought, nor was the gatekeeper. The gate rather was there as a symbol and the gatekeeper was there as a test. Remember, freewill and courage are important qualities to hold in oneself and without them could be the difference between being a prisoner or being free. The difference between living an amazing life or slowly going to you death.
Works Cited
Kafka, Franz. “Before the Law.” Literature: A World of Writing. 1st ed. Boston: Longman, 2011. 26. Print
Milgram, Stanley. "The Perils of Obedience." Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, Brief Edition. 3rd ed. New York: Longman, 2009. 213. Print
The Dangers of Fear Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worst attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point where they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous examples used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were.
Baumrind, Diana. “Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience.” Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New Jersey: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 224-229. Print.
Legal consciousness refers to how people’s different conceptions of law determine whether they mobilize or resist the law (SOC216, Jan. 26). Susan S. Silbey and Patricia Ewick disclose three narratives of how people perceive the law: before the law, with the law and up against the law (2000). Individuals who are before the law fundamentally treat legality as an objective realm that is removed from their ordinary social lives (Silbey and Ewick 2000). They believe that the law is a hierarchical classification of rules that is both majestic and impartial (Silbey and Ewick 2000). In regards to ‘with the law’, legality is described and played as a game, in which existing rules can be arrayed accordingly and new rules can be invented in order to serve the individual’s interests (Silbey and Ewick 2000). Legality is described as a “terrain for tactical encounters” where
Fort, Keith. “The Function of Style in Franz Kafka’s ‘The Trial’.” Sewanee Review 72 (1964): 643-51. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard and Paula Kepos. Vol. 29. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1988. 198-200.
Sokel, Walter H. "Franz Kafka." European Writers. Ed. George Stade. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992. 847-75. Print. European Writers. Ward, Bruce K. "Giving Voice to Isaac: The Sacrificial Victim in Kafka's Trial." Shofar 22.2 (2004): 64+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. .
...him reach the truth. But he didn’t stop, he pushed on until he beat his dilemma. It was this mentality that helped him to succeed, he knew what he wanted to do and he wasn’t stopping until he achieved that.
The adage of the adage of the Reading good books can get schools in trouble. Urban Educational Journal, 12, 1-10. Salinger, J.D.
“Oh, I kept the first for another day!” Despite this wish he realizes he can never come back and take the untaken path because his choice will lead him in a different direction. He knows that “way leads on to way.” Realistically he doubts if he will ever come back because it is impossible to return to that place and make the same choice under similar circumstances because the original choice will have changed his life
Although he thought he escaped we were quickly reminded of the unfortunate reality of the story. He showed the will to live in every aspect, but unfortunately did not live up to the hero title he felt he was accustomed to. This story puts in perspective the thought of listening to the rules given, and the consequences that follow. Also, it gives the thought that you can escape reality, but you cannot escape the inevitable of reality coming back; even when you least expect
Aldiss, Brian W. “Franz Kafka: Overview.” St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers. Ed. Jay P. Pederson. 4th ed. New York: St. James Press, 1996.
ii Kafka, F. The Trial. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir. Introduction by George Steiner. New York, Schocken Books, 1992, 1.
Pawel, Ernst. A Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka. 2nd ed. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1984.
Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” is often referred to as a parable. Thus, it is logical to approach Kafka’s work as an allegory and search for the deeper meaning underneath the story. We can then try to uncover the identity of the characters; of the gatekeeper, the man from the country, and the Law and subsequently relating them to something that fits the example of the plot; a man’s confused search for god, a man’s quest for happiness but never accomplishing it, a academic’s quest for recognition which never comes. Any given number of innovative readers...
has no experience of life and is letting his appeal for the gypsy cloud his judgement. He gives his hand
According to Reference.com (2007), law is defined as: "rules of conduct of any organized society, however simple or small, that are enforced by threat of punishment if they are violated. Modern law has a wide sweep and regulates many branches of conduct." Essentially law is the rules and regulations that aid in governing conduct, handling disputes, and dealing with criminal actions.