Blog Post 1

SUMMARY OF “BEFORE THE LAW by FRANZ KAFKA”

In “Before the Law”, Franz Kafka presents a setting where a man tries to gain entrance through a gate that leads to the “Law.” At the gate stands a gatekeeper who denies the man entry. The man tries a lot of things to please the gatekeeper, in order to gain access to the law. He makes numerous requests and is never granted access. The story continues with the man’s requests being denied and he ends up dying outside the gates. During my reading of Franz Kafka’s short story “Before the Law”, I noticed a recurring theme of socio economic exclusion. I decided to look at the text through a Marxist lens.

The allegorical story seems to be a critique on societies exclusion of the working class and minorities. In many societies, both past and present, minorities and working class citizens have to go through lengths to get their civil liberties. “The man from the country has not expected such difficulties: the law should always be accessible for everyone.” The “Law” could symbolize civil liberties, but as witnessed by the man from the country, acquiring such liberties is not as accessible to everyone. Kafka could be emphasizing the plight that such peoples face every day and how our lives are predestined based on our birth rights. Furthermore, in the story the man makes numerous kind requests and is respectful to the gatekeeper but is never granted access to law. This, further highlights that just like the man in the story, in society a lot of the time, the circumstances you are in(class) often defines what you receive (the law). In this case, the man’s unfortunate circumstances hinder his ability to have access to the law.

In addition to this, I believe a Marxist lens is the best way to analyse Before the Law because of how Kafka symbolizes the Caste system in this short story. “But take note: I am powerful. And I am only the most lowly gatekeeper. But from room to room stand gatekeepers, each more powerful than the other. I can’t endure even one glimpse of the third.” Kafka continues his critique on societies segregation of people of different castes. The gates are a metaphor of the boundaries and lines drawn between the classes. The fact that the gatekeeper cannot even see the third gate, shows the trials people have to take to move up the caste ladder. Lastly, Kafka could be calling on people to take action against such injustices. “allows him to sit down at the side in front of the gate. There he sits for days and years.” Change is hard to come across. You do not just sit by patiently and kindly, you have to fight for law. The story could be a motivational parable to show that if you come from a lower class, you have to fight for your civil liberties instead of waiting for them to come by and being nice to the authority.

During my groups discussion, we approached the short story with Psychological theories. We talked about how the story could be a critique on the lack of attention towards people with mental health problems. The man in the story could be representing someone with depression and tried to fight his way out of it but was not successful and ended up dying upset. The story could be emphasizing on how we need other people to help the mentally ill fight their battles.

 We furthered our discussion on how the story highlighted our pre-destined journey through life that we cannot control. “Here no one else can gain entry, since this entrance was assigned only to you. I’m going now to close it.” Every single person has a different fate and a different path. We further discussed on how Kafka is presenting a harsh truth that no matter what we do, how we act to others, our lives have already been predestined for us. Just like the man in the story we sometimes think, our circumstances may change but in realist we are stuck on one path that we cannot alter.

While the psychological theories produce sound evidence and take an interesting approach to the text, I feel that the story is better approached through Marxist theory as there is more convincing evidence and symbolism about class structure and struggle.