Blog 1: Topic #1 - Jenette Echeverria

            Franz Kafka’s parable “Before the Law” follows a man in his failed attempt to gain entry to the law. Although the parable follows a simple plot, the symbolism creates a more complex story. The parable can be interpreted in many different through the use of different literary criticisms or through different perspectives. In this post, I will be explaining two different readings of “Before the Law.” I will first explain my initial interpretation of the parable through the Marxist criticism of it as a story on class struggle, i.e., between the law and its people. Secondly, I will describe another interpretation of the parable where the law is a motif for the man’s dreams or goals within the parable.

            Based on the Marxist approach, “Before the Law” is a story about the struggle between the government and the people that it controls. Marxist criticism bases its analysis on “human interactions [being] economically driven and that the basic model of human progress is based on a struggle for power between different social classes.” (Gardner 173). In the parable, a “man from the country” wants to enter into the law, which is guarded by a “powerful” gatekeeper. The man asks to gain entry, but the gatekeeper refuses to let him enter. The man decides to “wait for permission” to enter. The man sits at the gate waiting for so long that he eventually dies. The man and the gatekeeper portray a power struggle between classes. The common man is trying to become involved in the government that controls him, but is denied access. The gatekeeper represents the powerful, rich men of politics that are not interested in a normal man’s concerns. For instance, even the gatekeeper’s appearance of a “fur coat, large pointed nose and his long… beard” illustrates the difference between government and people.  The Marxist approach depicts the parable of “Before the Law” as being a power struggle between the corrupt government and its people.

            Another interpretation of the parable is through the use of a motif of a man failing to achieve his dreams. Instead of defining “the Law” as the government or legal system, it could describe the man’s goal in life. The guards and gates blocking the man are the struggles he faces in order to accomplish the goal. The gatekeeper warns the man, “if it temps you so much, try it in spite of my prohibition. But take note: I am powerful. And I am only the most lowly gatekeeper.” (Kafka). The gatekeeper notices the man’s fascination with the law and tells the man that he should attempt to enter the law even though it will be difficult. The man instead decides to wait for explicit permission to enter. At the end of the story, the gatekeeper tells the dying man “here no one else can gain entry, since this entrance was assigned only to you. I’m going to close it now.” (Kafka). This interpretation better explains the ending of the story as the law being the path to reach the man’s potential but he never reached it. “Before the Law” is a tragedy of a man that timidly waits for life to be handed to him instead of working to achieve his dreams.

            In this blog post, I described two rational interpretations of Kafka’s “Before the Law” one through the Marxist approach and another based on the law as a symbol for the man’s dream. There are many different analyses for the parable because of the different interpretations of the symbols such as the law and gatekeepers.

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