Blog Post #1 Topic #1- Mary Lopez

Freewill

Frank Kafka’s “Before the Law” talks of a countryman and his desperate efforts to gain access into the law. In this case, the law is represented in a physical manner. The man encounters a gatekeeper, who denies him entry. Instead of going against his will, the man makes the choice to stay and wait. Days and years past, and the countryman strives to bribe the gatekeeper to allow passage. The gatekeeper does not withdrawal, and reported, “I am taking this only so that you do not think you have failed to do nothing,” (Kafka). The man grows old and devotes his life to the focus of this specific gatekeeper. He becomes weak, and his eyesight is at the bare minimum. At this point, he has become so fragile, his life has reached it’s end. Within the last few moments of the man’s life, the gatekeeper announces, “Here no one can gain entry, since this entrance was assigned only to you. I’m going now to close it.”

The reading was nothing close to clear, but a message certainly got across. The first sentence in this short story brings up social class, which enabled me to utilize the “marxist criticism” approach to understand the story. Previously mentioned, the countryman simply accepted the withdrawal of entry to the law with no fight or struggle. This here, brings up the social norm of respect of authority between a civilian and anyone with a sense of power. He could have refused the gatekeeper’s denial and swiftly went in, but he chose not to. The man also tries to bribe the gatekeeper, in hopes of entry. This action is not surprising, because many in society are content with themselves if they think they “tried their hardest.” The gatekeeper did not let him in, but in the eyes of the man, he tried and that was all he could do. The last few sentences in this story were difficult to unravel. My understanding was that the countryman had access to the law the entire time, but the man did not do everything in his power to get himself within the gates. He could have easily walked in, but no, he decided not to. This goes to show that we all have control of the “roads” we take, but it is up to us if we are willing to fight for them.

“The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis, shares a similar, if not exact, theme to Kafka’s. In summary, an unnamed character is introduced to a “Grey Town”, waiting at a bus stop. The author reveals that the characters in the story are, in fact, ghosts and spirits. This town they are in resembles that of a state of purgatory, a place where the souls of the deceased go that is between Hell and Heaven. In the “Grey Town”, the characters are angry, petty, stubborn and miserable. They can not get past the complications they have endured in the real world before death. The narrator asks if these spirits will ever get to “see the light” or if they will live in sorrow, and George MacDonald, a Scottish author who plays himself in this story, reported that Heaven will always be open to those who are willing to free themselves and devote themselves to God. The spirits have the choice to stay in Hell or go to Heaven, it is up to no one but themselves to make that decision.

“The Great Divorce” is a more convincing piece of literature that supports the theme of “free will.” The story line was easier to depict and C.S. Lewis did a tremendous job allowing the reader to identify the theme simpler than Kafka’s work. “Before the Law” was not elaborate at all, allowing there to be many interpretations of the story. The reader had to “read between the lines” and make their own assumption about what was going on.

Word Count: 651