Topic #1 by Patty Swing

Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” is about a countryman trying to gain access to the law, but he is being blocked by a gatekeeper. He waits for days and months and years until he grows old and never makes it past the gate to the law. In order to analyze the short story, my group agreed upon the Marxist critique that relates to socioeconomic classes, however, another reading that is more convincing is the formalism critique.

            The theory of social classes in the Marxist Critique can easily be connected to the relationship between the countryman and the gatekeeper, with the former being the powerless victim and the latter being the powerful oppressor. “[The] law should always be accessible for everyone,” the man thinks to himself and it sounds like a rational assumption. However, that is not the case. He is given limitations with no clear way to overcome them. The man was prepped for this journey and he had “[spent] everything, no matter how valuable, to win over the gatekeeper,” a gesture that was futile. I compared this to the idea of the American Dream. The law is dangled in front of the man, much like the American Dream is dangled in front of immigrants. They move their entire life and prepare themselves to reach this goal, which is the law in the country man’s scenario, only to be met with barriers due to their socioeconomic class. It puts a stop on their journey, much like the gate and its keeper holds the countryman from continuing on his journey. This critique fits like a puzzle piece until the end where the gate closes when he is near his death. It would make more sense if the gate stayed open, but because it was just meant for him and not the likes of him, it made the reasoning seem inadequate, which is why I believe the formalism criticism is more fitting to use as a study.

            In class, someone explained how “Before the Law” can be a metaphor for someone trying to overcome their obstacles, except shows an opposing scenario. The story presents the countryman, a character with a destination and goal in mind, who encounters an expected obstacle that only leads to even more, even harder obstacles—the other gates and their gatekeepers. However, while reading the story, the gatekeeper tells him he can go through the gate, but he warns him that there are more powerful gatekeepers ahead. The man, hearing this, does not even bother to go through. He believes that getting the permission of the gatekeeper would help ease the journey, but that is not the case. In a real-world comparison, this man symbolizes anyone who thinks they will get to their goal by going down the easier path. Frankly, it will not get anyone anywhere, except for the few lucky ones. He could have gone through the gate and faced the other gatekeepers, despite how powerful they were, but at least he would have gone somewhere. His life would not have been diminished to that tiny and lonely stool with an obstacle that humors him. When he finally finds out that the gate was only his overcome, it was too late and the gatekeeper, seeing how helpless the countryman had grown to be, the only next step he could do is close it. I believe that this manner of reading is a little more hard-hitting than any of the others.

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