Before the Law

Ashlie Jow

Dr. Ryan Page

ENL 003

11 April 2016

Explication 1: Before the Law

Final Draft

Frank Kafka’s parable “Before the Law, is narrated from a third person perspective. It is the story of a man who wants to gain access to the Law but is continuously denied by an intimidating doorkeeper. Expecting to one day gain access to the law since “the law, he thinks, should surely be accessible at all times and to everyone” the man spends years waiting outside the Law, bribing and question the doorkeeper, but never gains access through the gate (Kafka, 3). At the moment of the man’s death, the doorkeeper explains that the gate was made just for him and shuts the gate. It seems the obvious theme of the story revolves around our access to law, justice, and freedom in society. However, a deeper analysis of the parable reveals a connection to pursuing our goals after multiple failures.

This parable makes the audience integrate the story into their own thinking by integrating the events that occurred with our own personal experiences. I would’ve forced my way through the gate, so why didn’t the man?  What is this Law he is seeking? He stands before the gate of the Law which is wide open, but inaccessible to him. We are not introduced or given any information as to what this ‘law’ may be. We do not know if we are dealing with divine law or human law. Since the man cannot be admitted, we are left to ask why this law is so important to the man, and why it is so inaccessible to him. We don’t know much about the man’s background but we can assume he lived in a society that he felt excluded in. By passing the gate, the man may feel he would be accepted into society.

As the reader, we are only given information about the doorkeepers and the acceptance of the man’s bribe. The doorkeeper explains to the man that he may disregard his commands but must be aware that there are more terrifying doorkeepers that he will encounter, each stronger than the prior. These doorkeepers represent levels of government. The first doorkeeper the man encounters is the lowest level, or the local government. “From hall to hall, there is one doorkeeper after another, each more powerful from the last” (3). It goes from the lowest level to the highest level of government.

We are not given any names for the man or the doorkeeper.  This may infer that the man in  the story is a generalization of mankind. The theme of this parable is that we can’t wait for the Law to come to us. If we sit and wait around to become a part of the Law, just as the man did, it will be too late for us to have a voice. Every person has a right to the law, but why didn’t this man?  We must be willing to stand up to the law, fight for our rights and pass this ‘gate’ to obtain justice. If we do not surpass the first doorkeeper, there will never be a change in the legal system that will work to our benefit. We, just as the man in the story, will waste our lives waiting for something to happen. Besides the doorkeeper’s words, there is no physical barrier that prohibits the man from entering the law, thus submitting to his authority.