Kafka's Before The Law

After reading Kafka’s ironic and devastating parable, “Before the Law,” certain new insights were gleaned especially when one consideres it from subjective reality. Subjective reality is the variety of perspectives different individuals have on the same event. The man in “Before the Law” saw the law as a commodity that “should be always available to everyone” (Kafka, Before the Law, 1,1). He spends his entire life just to catch a glimpse of the Law. He uses up all his resources, “spends all that he has,” and never takes the time to settle down and have a family (1,1). Eventually, he becomes so fixated with the first doorkeeper that he sees him as the “sole obstacle barring his way,” even though he was warned of the many other doorkeepers (1,1).

The man feels entitled to see the Law and can not grip the reality that he is not allowed. The cruel reality transformed the man into a bitter recluse, who wasted his whole life for something he does not even know was worth his time.The doorkeeper has an entire different perspective on the situation. The doorkeeper sees protecting the Law as part of his mundane daily routine. The doorkeeper is not a cruel fellow as he “gives him a stool” for while he waits (1,1). The fact that the Law should not be available to everyone is never questioned by the doorkeeper. He acts as an automaton, simply not getting emotionally invested in the man on his mission to see the Law. He never pities the man and accepts all his bribery given just so the man “won’t feel that [he hasn’t] tried everything (1,1). The doorkeeper acts as an appendage of the government, blocking people from their everyday rights but refusing to take the time and explain why. The Law itself is a physical object in this parable, rather than a concept. Only the most exclusive people can even peek at the