Analysis of Before the Law by Frantz Kafka - Essay Example

The law may be interpreted in very many ways. It may have a religious angle whereby the law represents a source of moral rightness and justice. This may mean that when one wants to find the right thing or justice, all they need to do is to make an effort. According to the story, it seems that justice is accessible to anyone with the audacity to take risks in order to find it. “the gate to the law stands open, as always…”1 (Kafka para 5). The man from the country had his chance, but he chose to sit down on it.

He was too afraid to make the effort to defy the dissenting voice of the doorkeeper and go through the gate like he was supposed to (Lima 183). That door had been his to go through but he seems to have been too afraid of the first obstacle he encountered to think of alternative ways to get in (Kafka, Corngold, and Greenberg 13). To this man, what he was looking for was so near, and yet so far. I think that the law in this case is a kind of guideline for how life should be lived. Accessing this guideline and knowing how to live is the only way to be happy.

The man in the parable does not know how to access the law and he is not creative enough to want to find out how he can gain entry (Kafka, Corngold, and Greenberg 16). In life, many people search for what they can do to live happily. Sometimes, they find the path leading to a happy life, but they cannot gain access to the happy life simply because someone is standing in their way. They may end up in the same spot waiting for the right time to come so that they may get a chance to go where they want, but that chance might never come (Lima 184).

This story impacts my life in many ways. The man from the country represents so many people who are too afraid to go the extra mile in search of the true meaning of life and happiness. “But the gatekeeper says he cannot grant him entry at the moment”2 (Kafka). Just like the man from the country, there are those people who believe every negative thing they hear. They know where to look but they do not have the courage to venture in. They instead listen to those voices around them that tell them that they cannot go in (Lima 187).

In the meantime, they spend so much of their time and resources trying to please these people who will never let them have the true happiness and contentment that they are looking for. I have learned from this story that I have the power to open and enter the gates through which I can find true satisfaction and happiness.