Parweez Mohammad

Blog Post

    Franz Kafka’s story of “The Law” brings about very interesting elements and aspects that fit in with the various literary approaches we read about in the powerpoints and discussed in class. Our group decided that the key elements surrounding the story had much in line with the Marxist approach. The first element that aligned had to do with the entire hierarchy of gatekeepers, throughout the story we only get a glimpse of the first one with a tartar beard and a very powerful description. However, he mentions that there are a series of gatekeepers beyond him each that seems more powerful and of higher status, as he mentions that he can barely come to make eye contact with the third one. Within this area the job of the gatekeeper seems to be just that, there are no shifts, he is infinitely guarding the gate as his top priority. Another marxist symbol is the relation between the man and the gatekeeper, the man seems to be first off an immigrant attempting to obtain access to a foreign area, and who is subject to the rule of the gatekeeper, this part although not mentioned directly is influenced, by the man unknowingly giving power to the gatekeeper at the start. The constant battle between the two is the representation of the lower class attempting to seek access to the position and privilege of “The Law”. The third big aspect we pinned down with marxism was the interactions themselves, the man attempts to persuade the gatekeeper through various questions and means, and even trying to purchase or barter his way past the gate with the trinkets and valuables that he has in his possession. Everything on the surface reflects the ideas of immigrant or upstart businesses attempting to sell commodities that have already been recognized or are of no interest to those of the higher status and then being shut down by the law itself. We discussed the description of the traveler being abstract and non distinct as a way of connecting him to the general commonwealth and the progression of the story as a way of mentioning the quickness that comes from mercantilist trade and other such actions as opportunities arise and fall within moments and the reliance on personal assertion in order to establish oneself.

My personal idea surrounding this story surrounds the psychological approach, because I felt that there were a lot of correlation to incidents within the human mind. The idea of the gatekeeper I feel is representative of our inner minds and true selves. That we are constantly attempting to find inner access to these emotions that we keep so heavily buried beneath the locks that we find it hard to distinguish who we are in the first place. This is a key reason for why I believe the traveler remains so vague, because he is the mask placed by people who parade around the surface without showing who they truly are. These gates could also be representative of the many layers it takes to reach the real person. A key element that makes the psychological approach seem more valid is the timeless quality of the piece, since the guard seems to be outside the normal bonds of time. He is not reported to have aged at all while the man attempting to seek entry spends the entire span of his life trying to gain access to “The Law”. The location of the story could be a reflection of the inner mind and our repeated attempts to open up and discover this inner enlightenment and the travel through the early of the seven stages of grief which is sadness, loneliness, denial, and bargaining all which have taken place through the man's actions with the gatekeeper. The man also goes through these phases of murmuring and mumbling, which eventually degrade into rambling and cursing his fate which is a symbol of how weak the mental fortitude with progressing age and the regret that can build up on a fragile mind over a lifespan of hiding or not being able to release what is beyond the gate.