Rachel Flores

Option #1

ENL 10C

Professor Aimee Fountain

April 15, 2018

Money Therapy

                     The way in which “Before the Law” by Franza Kafka is organized, in both tone and contextual evidence, allows for there to be various interpretations as to what the different elements of the story symbolize and represent. Although our group stood alongside the shared consensus fixated towards the Marxist criticism as mentioned in Gardner’s “Literary Criticism and Theory”, as an individual, I found that the psychological theory fit the story in a more appropriate manner through allusions to the idea that the gatekeeper was merely a fragment of imagination on behalf of “the man”.

         “Before the law sits a gatekeeper. To this gatekeeper comes a man from the country who asks to gain entry into the law” are the first two lines of the story that introduce the initial idea of a previously established hierarchy. It is rather easy to state that the gatekeeper symbolizes more than just a man and mention how he represents a higher, authoritative class that has the power and ability to allow or deny any sort of entry into the ambiguous “law”. Whether the interpretation of the law be literal or more abstract, in any case, it stands as a destination with quality selection. According to Gardner, the Marxist criticism theory definition calls into question any instance in which there are “inequalities between characters” leading the simple mention of having a “man from the country” ask “to gain entry into the law” to the gatekeeper, trigger the automatic response to classify this story as part of the Marxist category. Further on, the theme of materiality comes into the picture as the plot describes the commitment this unknown man puts when offering over his possessions in exchange for entrance into the law, “The man…spends everything, no matter how valuable, to win over the gatekeeper”. This idea of endless effort symbolizes the complexity of what Karl Marx argued which revolved around how “human interactions are economically driven”. In simpler terms, the only reason factory workers worked side by side, was because they all shared the same goal; to earn money to sustain not only themselves and their families, but to indulge in capitalist needs. Along with this artificial interaction amongst co workers also comes the alienation of the workers self since success in life is essentially based off salary, thus, tracing back to the idea that more money does not in fact mean more happiness, and instead, according to Karl Marx, means a step further into self-alienation through the routine work performed on a scheduled basis. “Everyone strives after the law,” everyone strives after money and power, “so how is it that in these many years no one except me has requested entry?”, so how is it that humans dedicate their entire lives to monetary profit for survival without question?

                  The Marxist theory is a convincing title to place upon this story, but the ideas of the early Sigmund Freud make their way into the plot through a series of illogical aspects that remain sprinkled throughout the story. “Before the law sits a gatekeeper..” asks for more and as the plot unfolds, the dialogue presented is mostly thoughts on behalf of the man from the country, “he thinks about it and then asks if he will be allowed to come in later on” to which the gatekeeper replies with an uncertain “It is possible” reply. We later on see these ponderings on behalf of the man with varying actions that force the man to “sit for days and years” despite his many efforts, but never being able to get to the law. A continuous sense of self conflict, desire, and psychological struggle is presented as the gatekeeper notices that the man is persistent enough to wait and chooses to challenge the man on his behalf by telling him that he may try to enter, but there are yet harder and “each more powerful than the others” awaiting behind him. A sense of reverse psychology to emit the idea intimidation is presented in the way that he offers an entrance but mentions the barriers that stand in the way. As the story transgresses, a therapy-like scene appears when stating that “the gatekeeper often interrogates him briefly, questioning him about this homeland and many other things, but they are indifferent” much like a therapist would ask his/her patient indifferent questions to solve the personal crisis they go through or to figure out why the man wants to get into the law in the first place. As for the further hints of illusion the story mentions how the man “grows old” while there seems to be no indication of aging on behalf of the gatekeeper. Lastly, the end of this mans life is questioned when stated that during his last moments of life, “finally his eyesight grows weak, and he does not know whether things are relly darker around him” or if his eyes have been deceiving him this whole time and the gatekeeper does not exist. The gatekeeper was his internal consciousness that for some reason, did not permit him to enter into the law, why? Because he was not worthy and he was a guilty man who knew it.