An Alternative Reading of "Before the Law," by Franz Kafka

Before discussing the text of the short story "Before the Law," by Franz Kafka, with my assigned group, I was having a difficult time fitting it into one of the critical approaches Gardner discusses in their chapter "Literary Criticism and Literary Theory." I myself could really see the Formalism and New Criticism approach as working for the story, however those in my group were more convinced that the Marxist Criticism approach was the best way to read the story. Both of these critical approaches work well for the story, and one isn't necessarily better than the other. However, in this blog post, I'll go a little bit more into detail about how I feel Formalism/New Criticism works for this story, even though I don't entirely feel as though it is the best approach to take.

    "Before the Law" is a (very) short story about an unnamed man attempting to "gain entry into the law" (Kafka 1). This involves going to a mysterious character known only as the Gatekeeper to ask permission for entry. The Gatekeeper refuses him entry, and the man ends up sitting in front of the gate for the rest of his life, repeatedly trying to persuade the Gatekeeper to let him in. However, the Gatekeeper always refuses, until the man is very old and about to die. At this point, the Gatekeeper tells him that "[t]his entrance was assigned only to [him, and he's] going now to close it" (Kafka 1). It is on this somewhat ominous note that the story ends. As it is a very short story with not a huge amount of plot or character descriptions, it was very difficult to fit it in with any of the critical approaches Gardner discusses in their chapter. My group, however, came up with many reasons as to why the Marxist approach worked so well with this story, and many of them centered around the power dynamic and struggle between the unnamed man and the Gatekeeper.

    Based on the economic theories of Karl Marx, the Marxist Criticism approach to reading literature states that "characters could be divided into powerful oppressors and their powerless victims" (Gardner 169). Although the Gatekeeper does nothing violent to the man and only states that he cannot be let into the law, there is a clear difference in power between the two. Even though there are apparently other Gatekeepers, the man forgets about them, as "this one seem[ed] to him the only obstacle for entry into the law" (Kafka 1). The man also attempts to bribe him by giving him gifts (possibly everything he has), but this does not work, either. The Marxist Criticism approach also applies to the economic status (implied or explicitly stated) of the characters in a text, as well, and my group also picked up on these clues as they read through the story. Although "Before the Law" does not describe the two characters or their economic statuses, the text seems to imply that the Gatekeeper is of a higher status than the man, as he wears a fur coat. However, this may not mean anything - the fur collar on the coat is stated to have fleas,  who don't help the man get past the Gatekeeper despite his attempts to bribe them, as well.

    The Marxist Criticism approach is a good way to read this story, but I am not entirely convinced it is the best one. As mentioned earlier, this story does not have a large amount of plot or character development at all, which makes using most of Gardner's Critical Approaches challenging. Formalism/New Criticism was, at first, the only critical way I was able to read this story. This approach focuses "attention on the formal elements of a literary text - things like structure, tone, characters, setting, symbols, and linguistic features" (Gardner 167). "Before the Law" definitely seems like the kind of story you could glean many different symbolic meanings from. For example, the man could symbolize humanity in general, attempting to gain access to knowledge or perhaps another plain of existence that we are not meant to. The latter especially feels more relevant to the story, especially with the Gatekeeper's last line about how the entrance to the law he was guarding was meant only for the man alone, and now that the man is dying, the gate is being closed. Those are the only symbolic takeaways I could think of off the top of my head for this story at the moment, although I know there are more out there.

    Marxist Criticism was the most popular critical approach the class as a whole used to read "Before the Law," but if I remember correctly, the Reader Response approach (which is basically however the particular reader interprets the story) was the second most popular, rather than Formalism/New Criticism. Even so, they are valid critical approaches to this story, and one way isn't more valid than the other. However, it appears as though many others in the class had the same issue with the story that I did: it just wasn't long or descriptive enough for us to make any of Gardner's critical approaches really fit!