Before the Law

This fiction, "Before the Law", (Kafka, 2012), tells a compelling story of a man who is sole purpose is to go before the law. The author begins the story, "Before the Law stands a doorkeeper and how a man from the country comes to the doorkeeper to ask to be admitted to the Law", (Kafka, 2010).

After reading the short story, it became clear that the main idea of the story had nothing to do with the Law as we know the Law to be, but a man looking to meet is fate before his time; the Law is the term used to describe who it is that this man must meet to plead his case, and the doorkeeper is the one that the man must pass before going to the Law. The main idea of this story is about getting old and reflecting on our past, present and future, an old man who is ready to face death and desires and audience with death to speed up the process, to avoid the suffering and pain that he is experiencing. You can see the Law as being God, and the doorkeeper; the doorkeeper has denied the man entrance into the Law; the one who blocks and directs the way of those who are attempting to enter the Law. This is determined by the response of the doorkeeper when the man asks, Kafka (2010) writes, "if he will be allowed to enter later", and the response of the doorkeeper, "It's possible", "but not just now."