Blog #1 Topic #1

After a discussion on Franz Kakfa’s “Before the Law”, my group and I came to an agreement that the reader response theory is the approach that is appropriate for this short story. One of the main reasons as to why we chose this approach out of all the others is because of the gaps within the story. There are many things we as the readers do not know, like who the characters are and where they have come from. We know nothing about the two characters that appear in the story, but as we continue to read, we slowly learn a bit more about them. This is an example of the idea that reading is a process, which supports the reader response theory.

Another main reason why we agreed upon this approach is because of the interaction between the author and the readers. This is a story where each reader’s unique insights can be brought out. As I am someone who usually just reads what I see, my interpretation of the story is literally a man trying to pass the gate to enter the law, which in this case I perceived as a new town or country. With this thought in mind, I found it hard to understand the deeper meaning of the story. All I knew was that the man wanted to pass the gate, and wasn’t allowed to even after he died. One of my group mates, however, introduced me to a new point of view. She mentioned the bible, and described the story in a whole new way that I would have never thought of myself. Instead of the gate representing a barrier to a new town, she said that this was the gate to heaven. When the man asked if he will be allowed to enter later on, the gatekeeper replied, “It is possible, but not now.” The gatekeeper didn’t allow the man to enter possibly because the man was still alive. At the end, when the man in dying, the gatekeeper tells him that “this entrance was assigned only to you,” as in it was the entry way to his heaven. These two different views on the story is why we came to agree on the reader response theory.

A different approach to this story is the Marxist criticism theory. This is another approach that is highly agreed upon while reading “Before the Law”. The text hinted at social status when it mentioned that the man is “from the country”. From this, we can assume that the man is poor, or in the lower class divisions. The gatekeeper, on the other hand, is wrapped up in a fur coat which we can assume defines his wealth. Not to mention that this certain gatekeeper is the “most lowly gatekeeper, [and] from room to room stand gatekeepers, each more powerful than the other”. This means that even though this gatekeeper is of higher social status compared to the man, there are more men with even higher statuses within the law.

While the Marxist criticism theory is a strong approach for this excerpt, I believe that reader response is a more feasible approach as it is more open to interpretation. When using the Marxist theory, you only focus on social status and class, which I feel is more on the obvious side, with the man being in the lower class and the gatekeeper in the higher class. With reader response, I think that each person’s way of interpreting the story is different in a way, and that makes the story more interesting.