Interpreting Parables of Franz Kafka

The parables of Franz Kafka are composed of basic stories and experiences of people. Therefore, it is possible to give meaning to his parables from different point of views. As the stories are easily understood and read by the reader and they include general experience and behaviors of people, the interpretations of each person can be different. The stories are easy to read, easy to understand but interpreting different ideas from a single parable is not so easy as it is based on different point of views of the reader.

  

Likewise, “Before the Law” can be interpreted in many ways. One of my interpretations can be about the theme of law. The idea is that man waits for the law to come to him. However, he should not just sit down and hopes that one day he will get his rights. The several government levels can be seen as gatekeepers. As everyone has a right for justice, a person should desire to stand up for his rights (to the gatekeeper) and do the things which are necessary to get legal system. Justice should be available to everyone regardless of the status of class so each person should fight for their rights rather than waiting for law to come them. Thus, this idea can be seen a way of interpretation.   Another way of interpreting is about the how a person should behave through the way of reaching goals so it is about future goal and human behaviour. The gatekeepers can be seen as future goals that a person desires to reach. However, if a person waits for his goals to reach them at the end, it is not possible to get what they want. If a person is so deeply focused on his goals that he could wait for it until the time of his death, he should also be able to fight so as to pass the gatekeepers. It is kind of ironic that a man has indispensable goal which could cause wasting his lifetime but he only waits for it to come. Therefore, in this interpretation, it could be said that if a man really desires for a result from his goal, he should act and behave based on his future goal instead of waiting for his dreams to come to him.

From the interpretations given above, I think there are other interpretations that could be found by other readers.  Specifically about my interpretations, it could be easily understood that their themes are totally different. One of them is about the theme of law, fighting for rights and social status and other is about the future goal, human behaviour and actions. It demonstrates the fact that there could be different interpretations according to different point of views of the reader.