Within the parable is the very question of the meaning of life. It was also published separately in The Germanic Review, May, 1964. The Parable, “Before The Law” I won’t reproduce the parable in its entirety, but it can be found in The Trial. Everyone suggests he simply avoid a resolution as long as he possibly can and in making that suggestion presume he will ultimately be unsuccessful in proving his innocence. At every turn he is told presenting his case is a formality that will ultimately have no effect on the predetermined outcome, guilt. K devotes hours of his time and energy to show his innocence or to at least find someone to take his case as seriously as he does. The horror of K’s story in The Trial is he can never quite come to understand what he has done wrong and why it is everyone assumes he will eventually be found guilty. Accusations that threaten to ruin lives are looked at frivolously by everyone except the accused. In the mind of a bureaucrat, appearances are more important than explanations. Kafka’s writing accurately captures the feel of a worker trapped in bureaucratic servitude. Fortunately, his executor, Max Brod loved Kafka enough to ignore his request and his writings were published posthumously. He passed away leaving a instructions to his executor to destroy his writing without it being published. The Trial’s Bureaucratic Roots Kafka worked as a bureaucratic employee for several years and wrote to stay sane. The parable and explanation signals K’s fate. The priest provides the advice in the form of a Parable known as “The Parable of the Doorkeeper of the Law” or “Before the Law.” The meaning of the parable is somewhat ambiguous to K and pages are devoted to its explanation in the form of a conversation between the priest and K. Perhaps the only worthwhile advice comes to K from a chaplain associated with the court. Pressures stem from K’s dealings with the accusing “system,” the lawyers necessary to participate in the system, the social conditions surrounding the effect of the arrest on his employment, and the obvious effects on other accused seeking to prove their own innocence. Ultimately the burden on K is too much and the result of his inability to resolve the charge is self-destruction. All the while, he maintains his innocence. The story follows K over the course of the year after he is arrested as he struggles against the Law and the Court to resolve the charges made against him. Instead, K is told to await instructions from the Committee of Affairs.

He is arrested by two unidentified agents for an unidentified crime.The arresting agents, however, do not take K away.

The trial kafka book