ABSTRACT
In Kafka’s parable a man from the country arrives at the doorway to the Law, to which he seeks admission. His path is barred by a doorkeeper, who tells him that, although it is possible he will be allowed in later, he cannot enter now. Nor should he try: all the hallways are guarded, each by a doorkeeper more terrible than the last. The man from the country resolves to wait. Year after year he waits until, with death approaching, he thinks of a question he has never asked before. Why, he asks, since everyone seeks admission to the Law, has no one but he ever come to the door? “No one else could ever be admitted here,” replies the doorkeeper, “since this gate was made only for you. I am now going to shut it” (3-4).
