Before the Law

     My first playthrough of the game Before the Law mirrors Franz Kafka's Before the Law in that we are introduced to a person who strives for the law.  Upon meeting the gatekeeper and being denied entry, I chose to wait.  As the years go by my character from the country grows old and feeble.  In his last dying moment the gatekeeper reveals the gate exists only for this sole person from the country, which he has failed to pass through.  This traveler from the country represents someone who has not received much education and now strives for knowledge.  He is faced with an obstruction in the form of a gatekeeper, which symbolizes the roadblocks and challenges a person would face - be it his class, upbringing, or lack wealth - that would hinder him from attaining knowledge.  Instead of boldly pursuing his goals, investigation every avenue available to him, he chose to wait for the opportune moment to gain entry.  In this case fortune truly does favor the bold.  One can not just sit idly by waiting for chance to impart her grace; one must be active and persevere, knowing each challenge is a test of character, and upon passing it, builds that character.

     On my second playthrough, I chose to press on through the gate rather than wait for the gatekeeper's favor.  The gatekeeper, much like his authority, cracks like a mirror and he utters "Brave of you" before finally dissipating.  Much of the barricades in our life are self-imposed, with names like doubt, procrastination, fear written on a mirror over our reflection.  It is by breaking past this wall that we can see past ourselves to the world beyond.  As the person from the country continues on his course towards the law, or knowledge, he forsakes everything.  The world around him shudders and falls away as he becomes more removed from it; in his tunnel vision all he sees is the Law, far in the distance but with each labored step closer and closer.  As he reaches his goal, he finds the Law, in the form of a book, empty.  In his forced march, his many days of labor, he has attained no more knowledge than when he first started.  When an individual pursues a goal he must exercise caution in that he doesn't become devoured by it.  The character from the country strives so much for knowledge at the end of the path he fails to find it along the way, just by living.  As expressed in Eastern Philosophy, it is the journey that is to be exalted, not the destination.