Individual and Society Society’s norms and standards may sometimes require an individual to compromise with his/her conscience to be accepted in order to access the benefits provided in return. And, in fact, throughout time people have been willing to sacrifice anything in order to be accepted by others. As a result, in modern society the individuals have grown so increasingly selfish, that only an outsider can see the perversion of human values which has resulted from blind conformism. Franz Kafka in his two stories – Before the Law and The People Running By, stands as an outsider describing the society in which he lives, but which is disliked by him. In The People Running By author paints a vivid picture of an event which, by all moral standards requires the narrator to take action. However, in the story the witness only act so much as to invent excuses for his/her inertness. Narrator is faced with a moral dilemma and makes a decision not to sacrifice own comfort for the sake of another person’s well-being. He/she justifies such decision by the fact that an event just witnessed may as well mean something different form what has been implied, and, after all, we all “have a right to be tired”. For the members of today’s society such decision would not seem unusual or odd, for in our social order we came to believe that every person has a right for personal comfort which should not be disturbed. However, an author has described this case specifically for the purpose of forcing the reader to face the wickedness of such decision; thus, the author has placed himself outside the society which accepts and practices this way of thinking. In his story Before the Law, Kafka creates a parable which can be interpreted in the number of ways. One of the ways to see the ‘law’ in the story is to deduce that it refers to the set of ‘rules’ by which the society abides. A man from the country then can be seen as a man from outside the society. He, too, must accept the ‘law’ in order to enter. The frightful gatekeeper, however, would not let the man come in; just as our conscience would not let us act in a certain way. Without understanding the reason for being left outside a man is willing to spend all his life trying and waiting to be admitted because his desire is so strong. Similar to the way our blind desire to be accepted by others rules our lives a country man spends a lifetime trying to enter. The gatekeeper then hints that even the scarier gatekeepers are waiting for the man inside the ‘Law’ if he dares to enter. Likewise, in human life every individual may dare to fight his or her conscience, and, once having done so, may be faced with the necessity of doing it again and on the larger scale. The man in the story, however, dies without having reached his goal. Being blindly devoted to the ‘law’, he fails to see the corruption it would bring him, but refuses to accept the fight required for entrance. Having a benefit of being an ‘outsider’ he could have looked more closely to recognize what is waiting for him inside the ‘law’ and re-evaluate his desires. Works cited: Kafka, Franz. “Before the Law”. Johnstonia. 2002. Malaspina University-College. 7 July 2006. Kafka, Franz. “The People Running By”. An Intercourse with Ghosts. 20 Feb. 2000. 7 July 2006.