"Before the Law" Game vs Story

Franz Kafka's "Before the Law" and the game of the same name, shows how destructive inaction can be in one's life. The overwhelming feeling achieved by this short story was of wasted opportunities due to an inability to take actions based on one's own convictions. An image that stood out for me was the fur coat of the gatekeeper and the focus on the man being from the country. It seems by placing those seeking knowledge as the "country" folk and the ones in control of the knowledge as the fur lined "gatekeeper" that Kafka is also speaking to how the rich control knowledge not allowing those they deem unworthy to gain knowledge.

By playing the game I was given the option to control the "country man" and at first I followed with Kafka's story-line and waited, receiving a similar ending as in the story but added with it was the game creators commentary on the wastefulness of this waiting, inserting himself into not only the game but also supplying a voice missing in the short story.  The alternate ending allowed me to be in control of the Kafka's story, supplying a conscious voice to a flat character of the "country man". By allowing the player to have control one can subvert the gatekeeper's purpose, choosing instead to break through the doors keeping knowledge at bay. Unfortunately the ending advises that no knowledge is to be found as the book of law is empty - no words on the page. This ending is perverse as one would hope to have gained some sort knowledge  from the game-play but as with Kafka's piece and the other ending - there is no happy ending for those seeking knowledge; either they die from waiting for the knowledge to come to them or they find out the what they were seeking was a ghost, something that was never real to begin with.