contrast essay between "eveline" by james joyce and "before the law" by franz kafka
...e opportunity to go with Frank and to start a new life. The fear of the unknown is what keeps her from leaving what she is already familiar with. She, in contrast to the man from the country, does make progress and pass one barrier which is the window. But she does not pass the second barrier which is an actual barrier between her and the opportunity for a new life, "she gripped Regev 2 with both hands at the iron railing"(23). Eveline does not overcome her fears and she stays sitting there without moving. She lets fear control her life. In contrast to the story "Eveline," "Before the Law" conveys the idea that fears governs the man from the country's life through other symbol which is the gate. The gate is what the man from the country looks through. He wonders what is inside that place that he wants to get into; it is the life that the man does not live. The man from the country is not like Eveline, he even does not get through the first barrier. He waits doing nothing but from time to time,"[he] bends over in order to see through the gate into the inside"(19). He is afraid to go through the gate, however he does try to bribe the gatekeeper and persuade him. But he does not take it any further, since he is scared of the unknown. He lets life pass him by, existing but not living. He does not take a risk in order to find out if he can or cannot defeat the gatekeeper- meaning his fears. In the story "Eveline," Eveline's father is her barrier, which prevents her from leaving her home and living her own life. Although she is not a little girl anymore, she is still intimidated by her father, "Even now, though she was over nineteen, she sometime felt herself in danger of her father violence"(22). Her father scares her, and that fear is what suppresses her spirit. She prefers to deal with the familiar situation and not to take a chance with something new. The fear of the unknown is strongly reinforced when she consider each side of the coin, "in her home anyway she had shelter and food; she had those whom she had known all her life about her"(21). The fact that Eveline is scared of her fat...