blog #4

As the book suggests, as much as we like to think of ourselves as completely independent, nonconformist beings (or most of us do anyway) we can't escape the long arm of culture. It's just like the first day of class when we discussed brushing our teeth as a social norm. Who ever thinks of not brushing their teeth? I've even seen homeless people using there fingers and a public drinking fountains to brush their teeth.

I think that the countryman in "Before the law" is both a representation of "self" and "subject".
On one hand, he's very subversive to the doorman and yet he remains out of reach of the doorman's influence.
In other words, while he spends the better part of his life waiting for admitance from the doorman (the subject of), he doesn't go out of his way to get the doorman's approval (self).

The countryman can be seen as a example of "self" but the cost of a "unique and untouched" state, as Kafka illustrates, is solitude and the abandonment of all earthly possessions. Moreover, what's the point of the countryman's sacrafice? He got nothing out of it in the end and he was basically under the doorman's control via influence even if he is outwardly seeking it.

I think that we as people are the same way, we think of ourselves as independent, "nonconformist" beings but-as the book states- what's the point of being unique if no one knows it? We're always seeking approval even if we don't outwardly go looking for it, like the countryman and the doorman.