Discuss disillusionment in "Before the Law."

"Before the Law" is a parable told by the character of K. in Kafka's The Trial. In it, a man seeks the law but is denied access through a doorway that leads to the law. The man waits there for many years, trying everything to gain entrance, even bribing the doorkeeper, but all to no avail. Finally, when the old man nears death, the doorkeeper tells him that the door is just for him, but as he'll soon be dead, he won't now be admitted anyway.
The parable reflects the profound disillusionment that many people feel in relation to the law. The man in the story seeks guidance from the law, yet it literally closes its door to him. The law is inaccessible. It is often deeply confusing; it gives the impression of not having been designed to provide justice despite its elevated self-image. This often forces people to make their own way in life, trusting their own values, their own sense of what is right and wrong, instead of relying on a formal system of rules.
The man in "Before the Law" has given the doorkeeper his complete trust, as many of us put trust in society's institutions. Yet his trust is violated, just as the trust of many in the law is violated, leading to widespread disillusionment and a sense that nothing will ever truly change, no matter how much trust people put in the law and all it represents.