31 pages • 1 hour read
Franz KafkaIn the Penal Colony
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1919A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Irony
The story is filled with irony. The machine is described “as being humane, the most humane” apparatus when in reality, it is an inhumane torture machine (93). The officer’s remark that their “judgments don’t sound all that harsh” is highly ironic considering no convicted man survives the punishment (79). He is only frustrated that the machine “gets to be so fouled” after the execution, another instance of irony that highlights the bloody nature of the execution (82). Franz Kafka also employs situational irony by “turning […] the tables” (101). From the beginning, the officer is the one with control over the soldier and the prisoner. He sets up the machine to execute the prisoner but decides to execute himself. Now, he is at their mercy as they come “to strap him down” (101).
The idea of transparency of justice is also ironic and ridiculous in the penal colony. The old commander and the officer worked hard to make the harrow out of glass so that “everyone is able to see the process” (82), while the one who is being punished is not allowed to have a say or an insight into his own fate. The image of the glass harrow contrasts with the language barrier; the prisoner cannot understand his superiors at all.
Lastly, the use of the word “naturally” exudes irony. Nothing the officer finds natural is natural. While talking about the needles’ work, he claims, “naturally, everything is done artistically” (77); while explaining the execution process to the traveler, he adds, “naturally, [the prisoner has] first been stripped naked” (77). Finally, he asserts that “naturally, the prisoner doesn’t have any choice but to take it” (77). “Naturally” highlights the manmade aspects of authoritarianism, from the penal colony’s existence in and of itself to the power hierarchy and the torture device.
Metaphor
The story employs the metaphor of a “well-trained dog” (74) to describe the position of the condemned man. The comparison is drawn to suggest the prisoner’s resignation and inevitable obedience, like a pet. This suggests that the prisoner’s fate is already determined, and he is simply anticipating the officer’s cue to commence his execution. The narrator remarks, “[Y]ou could just as well set him loose and it would only be necessary to whistle at the start of the execution: he’d come at a trot” (74). Such behavior indicates the prisoner’s psychological imprisonment in addition to his physical confinement. Another example of metaphor is “a bear of a man” (74), which describes the prisoner’s appearance. Like the dog metaphor, comparing the prisoner to a bear dehumanizes him. The machine is also compared metaphorically with “a pigsty” (88), a place where pigs are kept that is known to be filthy.
Simile
The officer reminisces about the old days when everyone from the colony gathered to witness executions. The story uses a simile to reveal the officer’s lack of empathy as he compares the spectators to insects: “hundreds of spectators buzzing about like flies” (91). As a representative of the judicial system, the officer embodies its inability to consider people as humans. Similarly, he considers the prisoner’s situation “as simple as pie, just like they all are” (80). The officer regards the act of imposing the death penalty as a routine task. This also indicates that deciding people’s fate holds little significance to him.
The needles on the harrow also look “like the spike on a plow” (77), and the harrow “itself is shaped just like a human body” (81) with separate portions for legs, torso, and head. A harrow is a farm tool used to break up soil, and Kafka compares breaking the soil with breaking the body. Harrowing strips the soil of its true essence but stimulates growth by producing a seedbed. Similarly, the justice system breaks and digs up the body to inscribe the seeds of its judgment onto the prisoner.
Imagery
The story employs rich imagery to create vivid images of various objects and characters. The prisoner is described as a “well-trained dog” with “a forlorn and wasted look upon his countenance” and “bulging lips” (74, 79). The apparatus is illustrated as “a large and imposing stature” that “stands all alone” (77, 91). The “small valley with sandy soil” is deprived of greenery and is “surrounded on all sides by bare cliffs” (74), echoing the desolation of being tortured to death.
The tea house is portrayed as “a dank, low set, somewhat cave-like room” (104) with “a penetrating smell of cigarettes” that stain the ceiling and walls. The image asserts that even the free parts of the penal colony are dirty and neglected. The construction workers sitting in the tea house are depicted as “strong men” with “gleaming black beards” long enough to cover their faces (105), and their ripped shirts give them a “downtrodden” look. Their demeanor makes the prisoner and soldier’s attempted flight at the end understandable; there is no good way to live here.
Kafka also uses imagery to add dimension to the penal colony’s culture. The old commander’s grave has “a simple stone, set low” enough to be “hidden beneath a table” (105). The traveler has to stoop to read the inscription. This hidden grave indicates that the colony is ashamed of his legacy and represents the colony’s attempt to take on new methods.
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