In The Penal Colony

In Franz Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony,” there is no presumption of innocence whatsoever; there is only presumption. “Innocent until proven guilty.” This presumption of innocence is considered to be the foundation of a civilized criminal justice system, as well as within the fundamental rights of mankind. The Officer says that “guilt is never to be doubted,” and because he was ordained the judge of the penal colony, there is no proper trial or “due process” needed, as all are guilty in the eyes of the one who judges (Kafka, p.198). If the punishments delivered to the guilty were less severe, than there would perhaps be fewer qualms about the system, however the “justice” dispensed by the machine is nowhere near reasonable or humane, dispensing

It is the Old Commandant and his vast skills and expertise that crafted the laws, established the colony, and assembled the machine to carry out his will by punishing those who opposed it (p.196). This is quite similar to how the omnipotent and omniscient God led the Israelites (through Moses) to their promised land, passed on his Commandments and laws to Moses and to other devout believers he deemed worthy throughout time, and struck down, often mercilessly in the Old Testament, those who were deemed wicked or opposed his will and laws. If the Old Commandant could be considered God in this situation, then the Officer is similar to believers who hold an extreme conviction and blind faith in God and his teachings, almost akin to higher ranking Church officials in the past. This comparison is confirmed by the intense reverence the Officer has for the Old Commandant and his ideology evidenced by the “glassy look” the Officer had whenever he recalled the deceased Commandant (p.196). The torture apparatus was used by the Old Commandant, and later the Officer, in order to enforce the laws he had created, employing macabre means to do so. Those who violated the commandments were all punished by the machine, no matter the severity of the violation thanks in part to the absolute authority held by the Officer as the judge, jury, and executioner. In this

Death in the Old Commandant’s era was a part of daily life, and it was a major spectacle at that. Death was seen as a regular occurrence, and the public executions held in the penal colony were heavily attended by the masses (p.208). With death, however, came “enlightenment” as the Officer called it, as the punishment delivered by the harrow becomes the atonement and forgiveness for the commandment broken by the executed (p.204). This is analogous to the view of God forgiving the multitude of sins held by a person upon his or her death. While the harsh conservatism of the old colony embraces death and its inescapability, the passive liberalness of the new colony does all it can to evade any brushes with mortality. In the New Commandant’s colony, death has lost most of the major significance it once held, as the people avoid the Officer’s executions and refuse to bare witness to the execution of the convicted, shunning the practice like it was a redheaded stepchild. Furthermore, in this new society that is removed of the “religion” of the old colony, death no longer holds the “enlightenment” that it once did, as evidenced by the lack of “redemption” in the Officer’s expression when he was murdered by the machine (p.224-225). This detachment to death is comparable to the circumvention of death in modern day society, as people do all they can to