Franz Kafka

In the Penal Colony

1.  a.  124-25 What is the condemned man’s crime?  What does this crime seem to say about how society is organized in this penal colony.  What seems to be the role of power?

·        

b.  125-27  The execution apparatus is automatic.  What “human apparatus” is also automatic according to the officer?  What does this analogy say about both apparatuses? 

2.   127-32 What sentence will the harrow inscribe on the condemned’s body?  How does the system of justice work in the penal colony?  How does the judge decide the truth or falsity of an accusation, the guilt or innocence of the accused?  What seems to be the purpose of not communicating the sentence to the accused or even telling him that he has been sentenced?   Who is the sentence’s message primarily for?  What is the importance of the moment of Enlightenment for the criminal?  And for those watching the execution?  130 What is gradually happening to the automatic apparatus and the system of organizing the penal colony in passing to a new commandment? 

·        

3.  131, 133- What is the traveler’s reaction to the officer’s explanation of the justice system and of the actions of the harrow on the body of the condemned?  Are the officer’s words doing what he thinks they are doing?  What does this say about what the supposedly “automatic” organization of the command structure of the colony.

4.  135- What do you make of the officer’s massive attention to the detail of the punishment and execution?  How can one interpret his temptation to lie down on the execution bed himself at the moment of “Enlightenment”?  Note that he refuses to obey his own superior, the new commandant.   What does this say about the justice system?  What does it say about the clear distinction that justice systems make between the judge and the accused?  What is at the heart of this system of justice and justice systems in general? [Think about the effect of lobbies  on Congress’s creation of “just” laws]

·         

5. 137-42 What is happening to the execution apparatus and justice system now that there is a new commandant?  141 What does the loss of support for this mode of judgment and execution over time say about inhumane systems of justice in general and the laws that they carry out? about the values of the society that glorifies them?  about the difference between the judge’s innocence and the guilt of the accused?

·         

6.  142-49 How do you interpret the officer’s details of the accusations that the new commandant might make against him and his system of justice, should the traveler let slip any doubts about that system?  What effect are his words likely to have on the traveler?   What is the officer doing to himself, perhaps despite himself, and to the execution apparatus and justice system that he is trying to maintain?

7.  149-56 Why do you believe the machine now works perfectly and on its own?  How does the machine soon begin to operate?   What seems to be the ultimate goal or product of this execution machine ?  and of the system of justice that it represents?

8.  156-7 What does the prophesy on the old Commandant’s grave say about the old justice system?  What does it implicitly say about the new system of justice? and about all systems of justice for Kafka?  What are the possible negative consequences of power in all justice systems?