EPEOLATRY

BOOK 4

In the Penal Colony (1919)

by Franz Kafka

"In the Penal Colony" revolves around the rather, um, unique system of justice and punishment used in the place where it is set. The judicial system of this penal colony is based on the idea that, as one character says, "Guilt is never to be doubted." The accused are never tried nor given an opportunity to defend themselves. Instead, they are simply put to death at the order of the judge in an elaborate and apparently brutal fashion.

This short story explores the practice 'Capital Punishment' in a terrific theme with surreal scenes describing primitiveness in a colony of conservative soldiers. The death machine is described so breath-takingly.