BP 4 – Gabriel Aguilar

The Penal Colony is a story about devotion, perseverance, and blind faith. It revolves around four characters who are gathered together to watch the process of a death sentence via a machine. This machine, which operates by scraping needle-like appendages across a victim’s body, marking them with the crime that they have committed, is extensively worshipped by the one who operates it, an officer who has been put in charge of it after the original maker had passed away. It’s unclear what kind of relationship the two had, however, we do know that the officer is obsessed with their former leader in an extremely unhealthy way, almost talking about them as if they were some sort of demigod.

One of the mysteries within the penal colony is the location of the colony itself. We get a few hints beyond what the Professor gave us in the prompt question. First, we know that while some of the denizens of this colony may be subject to religious fervor, or even just blind faith many see this as an old and wild ideology not worth respect. This means that the penal colony must take place somewhere that has a history of religion, or at least a heavy belief in hierarchy. This leads me to believe that it is based in either a Western European country or somewhere on the continent or surrounding islands of Asia. The second clue, highlighted by the professor is the teahouse, a sign of rich vegetation, or at least diverse herbal plants. This tea could have been in a couple of places, but I think the most likely based off of Kafka’s background would be within the UK. Finally, after a bit of research I learned that the “caned chair” was introduced in Europe in the 17th century, made by utilizing a plant that grew in Southeast Asia. I think that this cements the location of the Penal Colony as somewhere in the UK, most likely England. This would at least be the natural conclusion after learning this, except when you remember that Australia literally was a Penal Colony owned by the UK and very close to where cane was grown in Southeast Asia. This final piece of information, makes me believe that the Penal Colony is not within mainland UK, but is instead located in Australia.

Now that we’ve addressed the location of the Penal Colony as well as the machine at the heart of the story, we are able to further understand the story a bit easier, using our modern day lens to inform our perception of the story. We now know that the Penal Colony is in Australia, and that explains why the climate is so hot, especially for the officer who had been born in the UK. Which, honestly may inform some of his delusions, he is uncomfortable, and far away from home, grabbing onto the closest thing to him for some sense of normalcy during his time serving as a guard in the Penal Colony of Australia. This once was his commanding officer, and now that he is gone all he has is this machine that he has worked tirelessly on. When the threat of the machine’s dismantling is loomed over him, he decides to take his life. At first when reading this story I assumed that this was a complete breakdown of the man led by a pseudo religious belief system. However, as I come to understand the setting I think that this is actually his way of ending his life, which would be in some ways better than deserting his post within the military, as that would have consequences that were worse if not equal to what the machine could do to him. In this way the officer would have control over his life, a control that had been taken from him when he was sent to this new continent.

In conclusion, while the story is about devotion, perseverance, and blind faith, it presents itself in a very different way when you take into the account the setting of the story. The people here are military personnel who have been forced to an unfamiliar place and are expected to show devotion towards their government back home. The perseverance comes from the mental fortitude required to exist in a military post in a place you do not want to be, being thrust from your home is incredibly challenging, even if you do have the luxuries afforded to you as the higher class of a new civilization. Blind faith rears it’s head in many ways throughout the story, from the Officer’s faith in the machine, yes, but also from the soldier’s assuming a great reward upon their return from their post. This story is grim, and a reminder that while the actions of people can be heinous, there is almost always a reason for them, even if that reasoning does not in any way excuse the horrible actions that they take. As my father used to say, “You never know what someone else is going through.”