In the Penal Colony

The traveler is the ambiguous protagonist of “In the Penal Colony.” He appears to be a disinterested spectator who is “only there due to his desire please the commander” (74). This characterization immediately highlights the parallels between the traveler and the officer, though they are devoted to different commanders. As such, the traveler represents 20th-century progress, though his complicity with the penal colony’s violence highlights that this progress is not as humane as it proclaims to be. As such, Franz Kafka uses the traveler to highlight the futility of humanizing inherently brutal systems of power.

The traveler can speak French and is described as “an honored person, famous throughout the world for his research” by the officer (79). There is a lack of definite action and emotion from the traveler. Since he is new to everything in the colony, he is quiet and reserved. Initially, he barely listens to the officer’s explanations of the apparatus. However, the officer piques his curiosity through his detailed speech. The traveler’s idea of morality and justice is presented as different from the one practiced in the penal colony. Their justice system and punishment methods do not “really satisfy him” (81), yet he convinces himself that the right thing to do is to “keep quiet” because he is “just an outsider” (87).

Although the traveler does not find the prisoner’s punishment to be fair, he does not intervene. Likewise, on realizing the officer’s suicidal plan, he bites “his lips” but does not “say a word” (100). His harmful impartiality and cowardly way of handling the situation present him as an indifferent bystander who downplays his position to avoid intervening. Although he is against the punitive system and somewhat feels for the prisoner, he does not actively do anything to help him. Rather, he “threaten[s] to strike” (106) the soldier and the prisoner when they turn to him for rescue. With this, the traveler embodies the modern world’s hypocrisy regarding colonialism and violence. On the surface, the traveler is genteel and more compassionate, but his complacency allows horrific violence to occur, and his own brutal impulses emerge when he is asked for help. He thrives within the existing system and is not interested in changing it.

The prisoner, who is also referred to as the convicted man or the condemned man, is “a brute” who lacks all kinds of privileges and power. At the beginning of the story, he is described as “a bear of a man having a small forehead, a large mouth and unruly black hair” (74). This possibly alludes to phrenology, the pseudoscientific study of skull shapes that was experiencing renewed popularity in the early 20th century, particularly among eugenicists. Studies like phrenology aimed to find biological causes for criminality or deviance, linking to the officer’s claim that the prisoners are always guilty.

However, when the prisoner is placed under the harrow naked, the narrator claims, “in actuality this man [is] of a meager build” (86), highlighting his powerlessness. His character is portrayed as utterly submissive, like a “well-trained dog” (74). He is completely helpless, both enchained and unable to understand the officer’s language, and in his limited capacity, he tries to appear attentive. His eyes obediently follow “whatever it was at which the officer was pointing” even though he is not able to understand a word (77). He even feels “obliged” (99) to entertain the soldier who is holding his chains.

His circumstances highlight the penal colony’s absurdity and, by extension, the irrational violence of imperialism. He is assigned to a major, who requires him to salute his door every hour. His ridiculous duty hours made him look “forlorn and wasted” (74). One day he is “caught sleeping,” and this crime leads him to his execution, where he is not tried or given any explanation for his crime. With this, the prisoner represents the lowest classes in colonized societies, those forced to endure violence, cultural erasure, and enslavement.

In a plot twist, the officer frees the prisoner, and “for the first time that day the prisoner’s face looked like it was really alive” (98). He does not know what to do with his freedom, representing the way colonization affects the mind. Still, when the machine malfunctions during the officer’s execution, the traveler asks the prisoner and the soldier to help him with the machine. Both of them are unwilling to comply, and the prisoner “turn[s] his back on him entirely” (104) as he does not want to rescue his executioner. Another side effect of colonialism is alienation from one’s native culture, represented in the way the prisoner tries to escape on the traveler’s ship at the end of the story.

This character’s only description consists of his duty as a soldier. He is introduced merely as someone “standing guard, holding on to the heavy chain” of the prisoner (74). He is also disinterested in the proceedings; like the prisoner, he does not speak the same language as the officer or the traveler, so he stands outside of the process even as he must enforce it. Additionally, his disinterest indicates that he is accustomed to torture and violence.

He is, nonetheless, invested in his duty. Whenever he finds the officer’s and the traveler’s attention on the condemned man, he “tighten[s] his grip upon the chain” and jerks it violently (80). On the officer’s order, he cuts the prisoner’s clothes open with a knife. Later on, he uses the prisoner’s shirt to clean the mess and helps the officer with other arrangements. He is punished by the officer when he is not alert to the prisoner’s actions. Although he shares a language and culture with the prisoner, he aligns himself with the officer. As such, he represents the imperialist strategy of divide and conquer, empowering part of the oppressed population to dominate the rest and rewarding them for loyalty.

He remains silent through most of the story. It’s only near the end that he speaks to show the old commander’s grave to the traveler. Like all other characters, he is also seen exploiting the ones at his mercy. Even though the soldier knows the prisoner is having his last meal, he is seen “sticking his dirty hands” and “licking his finger clean” (91) with the prisoner’s porridge. The soldier also snatches the prisoner’s handkerchiefs away, which were taken by the officer earlier. His attempt to flee the penal colony with the traveler suggests his dissatisfaction with his duty and his current condition.