In The Penal Colony

"In the Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka is a story I'm not a major fan of but it does have depth to it. With the explorer coming into the colony to see what they do and was instantly confused and disgusted. The executioner played the villain in this story, rightfully so, and the condemned man seemed not to care that his death was near. When the explorer found out that the condemned man did not know of his own sentence he realized that everyone there was being treated unfairly. The execution machine itself seemed to come straight out of a horror film. Its purpose is to make an example out of the man being executed but served nothing to me since the executed men never knew the reason why they were put under so much torture. The officer himself was disgusting in the way he practically glowed with glee as he explained the machine and how it worked. To think anyone enjoys torturing people who didn't even know their crime had me wanting to put him under the machine. The word sentence has lots of significance in the story for it means both the death penalty and what the execution machine does to the condemned men. The explorer not being able to read the sentence to me shows that the machine is just the worst device to use on setting an example of these men.