Justice In Franz Kafka's 'In The Penal Colony'

Justice is generally agreed upon in the Western world as the upholding of moral rightness through authority’s supervision of the law. However, due to differences in laws and authority figures around the world, every individual has a unique set of moral values and ideas of what is “right.” As a result, one may develop an idea of justice that seems corrupt to someone who is familiar with a different system of laws. Franz Kafka presents this scenario in his short story, “In the Penal Colony.” The officer of the penal colony believes that justice is the fulfillment of what is morally right through the violent punishment of all persons suspicious of breaking the law. Kafka invites his readers to consider that this idea of justice that contrasts …show more content…
The explorer and those who share his Western beliefs see inhumanity in the torture that the apparatus inflicts upon the condemned. The officer suggests that the explorer may “object on principle to capital punishment in general” as his beliefs are Westernized, or “conditioned by European ways of thought” (Kafka 155). This refers to how, in Western nations like the United States, murder is only used as a punishment for criminal activity under very specific circumstances. In these nations, more humane, reformative methods of punishment like incarceration for a duration of time determined by the severity of one’s crime are preferred over impulsive, lethal punishments like the officer’s. If someone is ever sentenced to death in Western nations, it is due to the severity of the crime one has committed, and the method of execution is as quick and painless as possible. The officer’s punishments, on the other hand, do not seem to vary by the severity of the crime committed. Instead, any crime, no matter how seemingly trivial in comparison to another, is punishable by the same torturous death. The officer says, “Whatever commandment the prisoner has disobeyed is written upon his body by the Harrow” (Kafka 144). The phrase, “whatever commandment,” implies that any disobeyed law warrants extreme suffering on the criminal’s part, an idea that Westerners …show more content…
The officer condemns to death anyone brought to him on suspicion of breaking the law. He does not question the alleged, give him a chance to defend himself, nor does the officer search for evidence beyond one person’s claim. He simply believes that “Guilt is never to be doubted” (Kafka 145). This seems flawed to Western individuals who support a justice system that appreciates the value of human life. However, the officer seems to more greatly appreciate the value of human destruction. For instance, the officer exclaims on page 154, “How we all absorbed the look of transfiguration on the face of the sufferer, how we bathed our cheeks in the radiance of that justice, achieved at last and fading so quickly!” (Kafka). The officer is conveying a sense of captivation with the justice that is served at the suffering of the condemned. Human life is easily