In the Penal Colony Themes

"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,...

The execution machine at the center of "In the Penal Colony" seems ingeniously designed to inflict one of the most elaborate and horrific forms of suffering imaginable on the prisoners condemned to...

The penal colony of "In the Penal Colony" was established by a man – "the old Commandant" – who single-handedly designed an elaborate and brutal system of justice that tied the colony t...

The protagonist of "In the Penal Colony" is an explorer from Western Europe who travels the world to observe other cultures. He finds in the penal colony a system of justice so strange, grotesque,...

The officer in "In the Penal Colony" is strongly attached to the traditions – in particular, the system of justice – established by the colony's founder, and finds them perfect. Yet the...

One of the four characters in "In the Penal Colony," a prisoner, is depicted as more animal than human being. At once wild and submissive, fiercely violent and stupid, he has been sentenced to deat...