In the Penal Colony Summary & Analysis

An officer is proudly showing an explorer a machine called the apparatus, which will be used for an execution on a penal colony situated on a tropical island. The explorer has agreed to watch the execution “merely out of politeness.” Behind the pair, a soldier guards a lethargic prisoner who will be executed for disobedient and insulting behavior to a military superior. Despite being heavily chained, the prisoner looks “like a submissive dog” who could be set free and then “whistled for when the execution was due to begin.” The officer is, too, weighed down in the tropical heat by his uniform that the explorer notes is unfit for the tropical heat.

Proudly detailing the functions of the apparatus, the officer explains that he helped with the development of the delicate machine but credit for its invention goes to the old Commandant, a leader who structured the whole society on the penal colony. The officer is worshipful as he describes the old Commandant’s work as “flawless” and clearly shows disdain for the new Commandant by suggesting that the new leader couldn’t come up with any better ideas even if he had “a thousand new schemes.” The explorer (who is disinterested and hardly listening) and officer hold their conversation in French, though this doesn’t deter the prisoner from also taking an interest in the officer’s explanations with “a kind of drowsy persistence.”

As the officer animatedly explains the various parts of the apparatus, its three different components—the Bed, the Designer, and the Harrow—the explorer becomes more interested in the machine. The officer shows contempt toward the new Commandant, who didn’t explain the procedure to the explorer in the way that the old Commandant always did for guests. Continuing to drone on, the officer explains the function of the apparatus is to write a prisoner’s sentence directly onto their body. The officer cuts his rant short and says that regardless, he is “certainly the best person to explain the procedure,” as he has the original drawings that the old Commandant made.

Learning of the prisoner’s sentence troubles the explorer, who becomes curious about the exact system of justice in the penal colony. The officer explains that he is both judge and executioner, that the prisoner had no defense, and that in his proceedings the officer assumes that “Guilt is never to be doubted.” However, this is a system that is beginning to be overturned by the new Commandant.

The officer continues to explain the exact nature of the prisoner’s crime: failing to wake up every hour to salute a captain’s door during the night. After discovering the prisoner’s disobedience, the captain whipped him. Instead of begging for forgiveness, though, the captain claims that the prisoner had screamed wildly, “Throw that whip away or I’ll eat you alive.” The officer explains that this is evidence enough, but he adds that if there were any defense, it would have been totally constructed of the prisoner’s lies. The officer switches the subject back to the apparatus, more eager to explain its function than the rule of law, as the explorer begins to be agitated by the proceedings.

Ready to be finished with the tour, the explorer exudes distaste for the officer and his system by rationalizes the methods of execution to himself as “extraordinary measures” that must be needed on a penal colony. However, he hopes that the new Commandant might intervene.  Satisfied with his explanation of the judicial system, the officer enthusiastically returns to the “essentials” of the apparatus. The guilty sentence is written on a script that is in turn written onto the flesh by the Harrow that is made of needles that can be seen through glass. To the horror of the explorer (who begins to feel more “culpable” in his role as an observer), the prisoner gets even closer to the apparatus. Not wanting the life of the prisoner to absorb the interest of the explorer from the apparatus, the officer rouses the dozing soldier to pull the prisoner back onto his feet.

Showing the explorer the “most important” part of the execution, the officer carefully reveals the guiding plans of the apparatus. So precious that only the officer himself can touch them, he lets the explorer look but the visitor cannot make out any words on the page. The officer explains that the sentence has to have lots of “embellishments” along with the script of the sentencing because the apparatus keeps a man alive for at least twelve hours, turning him over, staunching his blood, and feeding him to ensure he lives until the punishment is over.

Going into excruciating detail, the officer notes the tortured men are fed warm rice pap but lose the desire to eat in the sixth hour—the same time at which they achieve enlightenment. Breathlessly careening through his explanation, the officer continues explaining that ultimately a prisoner “deciphers” his sentence with his “wounds,” which he admits to the still silent explorer, is very hard work.

Beginning the work of the execution, the soldier haphazardly cuts off the clothing of the prisoner, leaving him surprised and naked as the soldier and the officer secure him to the apparatus. As a strap on the machine breaks, the officer complains about the lack of funds to keep the apparatus operating smoothly. Nostalgically pointing out that under the old Commandant there was “free access” to money when it came to maintaining the apparatus, the officer bitterly notes that the new Commandant is “attacking” the old ways of doing things by distributing inferior parts  for the apparatus and always with great delays.

As the officer and the soldier busy themselves with preparing the prisoner for execution, the explorer struggles with his role in the situation. He notes that it’s “ticklish to intervene in other people’s affairs” and imagines that if he objects his opinion will be dismissed because he is a foreigner. Yet, the explorer is “strongly tempted” to act because of the “undeniable” cruelty and injustice of the apparatus.

The prisoner vomits. this further infuriates the officer, who says that the new Commandant has a “mild doctrine” because he does not starve the prisoners before the execution. As the soldier futilely tries to clean the apparatus, the officer reveals that he is the “sole  advocate” to the old Commandant’s ways in the penal colony. Others that used to follow the old Commandant no longer continue to advocate for the apparatus because they have lost all interest, which makes them useless to the officer.

Whisking the explorer back to a better time, the officer describes the days of executions during the time of the old Commandant when there would be “hundreds of spectators” in attendance. The silent, glittering apparatus would do its work and the people would see that it was the work of “Justice.” The all-important sixth hour brought the spectators so close that there had to be spots reserved, sometimes only for children, to look at the “transfiguration” on the face of the man being tortured. The officer’s memory is so sweet and absorbing that he forgets who he’s talking to.

Embarrassed by the officer’s passion, the explorer remains quiet. Realizing it is quite hard to believe, the officer nonetheless argues that the current state of affairs—namely the emptiness of the valley and the decrepit apparatus—is shameful. The officer suspects that the new Commandant will use the authority and opinion of the explorer, a famous guest “conditioned by European ways of thought,” to finally put an end to executions using the apparatus.

The officer continues to rant, pointing out that the explorer is probably thinking that in Europe they haven’t used torture since “the Middle Ages.” The officer cautions the explorer, saying the new Commandant will twist anything the explorer says into a pretext to discontinuing the apparatus. Gleeful, the explorer explains that he indeed does disapprove of the apparatus but downplays his authority, saying his opinion would be “private” and if the new Commandant wants to end the use of the apparatus he already has the power to do so. 

The explorer’s resistance causes the officer to become even more fervent about the importance of preserving the apparatus. He bluntly pleads for the explorer to help him. When the explorer rebuffs saying he cannot help or “hinder” the officer, the latter gets even more insistent, encouraging the explorer to believe in himself and his authority. The officer lays out his plan: the explorer will make an eloquent speech when the new Commandant holds one of his conferences that are “public spectacles” open to the anyone. At the end of this rousing defense of the apparatus, or even a mild, subdued, defense, the new Commandant will see the error of his ways and humble himself before the system of the old Commandant.

Patronizing and steadfast in his convictions, the explorer says he is “touched” by the conviction of the officer but refuses to help him maintain the apparatus and the system it represents. The officer realizes that the explorer will not change his mind and that his “procedure” was not convincing. Dazed, he looks at the explorer like an “old man” looks at a young, foolish child. The officer releases the prisoner, telling him that he is free. Unsure of the reason for his change in fate, the prisoner is excited nonetheless and struggles on his own to break the straps of the apparatus.

Admonishing the prisoner for being rough with the apparatus, the officer spells out his own sentence—"BE JUST!”—and shows it to the explorer. As with the previous script, the explorer cannot read the words, but the officer is at least “partly satisfied” with the explorer’s efforts as he mounts the apparatus to input the new sentence.

The officer quickly and stoically strips naked, breaks his sword, and climbs onto the apparatus. The explorer is uncomfortable with the officer’s behavior but ultimately believes that the officer’s decision to execute himself is “the right thing” because it demonstrates his unflinching dedication to his judicial system.

After a brief bit of wrestling with the soldier, the prisoner, upon seeing the officer naked, realizes a change is at hand and “grins” at the revenge about to take place, attributing this change to the explorer’s intervention. With grace and an adept hand, the officer turns on the apparatus and demonstrates his working understanding and intimacy with the machine. So dedicated is the officer that he doesn’t need to be strapped down; the prisoner and soldier eagerly decide to do it anyway because it seems like the execution would be “incomplete” otherwise.

Starting of its own accord, the apparatus does its work, at first silently to the explorer, who is completely entranced before noticing the curious and rapt attention of the soldier and the prisoner. Seeing the men delighting in the execution makes the explorer disgusted. Finally using his authority, the explorer orders the two men to go home, but the prisoner begs to stay. Before his annoyance turns to violence, the explorer is distracted by the apparatus, which is no longer silent but quite loudly falling to pieces.

The explorer finally decides to act once he realizes the officer’s death will be “plain murder” rather than “exquisite torture.” Attempting in vain to free the officer from the bonds of the apparatus, the explorer receives help reluctantly from the soldier and prisoner. As they try to save the officer, the explorer gets a last glimpse of the officer’s face, which is absent of the “promised redemption” the man had suggested that prisoners attained on the apparatus. Despite this, the officer continues to look “calm and convinced” as the apparatus drives a spike through his head. The officer dies, and the apparatus finally stops working.

The explorer, soldier, and prisoner return to the penal colony and visit a teahouse, which holds the grave of the old Commandant. Speaking for the first time, the soldier tells the explorer that the “priest wouldn’t let him lie in the graveyard.” The explorer reads the old Commandant’s headstone, which is actually a prophecy that the leader will someday rise again and tells the adherents to “Have faith and wait!”

Before leaving the teahouse, the explorer distributes some coins to the dockworkers, a quiet, homely group of men who are just hanging out without any real purpose. The explorer quickly exits the teahouse, showing he has no interest in talking with anyone. The soldier and the prisoner run after the explorer, attempting to “force him” to take them off the penal colony. The explorer has no interest in saving the men, however. Instead, he threatens them with a rope as the boat leaves the dock, and the two men, perhaps scared or intimidated, don't try to follow him any further.