In the Penal Colony

The story is filled with irony. The machine is described “as being humane, the most humane” apparatus when in reality, it is an inhumane torture machine (93). The officer’s remark that their “judgments don’t sound all that harsh” is highly ironic considering no convicted man survives the punishment (79). He is only frustrated that the machine “gets to be so fouled” after the execution, another instance of irony that highlights the bloody nature of the execution (82). Franz Kafka also employs situational irony by “turning […] the tables” (101). From the beginning, the officer is the one with control over the soldier and the prisoner. He sets up the machine to execute the prisoner but decides to execute himself. Now, he is at their mercy as they come “to strap him down” (101).

The idea of transparency of justice is also ironic and ridiculous in the penal colony. The old commander and the officer worked hard to make the harrow out of glass so that “everyone is able to see the process” (82), while the one who is being punished is not allowed to have a say or an insight into his own fate.