Punishment and Justice in The Judgment and In the Penal Colony (Essay Sample)

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Punishment and Justice in The Judgment and In the Penal Colony
In one of his most famous quotes, Kafka believes that a story must be like an axe to the frozen sea within us. The quote itself explains his beliefs about literature. He believed that literature has the power of transforming people by opening the depths that are within. Any reader of any story is expected to identify its real meaning. Therefore, it was the thoughts of Kafka that one should understand the hidden meaning of nature. Although Kafka’s works dominate the truth and justice, the story about penal colony expresses a profound truth about the human suffering as a part of nature.
The stories, “The Judgment” and “In the Penal Colony” are one of the arts that Kafka thought. On the one hand, “The Judgment” was the breakthrough story that he wrote during one evening in the month of September. The story begins with George writing a letter to his friend who left his home country to start a business in Russia. Georg wants to tell his friend about what has been happening at home and inform him of his engagement with Frieda Brandenfeld. Before sending the letter, Georg decides to check on his father and inform him of his writing to his friend. An argument arises about Georg’s friend where his father accuses him that he has been deceiving him about the ongoing of the business. Despite his father being sick where Frieda does not appreciate George’s love and care for him. When George makes his father lie down, his father claims that George wants to him dead. His father acknowledges knowing George’s friend and accuses him of him of ignoring him since he moved to Russia. In the end, his father accuses Georg of being selfish, and finally he sentences him to death. Georg drowns himself in a river to show the love he had for his parents.
On the other hand, “In the Penal Colony” is a story about an explorer who travels from his hometown to witness the kind of justice administered by the brutal machine for the first time in his life. The brutal machine is used for people who have broken some laws. Every detail about the machine is narrated to the explorer by the officer and says that the condemned is guilty. The story revolves around the system used to administer justice in the Colony County. The judicial system that administers the punishment and justice is based on the idea that “Guilt is always beyond a doubt” (Mauro para.16) Those who have been accused are guilty as judged. However, the trial is not at any court nor are they given an opportunity to prove their innocence. Instead, they are sentenced to death at the order of the judge in a brutal way using the brutal machine. The explorer finds the procedure unjust and inhumane. The commandant begs him to tell the governor to allow the procedure to be in existence, something that the explorer denies.
Both stories have some similarities about punishment and justice. They both depict the conflicts between two different worlds. “The Judgment” is about the father and the son while “In the Penal Colony” is about the accused and the judge. The worlds of the son and the accused are of vital existence where it is only probability and reservation that rules. On the contrary, the father and judge are the worlds where every step taken has undesirable importance because they are taken under the considerations of summons. In addition, the stories depict the nature of punishment and justice. The discourse of judgment and punishment is depicted to be weak and illogical but necessary. The societies of the stories foster the degradation of ...