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The Soldier
A man sentenced to death for failing to wake up and salute his captain’s door, an arbitrary and absurd conviction. The prisoner is described as a stupid and naïve individual, representative of the average person in the penal colony who lacks power. The prisoner is guarded by the soldier and sentenced to die by the officer. Before being put on the apparatus, the prisoner takes a keen interest in the officer’s explanation of the machine despite the fact that he does not understand the officer’s French. The prisoner delights in his freedom when the officer eventually sets him loose and chooses to sacrifice himself to the apparatus instead. As he sees the officer beginning to be tortured, the prisoner senses that change is coming to the penal colony and attributes this shift to the explorer. The prisoner also tries to escape from the penal colony with the soldier by running after the explorer, who nevertheless leaves the pair standing on the dock. The prisoner recognizes that the change he feels coming to the penal colony is not enough to want to make him stay, but he is unable to escape despite his newfound freedom. This suggests a certain insurmountable class or cultural hierarchy between the prisoner and explorer, who can come and go as he chooses.
The Prisoner Quotes in In the Penal Colony
The In the Penal Colony quotes below are all either spoken by The Prisoner or refer to The Prisoner. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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In the Penal Colony Quotes
“For I was the former Commandant's assistant in all-penal matters and know more about the apparatus than anyone. My guiding principle is this: Guilt is never to be doubted. Other courts cannot follow that principle, for they consist of several opinions and have higher courts to scrutinize them.”
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Diverting from his tour of the apparatus, the officer takes a moment to explain the prisoner’s crime and the system of justice that he follows to the explorer. This is a system he learned from the old Commandant, one that enforces punishment for the sake of maintaining the social order rather than rehabilitation. In this aside, the officer reveals that the foundation of the traditional judicial system in the penal colony rests on the fact that guilt is assumed. Therefore, those accused of crimes—ostensibly always low status prisoners subject to the whims of other officers—are automatically guilty and have no Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque err
“Enlightenment comes to the most dull-witted. It begins around the eyes. From there it radiates. A moment that might tempt one to get under the Harrow oneself. Nothing more happens than that the man begins to understand the inscription, he purses his mouth as if he were listening. You have seen how difficult it is to decipher the script with one's eyes; but our man deciphers it with his wounds.”
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As the officer continues to explain the workings of the apparatus to the explorer, he points out a crucial part of the machine—the way it reveals “justice” to the prisoner. Instead of simply being told their sentence, the guilty learn the reason they are strapped to the apparatus through its excruciating work, which carves the sentence into their body with needles over and over again. What’s significant about this form of punishment is that its aim is not to offer any chance of rehabilitation or repentance to the person who committed an offense; their fate is clearly death. The reason Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inve
You are a foreigner, mind your own business. He could make no answer to that, unless he were to add that he was amazed at himself in this connection, for he traveled only as an observer, with no intention at all of altering other people's methods of administering justice. Yet here he found himself strongly tempted. The injustice of the procedure and the inhumanity of the execution were undeniable.
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The explorer, watching the officer and soldier begin to strap the prisoner to the apparatus, continues to have conflicted thoughts about his role in the proceedings. He wants to avoid conflict and assure himself he is simply a casual observer, yet he also understands that by not intervening he is complicit in an undeniable demonstration of cruelty. The explorer is struggling with his role in the penal colony as he is only guest, yet his Western sensibilities balk at the system of justice the officer has explained to him. The “inhumanity” of the procedure is a keen judgment against the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Mi
The condemned man especially seemed struck with the notion that some great change was impending. What had happened to him was now going to happen to the officer. Perhaps even to the very end. Apparently the foreign explorer had given the order for it. So this was revenge. Although he himself had not suffered to the end, he was to be revenged to the end. A broad, silent grin now appeared on his face and stayed there all the rest of the time.
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The prisoner, now freed from the apparatus, is slowly realizing that the officer is going to suffer the fate that was originally planned for himself. The dawning realization on the part of this member of the penal colony points to the bigger shift at work with the officer’s death—the social shift toward progress and away from the traditional authoritarian structures. The awakening of the prisoner also shows the extremity of the reversal of power at work as the officer dies. For the first time it appears that the prisoner is even able to formulate thoughts in response to things that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas.
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The Prisoner Character Timeline in In the Penal Colony
The timeline below shows where the character The Prisoner appears in In the Penal Colony. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
In the Penal Colony
...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...
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...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.”
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Learning of the prisoner’s sentence troubles the explorer, who becomes curious about the exact system of justice in the...
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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....
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...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...
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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...
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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...
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The prisoner vomits. this further infuriates the officer, who says that the new Commandant has a “mild...
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...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,...
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Admonishing the prisoner for being rough with the apparatus, the officer spells out his own sentence—"BE JUST!”—and shows...
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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...
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...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,...
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...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...
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The explorer, soldier, and prisoner return to the penal colony and visit a teahouse, which holds the grave of the...
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...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....
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