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Penal Colony

            Franz Kafka was born in Prague, Bohemia, July 3, 1883 and died June 3, 1924 of tuberculosis at the age of 40. He came from a middle-class Jewish family. His father was a shopkeeper and tried to climb up the social ladder by working hard at his shop and sending Franz to a prestigious German high school. He went on to get a law degree and worked for two insurance companies (not at the same time) When his .tuberculosis got bad in 1917 he was put on temporary retirement with a pension. German was the language the upper class spoke and by sending Franz to German schools his father tried to disassociate from the lower class Jewish who lived in the ghetto. They were always moving from apartment to apartment advancing as the business grew. Franz had a very strained relationship with his father that traumatically affected his whole life. This is apparent in a letter to his father he wrote, "What was always incomprehensible to me was your total lack of feeling for the suffering and shame you could inflict on me with your words and judgments. It was as though you had no notion of your power" (Letter) . Max Brod and Franz met in college and became life long friends. It was Max who persuaded Franz to publish some of his work and it was Max who was responsible for most of the Kafka writings that are available today. Franz had entrusted his manuscripts to Max and in his last will and testament specified that all his work was to be destroyed. Instead Max had them published after Franz" death. Although he never married, he was engaged several times but always broke the engagement as the wedding day would approach. Most of the biographies about him tell of his problem with women and repulsion from sex and say that it was evident in his writings. In an entry in his diary he wrote "Coitus as the punishment for the happiness of being together" (Constructing). His romances and engagements are well documented and it is interesting to note his selection of books that he gave to Felice Bauer: "Tolstoy's diaries, the New and Old Testament, and Gerhart Hauptmann's "Fool in Christ Emanuel Quint'" (Times ).


Essays Related to Penal Colony

1. Comparing in the Penal Colonny to the Events of 9/11

... Frank Kafka. I have here several excerpts from newspaper and magazine articles which are generally about terrorism and torture. The device that was used in In the Penal Colony was a pointless device. There was no lesson to be learned and no benefit from it to anyone. It served no purpose. Likewise terrorism is a form ... lesson learned and no good done. This (though not quite on the same scale) is comparable to the killing machine devised by the general in In the Penal Colony. The person who was sentenced to be sentenced was to have their crime written on their body continuously for hours...

  • Word Count: 880
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Why Did the British Establish a Colony in Australia?

... to use halks, or old ships to hold prisoners. The hygiene & standards of living in these hulks were frightening. So on 18th August1786, the British government decided to set up a penal colony in New Holland. It was their way of getting rid of an unwanted part of society, with little chance of their return. This is reflected in the British government's stance ... whether to colonise Australia. Pine trees were the perfect timber to make ships out of, and flax was essential to make sails and ropes out of. Many people see Australia's colony started as a dumping ground for convicts but as yo...

  • Word Count: 594
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Justifying Murder in Crime and Punishment

... plot centers around his inner psychological turmoil brought on by his alienation of society and his decision to commit murder. Conversely, The Officer, In the Penal Colony, holds on dearly to the traditions of the former Commandant, while the rest of the colony seems to discard the old traditions and mock them. The Officer is devoted to the justice system of the old ... clear that Raskolnikov had finally decided to follow through with his plan. While Raskolnikov struggles with justifying his actions, the Officer is devoted to the penal colony's system of justice, which is represented by...

  • Word Count: 1363
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

4. William Penn and Colonial Pennsylvania

... jury composed of half Native Americans. In 1701, the Pennsylvania assembly started resisting Penn's proprietary authority and governance. Thus, he passed a new Frame called the Charter of Privileges enhancing the colony's governing. Thus, the new Frame strengthened the assembly's power, and gave it more constitutional parliamentary privileges. However, this frame, despite enhancing the upper house, was criticized for excluding the ... or prejudiced for their religious Persuasion or Practice in Matters of Faith and Worship." Moreover, he granted the colonists an enlightened penal system,...

  • Word Count: 1692
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Sacrafice in Kafka

In Franz Kafka's stories "The Metamorphosis", "In The Penal Colony", and "The Fasting-Artist", the protagonists, Gregor Samsa, the officer, and the fasting-artist, each make apparent sacrifices. These characters give their lives for others, but their deeds are unacknowledged ... and humanity. The officer's sacrifice, on the other hand, can hardly be considered humane, though it is just as self-directed. The penal colony's officer, who tries, prosecutes, sentences, and executes prisoners convicted of crimes such as insubordination, shows a voyager the colony's method of execution: death by a ...

  • Word Count: 1861
  • Approx Pages: 7

6. British policy concerning Ireland

... issues. II.2. Economic business. III. Orangeism in Ireland. Conclusion. Introduction. Modern Britain cannot be understood except as the centre of a vast finance-capitalist Empire. Within this context Ireland, Britain's oldest colony, occupies a special position. Ireland was never part of Britain: ethnically, politically and culturally her people are distinct. The effort of successive ruling classes in Britain to assert overlordship in Ireland ... , faced starvation and disease inside. The siege only ended on 28 July when William's fleet arrived and forced James' forces to retreat. After ...

  • Word Count: 8211
  • Approx Pages: 33
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Religion's Influence on America

... any other God but the LORD GOD he shall be put to death." (Eliot) Virginia had also passed several acts regarding religion in their colony. In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson pointed out that Virginians : had made it penal in parents to refuse to have their children baptized; had prohibited the unlawful assembling of Quakers; had made it ... penal for any master of a vessel to bring a Quaker into the state; had ordered those already here, and such as should come thereafter, to be imprisoned ... 157) These examples illustrate what Thomas Jefferson was trying to conv...

  • Word Count: 1960
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography

8. Film Summary - Riddick

... got off the planet Furya; however, his official records say: "Place of Birth: Unknown." Likewise, not a lot is known about where Riddick grew up, but he was educated in the penal system. Riddick does not remember his life on Furya, but he thinks that his mother left him in a liquor store trash bin because that is what his records say. I believe ... a convict, Riddick, over several years, avoided the people what wanted to kill or capture him; however, he was caught many times. He spent time in the Hubble Bay Penal Facility, Ribald S Correctional Institute, Tangiers Penal Colony, Butcher ...

  • Word Count: 2408
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Great Expectations

... poor conditions they became a problem in themselves (Taylor 143). In 1787, the government named transportation to Australia a regular punishment under the penal code (Newman 33); one year later the first shipment of prisoners landed in Botany Bay, the first penal colony on the continent (Newman 717). Some 150,000 people were sent there over the next 80 years (Newman 717). Conditions in colonies ... Britain had a Judicial presence, they were used as places of "Secondary Discipline" within the overall embrace of "Prison Discipline." The hulks were intermediate establishments between the c...

  • Word Count: 1954
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

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