In the Penal Colony

The officer’s character is portrayed as an authoritarian antagonist of the story who serves as the executioner, dressed in a “heavy”, “tight-fitting, ceremonial uniform” (75-76). He is the “last remnant” and the “only adherent” of the penal system designed and established by the old commander. Throughout the story, his obsession with the machine that tortures and kills prisoners is evident. He looks at the machine with great awe and invites the traveler to do the same. He has been there right from “the beginning of the earliest prototypes” of the machine (75), and he is devoted to the creator its creator, the old commander. He worships him to the point that he wants everyone kneeling before him, as he believes that the colony owes its existence to the old commander. He feels sorry that the traveler was never able to meet the commander and hopes to lead a coup against the new leadership.

The officer also judges the prisoners, and the fundamental principle of all his judgments is “guilt is never in question” (80), depicting both his cruel treatment of subordinates and the lack of truth or logic in his system.