Download Gurke Joseph Dr. Lydia Fisher UNST-141G

Gurke Joseph
Dr. Lydia Fisher
UNST-141G-001
12 November 2014
Franz Kafka: In the Penal Colony and the Social Construction of Reality
In the Penal Colony is thought to be one of Franz Kafka’s most famous short
stories, containing a simple narrative but extremely ambiguous meaning. However, the
predominant themes of alienation and isolation of the individual cannot be overlooked.
These same themes can be found in the ideas of sociologists studying power and more
specifically, the social construction of reality. The story takes place on the outskirts of a
penal colony located in the tropics. The story only contains four characters, all addressed
by their occupations. A foreign explorer known as the Traveler arrives in the penal
colony under special permission and invitation to observe an execution procedure. He
shares the dialogue with the Officer, who describes the entire process behind the
execution. The Condemned man and Soldier are present from afar without much
contribution to the development of the story. The Traveler observes the progressive
deterioration of the machine used for the execution and the Officer. The story is written
through the perspective of the Traveler, giving the reader an outside perception on the
cultural and social conflicts in the penal colony. In his short story In the Penal Colony,
Franz Kafka utilizes the relationship between the machine and the Officer to illustrate the
disintegration of the social construct of reality through the interruption of social processes
meant to reconstruct and maintain the social world.
Before delving into the specific developments of the story, it is important to first
understand the initial development of the machine as a representation of a society’s belief
system and the Officer’s fixation on it. The machine was a cultural product created by the
old Commandant, and was a direct externalization of both him and the society that
surrounded it. It not only distinguished cultural boundaries, but also represented the entire
belief system of the penal colony under the old Commandant. This externalization of
social and cultural ideologies is, according to sociologists Peter L. Berger and Thomas
Luckmann, “the first ‘moment’ in the continuing dialectical process of the social
construction of reality…wherein individuals, by their own human activity, create their
social worlds” (264).
The machine is particularly significant for the Officer because he views it as a
direct externalization of himself. The Officer explained to the Traveler that under the old
Commandant the machine was a symbol of power and was respected throughout the
entire society, that “The entire valley was overflowing with people, even a day before the
execution…The whole society-and every high official had to attend-arranged itself
around the machine…The machine was freshly cleaned and glowed” (Kafka 12). The
Officer clearly experienced what Berger and Luckmann would term internalization, “a
kind of socialization by which the legitimation of the institutional order is assured” (236).
In other words, the Officer’s experiences with the machine were shared with a social
body that accepted the machine as a part of their social construction of reality.
There reaches a specific point in the story where the Traveler begins to realize
that the machine and social order it represented is beginning to fade away under the new
Commandant, as he witnesses the systematic breakdown of the machine and
consequently the Officer. It begins with something as simple as the strap on the machine
breaking off followed by the Officer’s quick and reassuring remark, “The machine is very
complicated. Now and then something has to tear or break. One shouldn’t let that detract
from one’s overall opinion” (Kafka 10). Shortly after, as a result of the Officer placing
the felt in the Condemned Man’s mouth, vomit covers the chamber of the machine.
Naturally the Officer exclaims, “This is all the Commandant’s fault!” as he attempts to
divert the blame of his failing system and maintain control of his reality. Out of
embarrassment for the condition of his beloved machine, the Officer admits to the
Traveler that his belief system and the old social order has almost all but passed, “This
process and execution, which you now have the opportunity to admire, have no more
open supporters in our colony. I am its only defender, just as I am the single advocate for
the legacy of the Old Commandant” (Kafka 12). The deteriorating condition of the
machine and the reminiscent thoughts of better times begin to push the Officer further
towards the understanding that the old social order is quickly disappearing around him.
Kafka presents this realization as a shift in the Officer’s attitude and personality, leading
to the moral decay of his character.
The climax of the story comes with the Officer’s acceptance that he can no longer
maintain his belief system, and that he is unable to adapt and recreate his social reality.
According to Berger and Luckmann, “the interruption of [social processes that recreate
and maintain social worlds] threatens the (objective and subjective) reality of the worlds
in question” (263). They continue to explain that, “each world requires a social ‘base’ for
its continuing existence as a world that is real to actual human beings” (263). The Officer
accepted that he could not live without the existence of the machine because the social
order and belief system it represented was in itself his ‘base’ of reality. With this, the
Officer climbs into the machine to experience his last moment with the cultural product
that represented everything he stood for. Moreover, the Traveler, instead of attempting to
stop the Officer or persuade him against martyrdom, understood his decision and
believed “…the Officer was now acting in a completely correct manner” and “In his
place, the Traveler would not have acted any differently” (Kafka 20).
The Officer experienced his reality falling apart around him as the old social order
gave into the new, and because he could not adapt to the changing environment he took
his own life with the machine he cherished. The social processes that are in place to
create a ‘base’ for humans’ social constructs of reality failed in the case of the Officer.
He grew up with one belief system and let that system take over his entire being, so when
it failed and broke apart he followed with it.
Bibliography
Kafka, Franz. “In the Penal Colony.” 1914. Trans. Ian Johnston. Feedbooks. Web. 20
Oct. 2014. <http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~davis/crs/e321/Kafka-PenalColony.pdf>.
Wallace, Ruth and Alison Wolf. “Peter Berger: The Social Construction of
Reality.” Contemporary Sociology Theory. 4th ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1995. 26269. Print.