Mastrorilli 1

Bridget Mastrorilli

Dr. Ross

CMP-120

12 December 2016

The Language of Kafka

In the Penal Colony, is a text heavily influenced by the language it provides for each of

its protagonists. Kafka uses dialogue and speech to show a characters power within the text. He

does so by making almost all of the speaking characters: the Officer, the Soldier, the Traveler and

the Condemned Man, speak different languages; the language of the apparatus text, which only

the officer can decipher; and descriptions of characters voices. Kafka focuses on the characters

abilities to speak and to understand language to show their power roles throughout the story.

Kafka writes in a way that puts you inside the conversation between the Officer and the

Traveler. This in turn forces the Soldier and Condemned Man to be heard as a faint noise in the

background. These two characters do not possess power for themselves, and that is shown

through their given lines in the piece. The reader is seeing the story from this one sided point of

view because it is the only part of the story which was made understandable and elaborated on to

us by Kafka. He highlights a characters importance by giving them a voice, and this voice also

depicts their hierarchal powers as well. Kafka writes, the Officer spoke French, and clearly

neither the Soldier nor the Condemned Man understood the language (Kafka, p.5). Kafka takes

away every last drop of power by making them unable to participate in the upcoming

conversation because the characters we are meant to be watching, dont and cant talk to them.
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As well as taking away their voice, Kafka shows the characters using hand motions to

convey their thoughts, rather than language, to depict that these characters are not apart of the

privileged. Later he notes that the Condemned man all the time [was] pointing with his

forefinger in order to show something to the soldier (Kafka, p.23) as the machine began work

on the Officer. The Soldier and Condemned Mans lack of power is based on the language barrier

between them and the storys main characters. After the Officer is dead, the Traveler finally talks

with the Soldier, the Soldier pointed to one [house] and said, thats the tea house The old

man is buried here (Kafka, p. 25). Kafka doesnt tell us how the Traveler learned the native

language or when the Soldier learned French, but this interaction shows the aspects of power

related to each level/person, and the ability to speak to certain characters are linked to social

class/occupation.

Not only does the language barrier between characters show the power stances and

privileges that each character holds, but the written language also plays a huge role. As the

officer explains the apparatus to the Traveler, he shows him diagrams written by the Old

Commandant. These blueprints make absolutely no sense to anyone but the Officer, But its

clear (Kafka, p.10) he says, when the Traveler is confused and promises him You too will

finally understand it clearly (Kafka, p.10). The written language of the apparatus is not French,

nor the towns language, but a separate entity that only the Officer has knowledge of. The

Officers understanding of the apparatus holds a power over the Traveler, as well as over the

machine. The Officer brings out the diagrams one more time before his demise. Before

committing his suicide, he says, showing the diagram to the Traveler, Be just! it states Now
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you can read it (Kafka, p.21) the Traveler then responds, That could be, I do believe thats

written there (Kafka, p.21). Through the confusion of a different language, the Traveler cannot

read the diagram, but is forced to believe what the officer says is true. The apparatuses

connection with the Officer through writing also forges a symbiotic like relationship. The

machine is understood by only one person, as well as the Officer only being understood by his

device. The Officer believes he has complete power over his death because he alone possesses

the knowledge to understand the machines language.

Along with the verbal and textual elements of this piece, the sounds of voices and the

way they are described also shows the power that the character has over others. The New

Commandants voice is the only one described through out the story. The Officer envies the New

Commandants power, I have something of the Old Commandants power of persuasion, but I

completely lack his power, as a result the supporters have gone into hiding (Kafka, p.14). After

the Old Commandant died, the Officer believed he was the obvious choice for the title, but never

received it. This sparks the Officers resentment of the New Commandant. The Officer mocks the

Commandant fairly often, I hear his voicethe women call it a thunder voice (Kafka, p.16).

The New Commandant is a powerful and influential man, something that the officer is not, and

this only fuels his hatred more. Kafka use of the word thunder also links the New Commandant

to the nordic god, Thor, who controls thunder and lightning. Kai Evers writes in his work,

Violent modernists: the aesthetics of destruction in twentieth-century German literature, The

communicative act discloses what its speaker would have preferred to conceal they become

involuntary, metaphors and expose hidden aspects of the self (Evers, p. 126), the officer, by
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describing him this way, breathes more power into the commandant, an irony as the officer

definitely does not mean to give him more power than he already possesses.

In In the Penal Colony, Kafka uses the idea of speech and language to portray a

characters power and influence in the story, and to display shifts in that power. He explores this

through: the language barrier between the French-speaking men and the men native to the island,

which influences their power through the point of view of the story; the text of the apparatus,

which gives the Officer power over his situation through interpretation; and descriptions of

voice, which characterize those who have power. This focus on language and dialogue shows the

privilege that people with developed language and speak multiple languages face and the power

that goes along with that.

Word Count: 1020

Works Cited

Evers, Kai. Violent Modernists. Evanston, IL: Northwestern UP, 2013. Print.

Kafka, Franz. In the Penal Colony. Trans Ian Johnston. feedbooks.com.