“The traveller was thinking: it is always questionable to intervene decisively in strange circumstances. He was neither a citizen of the penal colony nor of the citizen of the state to which it belonged. If he wanted to condemn the execution or even hinder it, people could say to him: You are a foreigner-keep quiet. He would have nothing in response to that…” (Kafka 9). In In the Penal Colony the traveller was invited to witness an execution and provide his opinion. However, he is not aware of the influence that is opinion has. Travellers are used to observe societies, without directly altering them. He arrives at the penal colony unaware of it’s political state.. The passing of a leader, and the induction of a New Commandant has caused tension. …show more content…
As main characters, they are opposite foils of each other in many aspects. The main differences highlighted between the Officer and the Traveller revolve around their ideas of judicial systems. The Officer clearly supports the Old Commandant's violent and un-fair judicial system. He sees no issue with himself being an officer, judge, and executioner. When asked about the condemned man's knowledge of his own punishment the Officer responds, “It would be useless to give him that information. He experiences it on his own body” (Kafka 4). He believes that guilt is “beyond all doubt” (Kafka 5). The Traveller clearly disagrees with this principle. He is astonished that the Condemned Man has no chance to defend himself, nor any prior knowledge of his punishment. The officer understands why the traveller would feel this way; because he is a foreigner from the West. The Traveller is introduced as a guest in the colony, and the Officer is aware of where he is coming from. He understands that the ways in which The Penal Colony operates is much different from other societies. The Penal Colony, being comprised of prisoners, is a more strict society. The Officer knows this, and is thus not surprised by the opposition of the Traveller to the
After reading Newjack, I clearly appreciate the difficulty, the chaos and the stress of an officers' job. I am less sure how they manage to do it, and I wonder at what cost to their sense of self it has on them. By contrast, with a few well-chosen stories, Conover humanizes individual prisoners: one who has lines from Anne Frank's diary tattooed on his back; a prisoner on the serving line who tries to sneak extra food to his friends; a young, emotionally needy prisoner grasping for attention from anyone, even an officer. As a result, the prisoners are often drawn “with more humanity” than the staff.
In Kafka’s The Penal Colony, the machine is both a symbol of imagine and literal power which also reminds me of the machine that is mentioned in Karen Russell’s Reeling for the Empire who also illustrated it as an embodiment of power. In both stories, the two machines are inanimate objects but for some reason they possess this power and seen as almighty objects even though they aren’t human. In The Fine Line, Zerubavel states that “It is the fact that it is differentiated from other entities that provides an entity with a distinctive meaning as well as a distinctive identity that sets it apart from everything else.” I believe that it means that power, control, and borders only exist if people believe in them.
The Convicts, by Iain Lawrence, is a story of a young boy who faces great odds to complete his quest to help his father. This novel takes many twists and turns through the landscape of London, more specifically in nineteenth century London. However, London is not described in the picturesque view many people have come to know London as. Lawrence shows the uglier more rugged lifestyle of many poor people in London during this time period. Within a society like this in London, swindling, gangs, and prison become common subjects among the lower classes, especially in this novel. Although life was hard for many, the characters in this novel find adventure along the way while aboard ships and through underground sewers.
Effectively establishing an appeal to pathos, Douglass emphasize his raw emotions to the reader, allowing the reader to feel more connected to why Douglass complies with the rules of trickery. Douglass conveys a feeling of accomplishment, in Lee’s words, “when a white mistress cracks an opening in the white discourse… [and] seizes the opportunity to enter the power structure” (“The Politics”). Mrs. Auld, the “white mistress,” teaches Douglass the basic skills to read, and, as Douglass begins to read, he “got hold of a book entitled ‘The Columbian Orator’” (23), which, according to Piano, “reveals psychological insights into the slave/master relationship” (“Critical Essay”). The “Columbian Orator” consists of abolitionist documents, allowing Douglass to gain insight on the power the white men have over the black men and compelling the audience to sympathize with the black men. These new feelings also allow Douglass to be at a compos mentis with the white oppressors, achieving acuity for surviving the world of tricksters, and gaining the ability to learn how to beat the white oppressors at their own game, permitting Douglass an edge on how to escape captivity as a slave. In Piano’s views, “[the ...
He uses his personal experiences from his situation to back up his argument and show the brutality of the police force. King uses anaphora in the multiple use of the phrase “I doubt you”. . and “if you were to see. . to confront the audiences’ perception and present his evaluation. The overall tone of the last section is very emotional and he urges the readers of the letter to adopt the same sense of concern.
...oncluding passage to his narrative for a specific purpose: to create a more profound connection with his audience on the basis of his experiences and thoughts. He creates a vision of relief in the beginning of the passage by means of diction, similes, and an impeccable amount of imagery. Douglass also applies an approach for the application of syntax, diction, and connotative sense to amplify the feelings of loneliness and paranoia presented after emancipation. The result is the masterpiece that fluently runs from one state of mind following his escape to another. It is a masterpiece with a timeless sense of moral values being unconsciously taught to its audience, whether or not they succeed in deciphering it.
In “The Penal Colony” the life of the officer is solely based on the old commandant’s rules and ideals. His strong obsession of being “involved in the very first experiments and also [sharing] in the work all the way to it completion” (96) Has a deep impact on the officer’s life and beliefs. The officer is not only obsessed with his work but with the old ways that the old commandant made. Also, the fact that he is the last one in the colony that still follow the old ways means that he is going against the whole society in the colony. The new commandant “uses everything as an excuse to attack the old ways” (105).
Gresham M. Sykes describes the society of captives from the inmates’ point of view. Sykes acknowledges the fact that his observations are generalizations but he feels that most inmates can agree on feelings of deprivation and frustration. As he sketches the development of physical punishment towards psychological punishment, Sykes follows that both have an enormous effect on the inmate and do not differ greatly in their cruelty.
The tone established in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is unusual in that from the beginning to the end the focus has been shifted. In the beginning of the narrative Douglass seems to fulfill every stereotypical slavery theme. He is a young black slave who at first cannot read and is very naïve in understanding his situation. As a child put into slavery Douglass does not have the knowledge to know about his surroundings and the world outside of slavery. In Douglass’ narrative the tone is first set as that of an observer, however finishing with his own personal accounts.
In Colonial America indentured slavery happen gradually. The colony of Virginia was one place the “terrible transformation” took place. There were Africans and poor whites that came from English working class, black and whites worked side by side in the fields. They were all indentured servants as servants they were fed and housed. After their time was served, they were given “freedom dues,” with that came a piece of land and supplies. Black and whites became free. The English would not enslave non-Christians slaves; they could be set freed by converting to Christianity (PBS Online, nd).
Abel Magwitch was one of the two acquitted criminals in Dickens' Great Expectations. The convicts in this novel were sent to either Newgate prison or shipped to Australia where they were placed in penal settlements. Magwitch was sent to New South Wales for his connections with Compeyson (the other convict) and was sentenced on felony charges of swindling and forgery. Convicts sent to penal settlements suffered the same abuse that slaves were exposed to. The difference lies in the fact that these men and women were in these settlements because of crimes committed such as pickpocketing and murder. Such settlements were New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, Devil's Island, and Botany Bay, to name a few. In fact, "Botany Bay meant convicts and was looked upon merely as the fit receptacle of national crime" (Inglis 4). Convicts were sent to these settlements as a way to curb the number of felons in the British Isles. Settlements created a place to live and work in order to change or correct the character of the convict. During the nineteenth century, convicts made up most of the population of Australia with a mere fraction of actual free emigrants. The Australian penal settlements helped to develop a new penal theory as well as different view of Australia. By looking at the journey of the convicts, their service, jobs, authorities, punishment, and freedom, we will be able to understand the complicated theory of penal ideas and the plight of Magwitch, Pip's convict.
Using of slaves began in New York when the Dutch West India Company imported 11 African slaves to New Amsterdam in 1626, and the first slave sale being held in New Amsterdam was in 1655. The company imported slaves to New Amsterdam in order to clear the forests, lay roads, build houses and public buildings, and grow foods. It was company-owned slave labor that developed the foundations of modern New York, and made agriculture flourish in the colony so that later white traders turned from fur trapping to farming. Later,the British expanded the use of slavery and in 1703, more than 42 percent of New York City households held slaves, often used as domestic servants and labors. However,the treatments to the slaves were always inhumane and cruel,but slaves were finally obtained the rights through the manumission.
We see that the author’s purpose is to allow the readers to understand that the prisoners were not treated humanly, and allows us to see the negative attitudes the authority had towards the prisoners.
In this critic, I will be analyzing and comparing two books. The first book is “A question of Freedom a Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison” by R. Dwayne Betts. The second book is “Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing” by Ted Conover. In this comparison will first give a short summarization of both books. Second I will be answering the fallowing questions, what prisons are discussed? What types of prisoners are there- age, race, sex, level of crime? How current is the information? What are the conditions of the prisons? How are the prisoners treated? How are the guards and their viewpoints represented? How are the prisoners and their viewpoints represented? What forms of rehabilitation are there? What are the social relationships with other inmates? What opportunities are available to occupy prisoners? What point of view is the author taking – critical, Positive, does she/he write from the viewpoint of a guard, a prisoner? What evidence is/are the author’s points based on and how is the evidence presented - for example, first hand observations, Statistics? Also what changes, if any, are proposed or discussed by the author? How does the information in this book compare with what you’ve read in the text and articles and what you have observed on a class trip? Lastly what is your opinion of the information and viewpoint expressed in the book?
The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King is both a wonderful film and a brilliantly written short story. There are many themes represented in each form of The Shawshank Redemption. The one major theme that interests me in both the film and the story is freedom. Freedom serves a large purpose for both the story's writer and the filmmaker. Both use similar examples to signify freedom, not only in the jail, but also in a larger context about life. There are many events and examples in both the film and the short story that signifies the theme of freedom. The one main difference is when the film uses the director’s technique to portray a feel of freedom for the inmates. The overall three issues used in this essay are all linked to the feeling of the inmates feeling the sense of freedom with the prison walls.