"In the Penal Colony" Quotes
A high-ranking officer demonstrates a brutal execution machine to an explorer in a remote penal colony.
classics | 52 pages | Published in NaN
Quotes
In the Penal Colony, these people are convinced that the judicial procedure should not be public, as it is a disgrace to the accused.
The machine, the officer, the soldier, and the condemned man were all equally part of the execution.
The judicial procedure here is not public, and it is the most important thing for the accused not to know it.
The tradition is that the penal code is never to be read to the accused, but is to be memorized by the judge alone.
The machine has been in use for almost ten years, and we have not yet had a single breakdown.
The accused is not told the sentence until the last moment. He is only informed of it in a whisper as he is being strapped to the machine.
The accused is not allowed any conversation with anyone, not even with the soldiers guarding him; he is only allowed to speak with the officer.
The officer and the soldier are not only here to fix the condemned man in the machine, but also to protect the machine from the condemned man.
The condemned man is not only killed, but also shamed and dishonored.
The accused could not find any law written down, and was unable to find out what he was guilty of. This is the tradition.
