After reading Kafka's "In the Penal Colony," please respond the following prompt:
Discuss your reactions to the story as a whole. It is said that Camus looked up to Kafka. Do you see any comparisons? Why do you think Camus would look up to Kafka? (besides, perhaps, the obvious, almost morbid, writing styles).
Complete your response in two paragraphs (minimum and maximum).
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I hated this story. The story was sadistic and shocking. I was slightly interested at first but as the story got more detailed i became more disgusted.
ReplyDeleteI see no similarities between Camus and Kafka. Camus' style and tone was detailed but laid back and lackadaisical. Kafka seems to enjoy the idea of torturing others unless his point was that it is wrong, in which case it was poorly conveyed. I don't think that Camus would look up to Kafka for any reason. I doubt that Camus believed in conviction without trial or torturous execution.
I thought this was a gruesome, horrible story. There was WAY too much detail and imagery of the torturous behavior. Personally, the story made me sick, I can't believe that kind of torture would even exist, and who in their right mind would even right like that. Kafka must have been some kind of freak, and with a disturbed mind. There was beyond too much detail describing the torture machine, and the tortures as well.
ReplyDeleteI find it odd that Camus would look up to Kafka, because that is one disturbed mind; but when I really think about it, maybe there is a reason for this. Possible because Camus was such an absurdist, and saw nothing in life, he didn't care about anything normal people would find odd. So maybe, since he saw what we would think as bad, or sinful as nothing, maybe he finds this torturous behavior as nothing. Perhaps, since Camus didn't care much about life, and saw life as a means to an end, he didn't put any thought to the tortures, maybe he simply thought... hey their gonna die anyway, and it't not like their going anywhere after, so whats the big deal? I can see through Camus's thoughts on life, he can look up to Kafka, seeing as he thought nothing wrong of what he wrote.
The short story, "In the Penal Colony" was quite different from what I expected. As I read the story I was somewhat interested in finding out what was going to happen, but then I got turned off by the whole thing. I was confused as to where it was going, I thought it was way too long and full of too much detail, and the whole plot line was sick and wrong.
ReplyDeleteAs for Franz Kafka being compared to Camus, there are a few similarities that I could find. There were some short, precise sentences that actually reminded me of how Camus wrote. There was a lot of detail and description that Kafka used in his writing that also can be compared to Camus. "The condemned man was the livlier of the two. Everything in the machine interested him. At times he bent down, at other times he stretched up, always pointing with his forefinger in order to show something to the soldier. For the traveller it was embarrassing" (Page 9). Those sentences are short and straightforward. That, to me makes it easier to read and I noticed that while reading Camus' work. The two's writing styles can obviously be compared to one another, and there are maybe a few reasons why Camus would look up to Kafka. Perhaps, he found this story to be very interesting and he probably would have loved it. I find Kafka and Camus both very crazy and absurd and I'm sure Camus was drawn into the sick and disgusting way of torture. Camus believed there to be no meaning in life and possibly Kafka thought that as well.
This story was very hard for me to understand, and I really didn't like the parts I did understand. The story was pointless and slightly disturbing. I don't understand why Kafka had to be so detailed throughout the story, because it made it very weird for the audience. I'm not exactly sure how to react to the The Penal Colony, because it was very...different.
ReplyDeleteI also don't understand why Camus would look up to Kafka. The only reason I can think of would be because of all the details Kafka uses in his writing. Camus used a lot of detail as well, but it was much more simple than Kafka's writing. Also, I suppose Kafka's writing would fall into the "absurd" category, which is what Camus used in life.
Overall, the story seemed somewhat ridiculous and immoral to me, but that's just my opinion. Maybe some other person, with less moral decency, would enjoy it. =)
I thought ¨In The Penal Colony¨ was a different, yet quite interresting story. It kind of pulled me in and made me want to read more so that i could find out what was actually happening. Although it was difficult to see, I did see a little resemblace between the writing styles of Camus and Kafka. They both talk as though life is meaningless and so forth. I see that in ¨In The Penal Colony¨ because they tourture and kill a man as if his life doesnt matter and that reminds me of Camus and how Meursault killed the Arab as though it was no big deal. This was the main similarity that i saw between the writing styles of Camus and Kafka. Besides all that i thought the short story ¨In The Penal Colony¨ was quite interresting.
ReplyDeleteWell, I must have less moral decency than everyone else, then. I liked it. I don't know what's wrong with it. It's a story. It's not like people carve words into other people for a hobby, and think it's funny to watch. Just because I like it doesn't mean I would do that to someone if I had the oportunity. Yeah, it sounded painful or whatever, but the way that Kafka wrote it and paid attention to detail is what made me like it, I think.
ReplyDeleteI don't really see too many similarities between the writing styles of Kafka and Camus, to be honest. I do get the fact that neither of them had too pleasant of an outlook on life, but that would be the only think that I would even consider comparing between the two. But aside from that, I don't see many similarities between the authors. I could see Camus looking up to Kafka, or agreeing with him in the sense that they both viewed life as nothing majorly important, but that's really it.
" The Penal Colony" was a very dramatic gruesome short story in which i did take interest in. I like the detail shared and that may be conveyed as a little bit disturbing on my half, but i did enjoy this short story. I do agree that there was a more detail then needed, but i think thats Kafka's way of writing, like Camus way of writing was laid back and simple, still detailed; just not as crazy.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Camus did look up to Kafka's way of writing even though he didn't portray it through his own piece, "The Stranger". Camus used his details to convey a simple message spread through out the whole book, that " nothing, nothing matters". In Kafka's writing he shares he's feelings to the Traveler and grotesquely describes the method in which they condemn men that have fought against the rules. Both Camus and Kafka can be seen to have some sort of comparison, even though it may not be a wide similarity they both use there descriptions to convey a message or portray an image. Both Camus and Kafka believed in there being no purpose in life. Both authors are different, but can be tied together in some way or another.
Like Liz R. and Audrey, in the beginning I was slightly interested in hearing where this story would go. It was easy to see what Kafka was trying to get at. I frankly thought the point he was trying to make was either deliberately appalling or totally off the mark, as Liz F. said. Tyler makes a good point in that both authors’ characters kill with impunity of conscience.
ReplyDeleteI would have said that the idea of such torture being acceptable to people, even before the new Commandant rose to power, is unbelievable at best and a horrifying fantasy at worst. The concept of such a dystopia seems far off; I cannot easily find the motive as to penning such a gory tale except for thus: perhaps Kafka had a point in that the decadence of society is so much of a slippery slope to the point that the line between an appalling practice and a commonplace means of “justice” can easily become blurred through political banter and standings. Some argue the hypocrisy of the death penalty for murderers. Even Meursault was not expecting to be executed. It may be a stretch to say that like Camus, Kafka tried to demonstrate his point by writing (paradoxically) from the opposite stance. But I agree with Liz F. that this point was poorly conveyed.
To be honest that might be the worst peice of literature I have ever read. I really dislike the story as a whole and I don't understand any point in why it was written. It was slow and much of the dialouge was pointless. If I wanted to punish someone I would have them read that story. I think the Officer is a lunatic, the soldier and condemned man have the IQ of a four year old, and the Traveller didn't know what was going on.
ReplyDeleteAs for why Camus looked up to Kafka I don't really know. It is possible that both agreed on the absurdity of life, as Kafka seemed to write as if life did not matter. Really I don't see how the two authors were that similar. Camus may have been a darker person than I first thought and acctually enjoyed this story, yet I don't see that as a plausible possibility. I might see more similarities if I had read more of Kafka but from my limited experiance I don't see much to compare, or reasons as to why Camus looked up to Kafka.
The "In the Penal Colony" by Kafka is pretty interesting but disturbing as a whole. It seemed like Kafka used too much detail for the plot of the story. From reading the story, I find that Kafka's detail make me thing he is crazy. Not too many people would think and even write about torturing people.
ReplyDeleteI find that Kafka and Camus' simalarities are slim. There isn't too much alike of the two. The only simalarities I found were the obvious ones about their outlook on life. The detail of the two stories are also similar of how they wrote. I don't see why Kafka would look up to Camus, nothing is that exciting of him to make people look up to him.
I actually somewhat liked the story The Penal Colony. I think this story was better than the novels we have read because this was more interesting than those other stories. Although the majority of the story was sick and disturbed, it grabbed my attention more than The Stranger did. I think the way he was so detailed added more to the story because it answered some questions the reader might have about the apparatus.
ReplyDeleteThe only comparison I see is that they both use a lot of details. I do not understand why Camus would look up to Cafka because this kind of writing is weird and some people might think he was crazy to write about these things.
Kafka's writting "The Penal Colony" was an extremely morbid piece of literature, which I found very disgusting and unpleasent. Nomally author's write the purpose is either to entertain or make a point that they firmly beilieve. However, in Kafka's case, I felt that they short story was slow and I found no real purpose to all of the horrible forms of torture in which he was discussing the whole time.
ReplyDeleteI can somewhat understand a slight connection between Albert Camus writtings and Kafka's. Both authors do not value human life or the purpose of being on earth. Their lack of faith is evident in both "The Stranger" and "The Penal Colony." Although I didn't enjoy "The Stranger" and its meaning at first, it is less grusome and disgusting then "The Penal Colony." I didn't enjoy either work very much, mainly just because I don't agree with their view on life.
I definitely found this short story to be quite interesting. It was written simply and in short sentences for the most part, but was just so disturbing that I’m not sure what to think about it. However, I do think that the reason the majority of our class was turned off by this story was the twisted nature of the officer, who apparently possesses a passion for torture. Most people didn’t like the story because it was 10 pages of small, single-spaced print, but mainly because the topic and events of the story made us as the readers uncomfortable because it is more explicit in nature than we are familiar with.
ReplyDeleteOther than their simplistic writing style, I don’t see many similarities between Camus and Kafka . However, I am curious as to whether or not Kafka is also an absurdist. I think that majority of our class is mixed up on the stance Camus and Kafka had on life. Camus didn’t necessarily believe that life was meaningless (existentialism); he merely viewed life as absurd and thought it was pointless to make sense out of life and force meaning upon it. Camus probably looked up to Kafka for two reasons: his simplistic writing style that used narration and description, and how Kafka’s story was an excellent example of how life is absurd. In the story, we didn’t see any rational reasoning behind the officer’s behavior. Furthermore, the traveler in the story, although he did not agree with the officer’s stance on torture, merely accepted it without trying to understand it.
I thought the story was very weird. It was very descriptive and graphic. It reminded me of reading the story of the Passion without the deeper meaning attached to it. The Officer spends the entire story describing what the Inscriber did and how he praised the late Commandant. When the Officer puts the Condemned Man in the elaborate machine, the Traveler finally asserts his disgust with the unjust punishment. Took him long enough. The Officer then kills himself with the inscriber. It was surprising, but very predictable at the same time. The Officer spends his whole life praising the Inscriber and it’s only fitting that he dies by it along with its medieval methods of execution. I’m glad the Officer and the Commandant are both dead in the end.
ReplyDeleteI don’t see too many comparisons on how the story is written compared to Camus’ writing. Kafka left the dramatic and eventful scene till the end, where as Camus put the action scene in the middle and the mental revelation at the end. I think most people expect the most dramatic, action scene at the end, so most people, including me, like it at the end. Camus and Kafka did, however, write similar characters. The traveler and Meursault both did not think it their place to force their opinions. Both focused on the black and white and seem detached from their emotions. Camus probably looked up to Kafka because Kafka wrote well by building the suspense and curiosity. Camus did that well before Meursault murdered the Arab, but Kafka wrote a whole story using it. Kafka also provided a surprise twist at the end of his story; Camus did the same through the murder scene. Both used subtle foreshadowing to precede what would happen. The authors can be similar.
I did not like the story at all. The ending was terrible. I mean it was interesting and weird but I didn't like it. The machine was creepy and grotesque. As a whole I found the story to be sick and twisted. It left me with some questions as to why he would write this story and how he must see people based off the events in the story.
ReplyDeleteI can understand the connection between the two authors but I myself don't see it very much. They do both have little value for life and death but other than that I didn't connect them. I found this story to be more interesting and captivating than The Stranger but I still really didn't like it at all. I found that Kafka wrote in a more complex style that Camus. Both are very detailed but Kafka's style was less simplistic than the style of Camus.
I personally think that this story isn't that bad. Although i obviously disagree with the form of torture that is used in the story and the disregard for human rights, i can see what Kafka is trying to say. He is not glamorizing or supporting this method of torture, he is relating the brutality of man and how cruel humans can be. This isn't a real torture device, and i don't think that he has a sick mind or anything, he is just relating a story of a colony that went too far with their method of punishment. I did think that it was stretched out too long though, and it could have conveyed the same message with less words.
ReplyDeleteI can see similarities between Camus and Kafka. They both relate their feelings of absurd human behavior through their characters. They both also write like they think human life is meaningless.
As I first started to read “In the Penal Colony”, I was intrigued to see what the story would bring and what the ending would bring. As I further read, I was absolutely disgusted as to the pretext of the story and where the story ended up heading. I was mortified to read on the story and read about the torture and methods that were presented. Not only was it disturbing, but it was extremely too long and dragged out.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard for anyone to look up to Kafka for his writings, but that is because I find it completely immoral. However, I think that Camus would be able to look up to him because he writes similar. Kafka explains this story of torturing a man. Tortured like his life was meaningless, which is the way Camus lived and believed through his life. To Camus, this story would have no impact except for the way Kafka intrigues his readers. He uses explicit details and focuses on them intensely. However, I don’t see the many similarities between the two authors. Camus didn’t focus on many details, but that was one of the main techniques used in Kafka’s writings.
Overall, I can definitely see why Camus could have looked up to Kafka. His writings are intriguing and well detailed, along with a similar outlook on life as the other author.
- Heather Maheu
Kafka's story, "The Penal Colony", grabbed my attetion well at the beggining of the story, but everything went downhill from there. I thought that the rest of the story was really weird, and pretty messed up. It was also really long for being a "short story", because of all the information, and intricate details. Overall, I thought it would be good, but it turned out to be pretty horrible.
ReplyDeleteI dont really see any comparisions between Kafka and Camus, and I dont see why anyone would look up to him. He sounds like he is a pretty dark and disturbed man. Niether of these authors is very similar, because of they way they write. Camus usually didnt use a lot of detail or description, while Kafka used it the whole story. The only somewhat similar thing between them is their outlook on life. Each does not seem to care that much about human existence and life, and doesnt really think life matters.
I can't really quite tell what angle Kafka is trying to take. I see the story and all of its characters and I'm thinking, well there is a purpose, a motive behind all of this madness and gruesome writing. Sy...Symbol...Symbollism! That's it! Each character represents something from our world or something religious. The old commandant is Jesus/God, new commandant is Lucifer, officer is Jesus as human, condemned man is people and explorer are athesists looking from neutral standpoint. The officer died in the place of the criminal even though the criminal did wrong... blah blah blah figure out the religious relations. I just don't know whether Kafka is trying to attack Christianity or support it. Calling it whack? Or explaining it through the mind of the absract? And I also don't understand why everyone in class is commenting saying it was sick and gruesome and whatever. Cuz I'm sure everyone has watched a gruesome or horror movie and said oh that is cool. Its the same thing with just a different vehicle.
ReplyDeleteAs for the relation to Camus, Camus was a troubled individual who was always looking somewhere for guidence I think. This story would have appealed to him because it is an alternative way of looking at things. They both write as if they are trying to find the meaning of life through their own writings so maybe that is the relation.
I also think another reason that Camus looked upto Kafka was because he would be reading Kafka when he was our age cuz look at the year it was written. At such an early age it is easy to be influenced by a heavy topic that can consume the mind. Kafka writes about the confusion and epic torure of mankind as these charaters represent all humans. I think what Camus took from this story was that that is all life is; torture through confusion and wonder; the unknown is always prevalent and will always hold more and more useful information than we.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha, I don’t wanna come off as some sort of masochist or sadist or freak, but I liked this story. It was pretty detailed and disgusting, but from my point of view I’ve pretty much been desensitized to all of this kind of imagery. It was almost like a scene from one of the Saw movies. I don’t think Kafka was a freak (granted this story doesn’t really help his case). He was odd, but there are people in real life that act the same as the officer (which is pretty sad) and other characters in the story, so I guess I’m trying to say that Kafka was probably making an observation of some types of human behavior (or he just made a messed up story to shock people). Whatever Kafka’s reasoning for making this story was, I’m sure that it wasn’t because he was a lunatic or some demented torture zealot.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really see a connection between Camus’ style of writing and Kafka’s, other than the cynicism. I think that Kafka kind of has a higher regard for human life, because it kinda seems like he wrote this story to describe how degusting death can be. I think Kafka tries to turn the readers off to the idea of death by writing in the gruesome way he did; and with Camus, he was indifferent to death, which I think is way different than Kafka. If anyone understands what I’m trying to say, feel free to leave input.
Well in my opinion "In the Penal Colony" is a hilarious name for a short story. I dont think i would enjoy reading it. It sounds like garbage.
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