The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka & Joyce Crick

Author:Franz Kafka & Joyce Crick [Kafka, Franz & Crick, Joyce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Literary, Classics, Literary Criticism, Short Stories (single author), Psychological, Kafka; Franz, German, European
ISBN: 9780199238552
Publisher: Oxford University Press US
Published: 2009-12-01T00:21:19+00:00

In the Penal Colonyi

“IT’S AN EXCEPTIONAL APPARATUS,” the officer said to the world traveler and, with a certain admiration, surveyed the apparatus that was, after all, quite familiar to him. The traveler appeared to have accepted purely out of politeness the commandant’s invitation to attend the execution of a soldier, who had been condemned for insubordination and insulting a superior officer. There did not seem to be much interest in the execution throughout the penal colony itself. In any event, the only other persons present besides the officer and the traveler in this small but deep and sandy valley, surrounded by barren slopes on all sides, were the condemned man—a dull, thick-lipped creature with a disheveled appearance—and a soldier, who held the heavy chain that controlled the smaller chains attached to the condemned man’s ankles, wrists, and neck, chains that were also linked together. But the condemned man looked so submissively doglike that it seemed as if he might have been allowed to run free on the slopes and would only need to be whistled for when the execution was due to begin.

The traveler was not particularly enthralled by the apparatus and he paced back and forth behind the condemned man with almost visible indifference while the officer made the final preparations, one moment crawling beneath the apparatus that was deeply embedded in the ground, another climbing a ladder to inspect its uppermost parts. These were tasks that could really have been left to a mechanic, but the officer performed them with energetic eagerness, perhaps because he was a devoted admirer of the apparatus or because, for whatever other reasons, the work could be entrusted to no one else. “Now everything’s ready!” he called out at last, and climbed down from the ladder. He had worked up a sweat and was breathing with his mouth wide open; he had also tucked two very fine ladies’ handkerchiefs under the collar of his uniform. “Surely these uniforms are too heavy for the tropics,” said the traveler instead of inquiring, as the officer expected, about the apparatus. “Of course,” the officer said, washing the oil and grease from his hands in a nearby bucket of water, “but they represent home for us; we don’t want to forget about our homeland—but now just take a look at this machine,” he immediately added, drying his hands on a towel and simultaneously indicating the apparatus. “Up to this point I have to do some of the operations by hand, but from now on the apparatus works entirely by itself.” The traveler nodded and followed the officer. Then the officer, seeking to prepare himself for all eventualities, said: “Naturally there are sometimes problems; I hope of course there won’t be any problems today, but one must allow for the possibility. The apparatus should work continually for twelve hours, but even if anything does go wrong, it will be something minor and easy to repair at once.”

“Won’t you sit down?” he inquired at last, pulling out a cane chair from a whole heap of them and offering it to the traveler, who was unable to refuse.

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