Decoding Religious Symbols in Kafka’s In the Penal Colony

陈思岑

Abstract：In the Penal Colony as one of Kafka’s well-known short stories contains many religious symbols，not only reflecting great influence of Christian Bible on Kafka，but also hints his struggle of faith in Judaism and Christianity.Kafka’s commitment to Christianity is discovered in the Penal Colony with deciphering the symbols of three fundamental doctrines of the Bible—original sin，God’s sovereignty and eschatology.With the stance of a traveler，he shows his emotional complex of taking sides.

Key words：In the Penal Colony;Kafka;the Bible;Christianity;Religion

1 Introduction

The religious influence and the conflicts of Christianity and Judaism can be perceived in Kafka’s short novel In the Penal Colony.As a Jewish，Kafka received Judaism culture when he was young，yet he held ambiguous attitude towards Judaism and Christianity as he grew older.In the Penal Colony mainly reflects the influence of Biblical ideas on him as well as his own religious struggle.

The short novel is about a horrible experience of a traveler in a penal colony to watch the work of a machine called Justice Machine，which was used to punish those Condemned Men.It was said that the machine was the invention of the Old Commandment，who was taken place by the New Commandment rejecting this method of punishment.As a disciple of the Old Commandment，the Officer introduced the traveler the working process of the Justice Machine，however，the former set free the Condemned Man and used the machine to suicide in the end.

2 Decoding Biblical elements in In the Penal Colony

The novel’s religious thoughts and symbols， mainly rooting in the Bible， suggest Kafka’s close bond to Christianity. The three dominating Biblical elements in the short story are human beings’ original sinfulness，the absolute authority of the God and the final judgment.

2.1 Original sin

In the Genesis of the Old Testament，the God warned the man not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil，however，as Eve was tempted by the serpent，she urged Adam to disobey the Lord’s order，as a result，they both sinned and were driven to the ground by the God.（Gen.2：3）（Li，2008） （Li，2008） It points out when human beings came into being，they were sinful and the sin would be with them till death.The theory of the original sinfulness is of crucial importance to explain the reason why the Old Commandment invented such a machine to punish the Condemned Men.According to the Officer，the basic principle he used for his decision was“guilt is always beyond a doubt”.（Kafka，2000） The traveler asked if the Condemned Man ever knew his sin，the Officer said “No”， while the traveler also quizzed whether the Condemned Man had the opportunity to defend his fault，the Officer replied，“He has had no opportunity to defend himself.”（Kafka，2000） This can also be explained by the theory of original sinfulness.It holds that all the men are sinful as their ancestors committed sin，they must be punished by the God.As is in the story，the Old Commandment believed all the Condemned Men have sinned，hence，they had to be punished by the machine in order to know their sins and die to get rid of their guilty flesh body.This odd idea came out with the influence of Kafka’s Christian faith.

2.2 The absolute authority of the God

The second Biblical element—the absolute authority of the God is symbolized in the short story.God had made Ten Commandments，of which one was“You shall have no other gods before me，”advocating the paramount position of the God.God also added：“[God is] showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments”（Exod.20：3-5）.（Li，2008） As well in the New Testament，Jesus’ greatest commandment is the love for the only God，“You shall love the lord your God with all your heart，and with all your soul，and with all your mind”.（Matt.22：37）（Li，2008） In the Bible，God has the greatest power and occupies the absolute authority，thus，whoever profanes the name of God will receive revenge it deserves.It serves as an approach to explain the reason of punishment in In the Penal Colony.In the short story，the Condemned Man was put under the machine for his blasphemy to the Captain—“instead of standing up and begging for forgiveness，the man grabbed him by the legs，shook him and cried out，‘throw away that whip or I’ll eat you up.’”（Kafka，2000） The Captain symbolizes the greatest—the God.As the soldier offended his master，he committed irreverence to the absolute authority，resulting his sentenced to death.The words“Honor Thy Superior”written on Condemned Man’s body is far-reaching as it corresponds to the reverence for the God.

2.3 The final judgment

The last Biblical element is found in the idea of final judgment.The Justice Machine is an actual embodiment of the justice court.The idea of Eschatology is about the“last things”：In the end of the history，the God judges the nations，rewards the righteous and destroys the wicked.According to the Old Testament，God told Daniel about the end times，“But at that time your people shall be delivered，everyone who is found written in the book.Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake，and some to shame and everlasting contempt”.（Dan.12：1-2）（Li，2008） In the New Testament，the last book recorded：“Also another book was opened，the book of life.And the dead were judged according to their works，as recorded in the books...all were judged according to what they had done…anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire”.（Rev. 20：12-15）（Li，2008） Kafka might adopt the final judgment as a hind rule when he started the story.Following the thought that all the good and evil will finally be justified，Kafka set in his story the Justice Machine—putting the evil to the final sentence.The idea is firstly perceived in the name of the machine—the Justice Machine，echoing “the book of life” in the Bible，which“should work entirely on its own”and“is supposed to keep going for twelve hours without interruption.”（Kafka，2000） The Officer also indicated，“No discordant note disturbed the work of the machine. Many people did not look any more at all，but lay down with closed eyes at sand.They all knew： now justice was being carried out.”（Kafka，2000） The prototype of the day when things are put to be examined and convicted is the eschatology of Christian theology.

3 Interpreting Kafka’s religious dilemma in In the Penal Colony

The work as well implies Kafka’s inner conflict of religious belief.As a particular branch of the Judaism，Christianity found its origin in Judaism while has its own characteristics.（孙，2005） In the story，the traveler’s attitude represents that of Kafka’s—he felt hostile to the Justice Machine—the cruel traditional style of punishment—that signifies the Jewish religion. Although Kafka inclines to the tolerable Christianity，owing to his Jewish origin，he hesitates to behave the transgression.Judaism lacks of the idea of savior while Christianity regards the savior as a mission of the God，while Kafka has put the symbols of the two—the Old Commandment and the New Commandment—in the story，by pointing out the failure of the former，he implied his preference to the tolerable later.（朱，2010）

On the other hand，from the perspective of the traveler，Kafka’s complex about religion can also be discovered.The traveler as an incarnation of Kafka seems to be indifferent to the idea of the original sinfulness of humans，the paramount position of the great old Commandment and the justice of machine.Despite Kafka expressing his own despise on religious belief from a traveler’s stand，he was not so resolute to completely abandon the whole mythological ideas，as he had ended the story by making the traveler leaving without any words or actions.As the old Commandment and the New Commandment are symbols of the two religions，the officer’s faithfulness to the Old might be the choice of the most Jewish，however，Kafka as the traveler watched the “show” without making any comments. It is his inner conflict of making choice made him an outsider.

4 Conclusion

Despite more than one interpretation of In the Penal Colony，the mysterious symbols are to prove Kafka’s religious leaning on Christianity and concerns about Judaism. Setting the fiction in a penal colony，Kafka declared himself as an outsider to witness the legacy and the downfall of the old Jewish belief.The Bible as the canon executes its unbelievable influence on Kafka，but his complex of rejecting the traditional Judaism whereas partly holding it brought about dilemma.As he stated，casting off might be the most devout behavior，otherwise，there was no better means of dealing with it. （孫，2005）

References

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[2]Li，Yi，comp.Selected Readings from The New Revised Standard Bible[M].Chengdu：Sichuan University Press，2008.

[3]孙彩霞.最后审判的寓言—卡夫卡小说“在流放地”的“圣经”解读[J].外国文学研究，2005（04）：93-98.

[4]朱叶飞.卡夫卡—徘徊在宗教的边缘[J].安徽文学，2010（03）：259-260.