A Touch of English During Spring Break. . .

It is a beautiful Sunday for Spring Break, and not too bad of a day to write my post for the week. However, I will say the story I want to write about may put a damper on your day. "The Penal Colony," was a very interesting story, for it goes back in time to a colony that has no standards when it comes to punishment.  The colonial of the story is so obsessed and mesmerized by this 'apparatus,' he is always concerned with how it works, and is in love with explaining how it works to the explorer. The old commandant of the colony was the mastermind behind this machine and his method of punishment was a hierarchy of power. He had the colonial handle his dirty work with the execution and he is in charge to processed with the prosecution. It is an unusual method, for they don't even have a trial for the prisoner in the story, but they just accuse him and send him to die.  The famous 'apparatus,' basically engraves or tattoos the crime you committed onto your body, but you don't die instantly.  The process takes about 6-12 hours to take its effect, and then the machine just throws you into a large pit to bury.  In the end of explaining this to the explorer, the colonial partially asks him what he thinks and he sort of believes it is cruel and unusual.  His opinion is what triggers an odd reaction for the colonial, for that was the answer I guess he was dreading to face. The new commandant had been trying to get rid of the apparatus, but the colonial must have just needed to hear it from someone else. The colonial then gave his life to the machine he loved, and died with the machine not operating correctly.