The story, The Penal Colony, displays various literary elements within the text. The three I will focus on to explain in more detail include theme, characters, imagery, and symbolism. Although The Penal Colony was written in the third person, the story closely follows the explorer and his approach to the foreign colony, particularly their way of executing those found guilty of crimes and their justice system. The traveler found their practices and enforcement apparatus to be unjust and inhumane overall, but felt too uncomfortable expressing his concerns because “He was neither a citizen of the penal colony nor a citizen of the state to which he belonged.” He believed that people would find him rude and disrespectful in judging their justice system, and so he remained silent about his disapproval until almost the end. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay This demonstrates the general passivity of the explorer and furthermore his selfishness. He knew that what was being done was neither right nor humane, yet it went against his good conscience and he repressed his disapproval until formally asked. This shows that he was more interested in saving his reputation and not appearing "rude" than in doing the right thing from the start. For him, the acceptance of the natives of the penal colony was more important than his beliefs and morality. Additionally, the Traveler has appeared relatively emotionless throughout the story. After hearing the gruesome and gory details of how the enforcement apparatus tortured and killed the perpetrators, he felt nothing more than dissatisfied or slightly uncomfortable. This is shown when the New Commandment explained how the "Harrow", the apparatus used to execute the guilty, worked, the only emotion the Traveler demonstrated after hearing about the gruesome harrow was when he “looked at the Harrow with a frown wrinkled. The information on the judicial procedures had not satisfied him." The only time he showed real emotion was when the machine malfunctioned causing a real bloodbath and the death of the official. But even then he remained calm and composed until the end, when he frantically tried to help save the officer, but by then it was too late. The second form of literary device I noticed throughout The Penal Colony was the symbolism behind the character known as The Old Commandment. The Old Commandment symbolized a religious superior or God in many ways, such as the fact that his beliefs are what shaped the justice system and lifestyles of the colonies. Citizens held to these beliefs and respected them as the colony had a specific system that took care of those who couldn't, namely execution. The apparatus used to do this towards individuals deemed guilty was more or less a tool used by the officials who governed the colony to help maintain order within the colony and to ensure that all individuals followed the rules. Therefore, the Old Commandment and a God share the same principles, meaning that they are both responsible for the history of the colony, as well as the rules and regulations within it. Just as God is believed to be the creator of the Earth, the Old Commandment was the creator of the colony. Another reason why the Old Commandment seemed to symbolize a God was how everyone had a high degree of respect and trust for him; similar to how people in modern society would have for their god. For example, when