Formalist Assertion

“In the Penal Colony” & “Thirst”

1.       The setting for both “In the Penal Colony and “Thirst” have the same mood.  Both of these stories are very morbid.  These stories are anything but happy, loveable, and pleasurable.  Both share the quality of being “ruff around the edges” because there are no smooth turns in these two stories.  In “In the Penal Colony,” and “Thirst,” there is pain being portrayed in the meaning of the stories.  In “Thirst,” we can feel the pain and suffering of the man who has done wrong and will now pay the price, thirst.  All he wants is a cup of water to soothe his dry throat.  We can feel his agony, sense his pain.  In “In the Penal Colony,” there can be a couple different ways of representing the theme of pain.  When we get the description of the torture device, or their way of punishment, we can feel the pain one would get from the device.  Also, at the end of the story, we actually get to be put through the events of the device, the only thing is, everything goes wrong, and only pierces one stake through the head of the officer.  Which, this event wasn’t meant for him in the first place, but was meant for the condemned man.  Once realizing what he does to “criminals” from the perspective of the explorer, he puts himself in for his very own punishment, because in his eyes, he’s the criminal.  We can see and feel the pain of the officer at the end of the story.

2.      Both of the stories, “In the Penal Colony,” and “Thirst” are similar in their way of craft because their tone/mood/theme is the same: morbid.