The short story, The Penal Colony, demonstrates various literary elements in the text. The three that 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 view of the alien colony, particularly its manner of executing those found guilty of a crime and its justice system . The traveler found their practices and enforcement apparatus unjust and inhumane as a whole, but he felt too uncomfortable to voice his concerns because "he was neither a citizen of the penal colony nor a citizen of the State to which she belonged. He thought people would find him rude and disrespectful in judging their justice system, and so he kept silent about his disapproval until the end. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay This demonstrates the overall passivity of the explorer and, furthermore, his selfishness. He knew that what was being done was neither fair nor humane, but it went against his good conscience and suppressed his disapproval until he was officially asked to do so. This shows that he was more concerned with saving his reputation and not appearing "rude" rather than doing the right thing in the first place. His acceptance by the natives of the penal colony was more important to him than his own beliefs and morality. Additionally, the Traveler has been relatively impassive throughout the story. After hearing the gruesome and gory details of how the execution apparatus tortured and killed the guilty, he was never more than simply dissatisfied or slightly uncomfortable. This is shown when the New Command was explaining how the "Harrow", the device used to execute culprits, worked. The only emotion the Traveler showed after hearing about the horrible portcullis was when he "looked at the Portcullis with a wrinkled frown." He was not satisfied with the information about the legal proceedings. The only time he showed real emotion was when the machine malfunctioned, resulting in absolute bloodshed and the death of the official. But even then, he remained calm and collected until the very end where he frantically tried to help save the officer, but by then it was too late. The second form of literary devices I noticed during 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 how its beliefs shaped the justice system and lifestyles of the colonies. Citizens adhered to these beliefs and respected them since the colony had a specific system that took care of those who could not, namely execution. The device used to do this to convicted individuals was more or less a tool for the officials who governed the colony to help maintain order within the colony and ensure that all individuals followed the rules. Therefore, the Old Commandment and God share the same principles in that they are both responsible for the history of the colony, as well as the rules and regulations established there. Much like how God is considered the creator of Earth, the Old Commandment was the creator of the colony. Another reason why the Old Commandment seemed to symbolize a God was the fact that everyone had a high degree of respect and.