the Soldier

E439664

The Soldier is a secondary figure in Franz Kafka’s short story "In the Penal Colony," representing the unquestioning enforcer of a brutal and dehumanizing execution apparatus.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
the Soldier canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (30)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional character
literary character
supporting character
appearsIn In the Penal Colony NERFINISHED
appearsInWorkBy Franz Kafka NERFINISHED
associatedWith the Condemned Man (In the Penal Colony) NERFINISHED
the Officer (In the Penal Colony) NERFINISHED
characterTrait obedient
subordinate
unquestioning
countryOfOrigin Austria-Hungary NERFINISHED
createdBy Franz Kafka NERFINISHED
embeddedInWorkTheme critique of blind obedience
critique of capital punishment
mechanization of justice
fictionalUniverse Franz Kafka’s prose works NERFINISHED
firstPublishedIn In the Penal Colony (1919) NERFINISHED
languageOfWork German
medium short story
narrativeRole enforcer of execution apparatus
secondary figure
represents ordinary functionary in a violent bureaucracy
roleInPlot assists in maintaining order around the execution apparatus
guards the Condemned Man
setting penal colony
symbolizes complicity in systemic violence
dehumanization under authoritarian systems
unquestioning obedience to authority
workGenre existentialist literature
modernist literature

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

In the Penal Colony mainCharacter the Soldier