This is the first time I have read this story; I think its aim is to examine our own justice system. In the story The Traveler starts his journey of examining the machine and the process of execution with a sense of apathy and disinterest unlike the officer who talked about it as if it were man’s greatest creation. The story mentions that “The Traveler had little interest in the apparatus and walked back and forth behind the Condemned Man, almost visible indifferent” (3) I think this is very fitting because most people in our society don’t take interest in our justice system and how to improve it, in a way they are apathetic to it unless it involves a personal matter. The Traveler only starts to take interest when he learns that the Condemned man is sentenced to death and that he does not even know it. One aspect that really stood out to me in the story is the lack of power in the part of the New Commandant, he is in charge of the penal colony but at the same time he has not been able to change this justice system. He has only been able to alter it a little but has not been able to stop it, he uses his monetary power to limit the use of the machine but that is his extent of power. I think this really shows the difficulty of changing a justice system. In a way we are so accustomed to what we consider normal and just that it is hard to change and that is why like in the story we need an outside person to point put the flaws in our system.  For example in the story the condemned man has no chance to expose his point of view and defend himself, he is guilty and automatically sentenced, when the Traveler learns of this he is surprised, but the officer does not give much chance to dialog on this because he is more concern with the machine than with the method of justice. I think that with our justice system it is important to analyse it from an outside perspective because being part of this justice system makes it hard criticize and change. There is a part in the story where the officer mentions that “The Commandant, in his wisdom, arranged that the children should be taken care before all the rest” so that they could see the execution up close, in a way we have all been these kids who have grown up in a set justice system and we are not encouraged to change or examine it. Last year I took a class of human rights and I was embarrassed to admit it was the first time I had read in whole the charter of rights of Canada, I think this really shows our apathy as s a society. I think this short story covers a lot of aspects about society and there is much depth in analyze it.