In this analysis of In the Penal Colony the apparatus is understood to be an influencing machine and a projection of the Officer's body. Tausk saw the influencing machine as a projection of the body and a defense against regression to primary narcissism. In the Penal Colony portrays the dissolution of such a defense; the Officer submits himself to the machine, becomes fused with it, and reverts to the placid blank nirvana of the infant. This article lends greater understanding to Tausk's article, Kafka's story, and to regressive ego states.