In the Penal Colony Lesson Plan

Of whom is the officer more frightened: the New Commandant, or his women?

Although the officer feels oppressed by the New Commandant, he seems to view his women as a kind of primal force that can't be reasoned with. He knows that they whisper things in the New Commandant's ear, and he worries that they could dissuade the explorer from speaking up simply by touching him. This seems to be mirrored in the narrative structure itself: the narrator appears to be somewhat afraid of introducing the force of women into the narrative—they pop up now and again, but in fleeting and inexplicable ways. They appear to represent a threat that cannot be neutralized by the law.

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