Among the many intellectuals who have proposed answers to questions of morality, free will and enlightenment, Immanuel Kant is one of the most stimulating and most intriguing. His writings have served as a basis for the analysis of contemporary writings of all ages since their conception and publication. Benjamin's views on law, JK Rowling's ethics, race studies, and basic modern morality have all been discussed through Kant's philosophical framework. (Gray, Mack, Newton, Wolosky) Through Franz Kafka's short story, "In the Penal Colony", I intend to expand this discussion to include maturity as it relates to enlightenment via the essay by Kant “An answer to the question “What is enlightenment?” " in which Kant describes two types of enlightenment which I define as "personal enlightenment" (that which occurs at the level of the individual) and "higher enlightenment" (that which occurs at the level of society or of the community). discussion of mortality, it is necessary to define the moral context. Therefore, for the purposes of this essay, I define routinely torturing people to death without due process of law as an affront to general morality. Discussions of Kant's views on free will suggest that this is because killing a person deprives them of their free will (Newton). The act of torture, which by definition is an activity in which the participant does not wish to engage, also deprives a person of free will. Ending a person's life also deprives society of further contributions from that person, which is a key component of greater enlightenment. The lack of due process of law is more ambiguous and is not the major subject of this essay. This is one end of the moral realm...... middle of article...... The theory of aces, the Forster meter and the Metaphysics of color. " The Eighteenth Century 53.4 (2012): 393-412. MUSE Project. Web. December 15, 2013. .Kafka, Franz and Nahum N. Glatzer. Franz Kafka the Complete Stories. New York: Schocken Books, 1983. Kant, Immanuel, Reiss, Hans and HB Kant's Political Writings London: Cambridge UP, 1970. Mack, Michael. “Between Kant and Kafka: Benjamin's Notion of Law.” MLA International Bibliography. free will." Philosophy and Literature 36.2 (2012): 441-456. "The Ethical Paradigms of Harry Potter: Augustine, Kant and Feminist Moral Theory" Children's Literature 40.1 (2012): 191-217. , December 15.. 2013. .