Prisoners forbidden to talk to sentries

Prisoners forbidden to talk to sentries is a camp rule that bars communication between inmates and guards. Its force becomes personal when Mowry says he had repeatedly tried to tell the sentries who he was, only for a captain to answer that prisoners were not permitted to speak to them. Mowry’s protest that he was not a prisoner exposes the gap between his understanding of his status and the authority enforcing the rule.

The Rule in Practice

Mowry had tried at least a dozen times to catch the attention of a patrolling sentry, choosing moments when no Sirians were nearby. He called out, “Psst! My name’s Mowry - I’m a Terran.” Ten times, he received responses such as “You look it!” or “Is zat so?” His attempts therefore produced recognition or incredulity, but did not establish a channel through which he could make his identity count officially.

The Captain’s Rebuke

Later, as a captain led another man through heavily guarded gates toward a prefab hut, Mowry said, “Captain, again and again I tried to tell the sentries that.” The captain snapped, “Prisoners are forbidden to talk to sentries.” The exchange gives the rule its clearest statement: Mowry’s repeated efforts are dismissed not as unheard or mistaken, but as communication prisoners are prohibited from making. He answered, “But I wasn’t a prisoner.”

Function and Irony

The rule makes the camp’s chain of authority audible in a brief confrontation. Mowry has tried to use speech to distinguish himself from the prisoners around him; the captain invokes the category of prisoner to shut that speech down. The restriction thus governs not only what inmates may say to guards but whose account of their status is allowed to matter.