'Waiting for the Barbarians'.

'Waiting for the Barbarians'.


Task given by Ma'am


About author   
                                                  

John Maxwell Coetzee  (born 9 February 1940) is a South African-born novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He has also won the Booker Prize (twice), the CNA price (thrice), the Jerusalem Prize, the Prix Femina étranger, The Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and holds a number of other awards and honorary doctorates.^[2][3]

He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in the English language.^[2][4][5][6]

Coetzee relocated to Australia in 2002, and currently lives in Adelaide.^[7] He became an Australian citizen in 2006.

                                              

 Plot Summary

The story is narrated in the first person by the unnamed magistrate of a small colonial town that exists as the territorial frontier of "the Empire". The Magistrate's rather peaceful existence comes to an end with the Empire's declaration of a state of emergency and with the deployment of the Third Bureau—special forces of the Empire—due to rumours that the area's indigenous people, called "barbarians" by the colonists, might be preparing to attack the town. Consequently, the Third Bureau conducts an expedition into the land beyond the frontier. Led by a sinister Colonel Joll, the Third Bureau captures a number of barbarians, brings them back to town, tortures them, kills some of them, and leaves for the capital in order to prepare a larger campaign.

In the meantime, the Magistrate begins to question the legitimacy of imperialism and personally nurses a barbarian girl who was left crippled and partly blinded by the Third Bureau's torturers. The Magistrate has an intimate yet uncertain relationship with the girl. Eventually, he decides to take her back to her people. After a life-threatening trip through the barren land, during which they have sex, he succeeds in returning her—finally asking, to no avail, if she will stay with him—and returns to his own town. The Third Bureau soldiers have reappeared there and now arrest the Magistrate for having deserted his post and consorting with "the enemy". Without much possibility of a trial during such emergency circumstances, the Magistrate remains in a locked cellar for an indefinite period, experiencing for the first time a near-complete lack of basic freedoms. He finally acquires a key that allows him to leave the makeshift jail, but finds that he has no place to escape to and only spends his time outside the jail scavenging for scraps of food.

Later, Colonel Joll triumphantly returns from the wilderness with several barbarian captives and makes a public spectacle of their torture. Although the crowd is encouraged to participate in their beatings, the Magistrate bursts onto the scene to stop it, but is subdued. Seizing the Magistrate, a group of soldiers hangs him up by his arms, deepening his understanding of imperialistic violence by a personal experience of torture. With the Magistrate's spirit clearly crushed, the soldiers mockingly let him roam freely through the town, knowing he has nowhere to go and no longer poses a threat to their mission. The soldiers, however, begin to flee the town as winter approaches and their campaign against the barbarians collapses. The Magistrate tries to confront Joll on his final return from the wild, but the colonel refuses to speak to him, hastily abandoning the town with the last of the soldiers. The predominant belief in the town is that the barbarians intend to invade soon, and although the soldiers and many civilians have now departed, the Magistrate helps encourage the remaining townspeople to continue their lives and to prepare for the winter. There is no sign of the barbarians by the time the season's first snow falls on the town.

Central Theme

Waiting for the Barbarians Themes

• Imperialism. One of the most prominent themes in Waiting for the Barbarians is imperialism. ...
• Colonialism. Distinct from imperialism, the theme of colonialism as a physical, territorial project with far-reaching implications plays out in Waiting for the Barbarians. ...
• Male sexuality. ...
• Power. ...
• Interrogation. ...
• Rape. ...
• Fear of the other.

The most striking unique feature of this novel

Detachment is one of the most striking features about J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians (WFTB). The frontier fort, in which the novel is set, is geographically placed on the fringe of a nameless Empire in an unspecified era, thus detached geographically, culturally and historically.

Characters

The magistrate

The magistrate transforms from an old man living a peaceful life to an outspoken opponent of the Empire that employs him. His transition highlights how individual members of a majority population passively benefit from the violent colonization or oppression of minority populations. They benefit even if they haven't partaken in the oppression themselves. The magistrate's character indicates how there are no innocent parties in government oppression. At the beginning of the novel, the magistrate works for the Empire, enforcing laws without question. When Colonel Joll arrives and begins torturing prisoners, the magistrate feels uncomfortable with the injustice but allows it for the sake of hospitality to Joll. The magistrate houses one of Joll's torture victims, a nomad girl, whom he massages although he gets no sexual pleasure out of the act. He eventually decides to return the girl to her family. When he arrives back at town, the Empire has issued a warrant for the magistrate's arrest, alleging his collusion with the enemy. The magistrate is imprisoned, beaten, and tortured before the army eventually abandons the town. The magistrate resumes his former position but as a changed man.

Colonel Joll

Colonel Joll represents the active violence of colonization. Dressed in black with dark sunglasses and a black carriage, Joll epitomizes evil. He seeks out prisoners to torture even if they don't have information to offer. "Prisoners are prisoners," he says. It's unclear whether Joll's bloodlust is a result of wanting to showcase the Empire's power or simply personal sadism. At the end of the novel, Joll's sunglasses have been removed, symbolizing that he sees the error of his ways. Rather than facing the violence he has created, Joll runs away in fear for his life.

The girl

The girl represents the subjects of colonization and oppression. The girl comes from a nomadic fishing tribe and is one of Joll's first torture victims. The torture leaves her crippled and blind, although she retains partial peripheral vision, representing how she will never see the world in the same way. She tries to make a living as a prostitute and beggar before the magistrate takes her in. The girl shows little emotion during her relationship with the magistrate except frustration that he won't treat her the same way he treats other women. The scars on her body represent the effects of colonization. Her broken ankles, for example, represent how a colonized society cannot move forward on its own.

Mandel

Warrant Officer Mandel is sent by the Empire to take over the magistrate's post when the magistrate is accused of treasonous plotting with the barbarians. Through the magistrate's narration, Mandel is described as handsome, vain, and self-conscious. He seems intent on proving to the magistrate that he belongs in his post, despite his position of power. He treats the magistrate and townsfolk with complete disrespect and allows his men to run wild on the streets, stealing from shops and abusing their charges. Like Joll, Mandel takes personal delight in the magistrate's humiliation and physical torture. He arranges for the magistrate to be dressed in women's underwear and hung from a tree. He soaks up the admiration of the townsfolk, however falsely it may be given, and enjoys their feasts, but when the time comes to actually protect the people from the barbarians, Mandel abandons them.