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Character analysis waiting for the barbarians
- 1. PAPER.14 Name:- Sanjaykumar N Jogadiya. Subject:- African Literature Topic:- character Analysis Waiting for The Barbarians Part:- M.A. Sem-4 RollNo.24, EnrollmentNo:-2069108420200017 Email Id:- snjogadiya@amail.com Submitted:- Smt. S.B. Gardi Department of English MK Bhavnagar University.
- 2. INTRODUCTION Waiting for the Barbarians is a novel by the South African writer J. M. Coetzee. First published in 1980, it was chosen by Penguin for its series Great Books of the 20th Century and won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for fiction. American composer Philip Glass has also written an opera of the same name based on the book which premiered in September 2005 at Theater Erfurt, Germany. Coetzee is alleged to have taken the title from the poem "Waiting for the Barbarians" by the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy.
- 3. CHARACTER ANALYSIS The magistrate The magistrate is the first-person narrator and flawed protagonist of the novel. Everything in this allegory is filtered through his point of view. He wants to live in peace in his outpost, serving his Empire without questioning the purpose or effects of its colonial project. He's forced to confront its violent crimes when it attempts to push into nomad territory around his outpost. The magistrate goes on a journey of self-discovery in the novel, confronting not only the hypocrisies of his Empire, but his own denial as well.
- 4. 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.
- 5. The nomad girl The nomad girl is one of Joll's torture victims, who gets left behind after her father is killed in Joll's torture chamber. Her legs were broken at the ankle and they have never set. She is crippled and must walk with two sticks. Her eyes were burned with molten rods. She is mostly blind though she can see out of her peripheries. The magistrate finds her begging and takes her in. Her body is covered in scars and he becomes obsessed with learning about what happened to her. He develops a ritual of washing and oiling her nightly. His obsession with her goes beyond her scars, and he finally seems to fall in love with her in during the journey when he takes her back to her desert people.
- 6. 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 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.
- 7. CANCLUTION With a screenplay by Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee from his 1980 novel, “Waiting for the Barbarians” is a parable of depressingly timeless relevance, which means it’s faithful to its source material. Set in an uncertain era at an unnamed outpost of an unnamed empire that manufactures enemies to suit its untidy objectives, the setting could be British India, Nazi Germany, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, or Mr. Coetzee’s native South Africa under apartheid— anywhere, really, where opportunists and sadists have assumed the administration of what passes for policy.