2. • The story is narrated in the first person by the
unnamed magistrate of a small colonial town
• the colonists, might be preparing to attack the
town
• 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.
3. • The magistrate is content with his life until the
investigation to examine the alleged barbarian
uprising occurs. Colonel Joll is sent to establish
the extent of danger that the barbarians, who live
behind the border may pose to the colony. He
captures natives to extract information from
them about any uprising. Colonel Joll's methods
to obtain evidence is by torture. How effective
such methods may be is questionable even for
the magistrate.
4. • Magistrate has an intimate yet uncertain
relationship with the girl
• the Magistrate remains in a locked cellar for
an indefinite period, experiencing for the first
time a near-complete lack of basic freedoms.
• The time and place of the novel’s plot are also
unspecified,
5. • the Magistrate begins to understand that he,
along with those in the service of the empire,
helped to destroy an innocent and peaceful
civilization.
• This process allows the Magistrate to
recognize his body’s vulnerability; the honesty
and authority of his body’s pain expresses
essential realities ignored by...
