Through this presentation I have tried to point out the feminism in the play 'Waiting for the Barbarians' by J. M. Coetzee.

1. DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Name: Gohil Devikaba J
Roll no.: 05
Paper no.: 14
Paper Name: African Literature
Topic name: Feminism in ‘Waiting for Barbarians’
E-mail ID: devikagohil13@gmail.com

2. Waiting for the Barbarians:
‘Waiting for the Barbarians’ is a
novel written by J. M. Coetzee.
First published in 1980.
The title of the novel is taken
from the poem ‘Waiting for the
Barbarians’ by C. P. Cavafy.
A Greek poem.

3. What is feminism?

4. Feminism in Waiting for the Barbarians:
The Barbarian girl is the important
character to read feminism in the novel.
Very openly her body is objectified.
We can read her character as the
personification of ‘Nation’.
Magistrate compares her ‘old’ (without
scares) body and ‘new’ (with scares) body
– the idea of ‘old nation’ and ‘new nation’.

5. Feminism in Waiting for the Barbarians:
The Magistrate never asks the whether
she wants the help or not.
He just goes on helping her, though
his intentions are good but he never
asks her.
We can say that she is the symbol of
‘Magistrate’s Sympathy’.
So she is the victim, victim.

6. Feminism in Waiting for the Barbarians:
 Feminist film critics says that “In society woman
is deprived of a gaze, deprived of subjectivity
and repeatedly transformed into the object of a
masculine Scopophilic desire”.
 Scopophilic desire is a term which means to look
at something and get pleasure.
 In this process one (victim) suffers and others
enjoy it (Empire, powerful people).

7. Feminism in Waiting for the Barbarians:
So, here we can say that she is suppressed thrice in the novel.
By her own people
By the Empire and
By the Magistrate

8. Feminism in Waiting for the Barbarians:
Sometimes the suppression is so high
that the victim can’t even talk or
express the self.
Here the girl is also silent.
She is not given a single chance to
express herself.
She is subaltern here – her voice is
unheard by the authority.

9. Feminism in Waiting for the Barbarians:
The same silence was also used in
‘Waiting for Godot’ and ‘The Birthday
Party’.
Silence symbol of being tortured and
violence.
In Coetzee’s words ‘Waiting for the
Barbarians’ is a novel about “The
impact of the torture chamber on the life
of a man of conscience”.

10. For your attention