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Critical Analysis Of "The Waiting For Barbarians"
This document provides background information on J.M. Coetzee and analyzes his novel "Waiting for the Barbarians". It discusses Coetzee's background and accomplishments. It then summarizes the characters of Colonel Joll, the Magistrate, and the Barbarian Girl. Several symbols in the novel are also analyzed like the Empire, the barbarian tribes, and the blank page. It explores how the term "barbarians" is used in the novel to critique imperialism and how both sides can exhibit barbaric behavior.
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Critical Analysis Of "The Waiting For Barbarians"
- 1. Name :- GohilDevangiba Aniruddhsinh Roll No. :- 14 Email Id :- devangibagohil786@gmail.com Paper No. :- 14 (The African Literature) Topic :- Literary Analysis Of “The Waiting For Barbarians” Submitted To :- Department Of English M.K.B.University
- 2. J. M. Coetzee JohnMaxwell Coetzee Born in South Africa, 1940 Anti-apartheid, wrote a lot on the subject of apartheid. animal rights activist Postmodernist, clinical writing A series of (completely) fictional autobiographies, Summertime (2009) The Lives of Animals (1999) Won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Jerusalem Prize, two Booker Prizes, three CNA Prizes, and the Prix Femina Etranger
- 3. Waiting for theBarbrians by C. P. Cavafy A poem whose title Coetzee took for his novel. An unnamed empire waits, ready to welcome, or, rather, face the barbarians and "dazzle" them. However, the barbarians don't come. "Now what's going to happen to us without barbarians? Those people were a kind of solution.“ the issue of the "other" as a vehicle to characterize the "self“ described as "an apt description of any state that needs enemies, real or imaginary, as a perpetual excuse"
- 4. “Waiting For” “Barbarians” the Fear Anxiety Uneasy Confusion Savage Cruel Ruthless Brute
- 5. Introduction "Waiting for theBarbarians" by J.M. Coetzee, This novel by Coetzee sheds light onto the imperialism and moral flaws of political powers. The story of "Waiting for the Barbarians" focuses on the Magistrate's thoughts as he experiences the events of torture and power by the Empire. J.M. Coetzee has delivered an entire new culture and struggle into literature and has revealed some of the truths of imperialism internationally.
- 6. Character and Analysis ColonelJoll Trained to be violent and do whatever it takes to get the prisoners to talk Has the characteristics of a solider: tough, heartless, obedient, apathetic, serious The only character with a name, which shows his authority and that he is foreign He has sunglasses, which show that he is wealthier and not from the frontier
- 7. The Magistrate Waiting toretire, inefficient, and letting his life pass by Alone and was living a quiet life Is unsure of Colonel Joll and his actions Shows compassion for the boy and tries to help him Does not know what to do with this uncertainty Needs affection so he turns to the barbarian girl and the prostitute Is very awkward when with the girl and prostitute
- 8. The Barbarian Girl Blindedand wounded Shows the force and oppression of the Third Bureau and the Empire altogether Her external damage emphasizes the Magistrate's internal damage Her frustration towards the Magistrate shows how strange their interactions are
- 9. Symbols The empire The empiresrepresent power that doesn't require that Those who serve it love others but merely perform duties.
- 10. Barbarians Tribes According torumors barbarian tribes have been arming and the empire would have to employ measures to prevent war.
- 11. The Blank Page Inthe entire course of the novel, with all the changes that the magistrate goes through, he is now able to write on the paper. Along with the poplar slips, which seem to tell the barbarian’s history, we can see the blank slip of paper as the magistrate’s attempt at relaying a history. In each of the cases, the magistrate puts a significance on having his life recorded. The blank paper is his attempt at at creating his own history. When at the end of the novel he cannot bear to write his own history
- 12. The Term “Barbarians" Imperialism is an important aspect of the novel, the term "barbarians" or "barbaric" is also dominate. Depsite the fact that the Empire wants to influence the land through military and diplomatic influences, their technique of interrogation towards that prisoners makes them as much as barbarians as the real savages. "Waiting for the Barbarians" is that the Magistrate is a source of truth, one who witnesses all of the good and evil of the Empire and the villagers. He illuminates to the readers that it's not always about politics, but it is about our true human nature in a time of crisis; whether we tend to be barbaric or civilized.