My Initial Reactions to J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians

The magistrate is both observant and knowledgeable of his small town on the edge of the empire. He demonstrates his awareness of the “native ways” in the very first page of the book.  He considers himself a simple with simple and attainable desires. “ I am… a responsible official in the service of the Empire, serving out my days on this lazy frontier, waiting to retire…. I have not asked for more than a quiet life in quiet times.” (p. 8) But we witness his realizations that perhaps he is not as ordinary as he originally judged himself to be. Observing is much more convincing than listening.

Not only do readers better trust the narrator because of observations but also the narrator is more distrusting of the Empire due to observations. The Empire has evoked a feeling of hysteria among its citizens. “The is no women living in the frontier who has not dreamed of a dark barbarian hand coming from under the bed to grip her ankle…” (p. 8) The rumors spread but the faster they spread the more closely they resembled the truth. The magistrate is not swayed. “Show me a barbarian army and I will believe.” (p. 8) He is not fooled. The employees of the Empire are renamed “devotees of truth [or] doctors of interrogation” (p. 8) but our narrator is not blinded. The seeing of Truth is a major theme that reoccurs often throughout the novella. (I was reminded time and time again of Big Brother from George Orwell’s novel 1984. Especially when telling with the blurring of truth and programmed public opinion.)

            J.M. Coetzee’s style is very understandable. We have a single narrator relaying a story. It felt as if I was in the magistrate head. We see both his observations and participate in his interpretations. The active voice is predominantly used because our narrator is often describing a situation but during specifically striking scenes the narrator begins to use more complicated syntax and vocabulary. His omission of both names of characters and places is one to note. We had yet to learn the name of even the outpost. (355)