Waiting for the Barbarians discussion

Jasmine Turner
Book analysis
Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee

1. Genre: dystopian Fiction
2. Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature (2002)
3. Star-Rating: **** (4 stars)
4. Summary: The story is set in a small frontier town that known only as the Empire. Waiting for the Barbarians is told in first person by a character known as the Magistrate, a benign bureaucrat comfortably settled in the outer frontiers of a sprawling Empire. From time to time, the Empire has become exercised by an outside force, its usual nemesis, the Barbarians. They are roaming bands of nomads that live beyond the Empire’s frontiers and always seem to present a threat to the heartland of the empire. The Third Bureau, Special Forces of the Empire, led by a sinister Colonel Joll then captures a number of barbarians, bring them back to town, to torture and kill some of them. They then leave for the capital in order to prepare a larger campaign against the barbarians.
The Magistrate does not believe that the barbarians are nemesis and personally nurses a barbarian woman back to health who was beaten by the Special Forces. While getting her better again, the Magistrate then falls in love with her. That lasted until Colonel Joll and his men arrive on orders to take on the Barbarians that roam beyond the settlement walls. The Magistrate objects to the torture practiced by the soldiers in their dealings with the Barbarians. He is labeled a traitor and as someone of too weak a constitution to be trusted with the aims of the Empire. He too is subject to torture and humiliation.

5. Evaluation: This book is a good example of dystopian genre because it shows that the society is characterized by poverty and oppression. The torture in the “empire” represents this genre because it shows the despair among the people. Dystopian means a controlled state, and in the novel the empire was being controlled by the Third bureau. This is also a good example of fiction because all of the characters are made up, although many of the events that happened can be true.

6. Description of Ending: The ending of this book has a semi- closed ending. The story could have continued but the ending is hopeful. Joll and his men leave the empire, with their campaign against the barbarians falling apart. The ending is also semi-open because at the end of the story, snow falls representing cleanliness and there are no sign of the barbarians when the snow falls.

7. Suggestions: Waiting for the barbarians is easy to understand and follow along to. The author used first person point of view which really showed the true emotions of the narrator. Waiting for the barbarians is important to English literature and the genre, because the events from the book gave incite to the readers on how war can really be like. The author used examples of social realism and allegorical symbolism throughout the story. The author also used a lot of historical context that really showed the social aspect of the novel.

8. Read aloud: “The girl stands with her arms stretched like wings over the necks of two horses.” pg 76
"The new men of Empire are the ones who believe in fresh starts, new chapters, clean pages; I struggle on with the old story, hoping that before it is finished it will reveal to me why it was that I thought it worth the trouble." p.24
"How can I accept that disaster has overtaken my life when the world continues to move so tranquilly through its cycles?" p. 102
"Truly, man was not made to live alone!" p. 87
"Will we live to regret this blood spent so lavishly on the sand?" p. 67