One of the major elements that permeates throughout Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians, is the complete lack of knowledge. The story takes place in an unnamed frontier settlement in an unspecified time. Throughout the novel, there is threat of a massive invasion by the “barbarians” who are thought to be hiding in the hills waiting to attack the people of the settlement. Consequently, the people of the settlement live in fear of the “barbarians” they know nothing about. In the end, the invasion never comes and the people of the settlement never learn anything about who the barbarians are and what, if anything, they want. This complete deficit of comprehension reflects Coetzee’s theme of the futility of the colonialists to enforce their ideals on civilizations they lack knowledge and understanding about.
This lack of knowledge is associated with the lack of vision throughout the novel. Colonel Joll, who is sent by the Empire to investigate and torture the barbarians, is at first thought to have “blind eyes” because of his use of sunglasses. Although he does have his sight, Colonel Joll is actually blind to any feeling for humanity. He tortures those he feels can provide him information about the oncoming invasion of the barbarians. His attempts are only met with more allusions to blindness. He beats a boy whose father he murders, leaving him with “one eye … swollen shut” (3). He tortures a young girl who is taken as prisoner and leaves her without the ability to “see properly anymore” (47). The magistrate, who he has tortured and beaten, is left with an “eye that is a mere slit” (132). Colonel Joll cannot see that his attempts to blind others are futile, that his regime of tyranny is for nothing. No one can help him because there is no knowledge of the barbarians.
The magistrate does not fear the barbarians and tries to seek knowledge of them from relics of wooden slips he finds in bags. Although he attempts to decode these slips, he realizes his slips do not hold a single meaning, “There is no agreement among the scholars about how to interpret these relics” (129). He acknowledges his inability to comprehend a civilization that he cannot gain knowledge about and reflects that “[t]here has been something staring me in the face, and still I do not see it” (179). What he finally does realize is the harm the Empire has bestowed onto the “barbarians” and feels shame on behalf of the Empire. He wants “to live outside of history…to live outside of the history that Empire bestows on its subjects” and “never wished it for the barbarians that they should have the history of Empire laid upon them” (178). He attempts to teach the colonel a lesson on compassion and says, “The crime that is latent in us we must inflict on ourselves…not to others” (170). The lesson is lost on Colonel Joll and he flees the settlement and leaves behind the barren wasteland that he helped to create. In the end, the barbarians do not come and the people in the settlement, like the colonel, have learned nothing about humanity or about the civilization they helped destroy. The magistrate is left to feel “like a man who lost his way long ago but presses on along a road that may lead nowhere” (180).
Like many natives of frontiers that have been colonized, these “barbarians”, who are actually nomads and hunters, only want to be left alone in peaceful coexistence with the frontier people on land which they consider theirs to traverse. The barbarians, who are basically innocent, are really a mental fiction born of colonial paranoia and a political convenience; their invention has become indispensable for the maintenance of a blind, insane power which sucks everything into its vortex of ignorance and fear.
2 comments:
I agree with you when you say that the barbarians only want to be left to their own lives. Like so many other instances man tries to incorporate their thinking and their way of life as "better" and sees this as an opportunity to inflict ideals on a group of people who are quite able to handle life as they have been for many years. I believe the fear comes to them from the fact that it is the "unknown" to them. The barbarians know who they are, the Empire is still trying to establish a continuity in their ways of life. It is unfortunate that these two civilizations can not live together in peace, just think of what they would learn from each other. It would be advantageous to the Empire to embrace the Barbarians and learn of their way of life and incorporate these teachings into the lives of the villagers that the magistrate oversees. Oh how blind they really are!
The fact that this takes place in an unnamed frontier in a unspecific time only leads me to believe that this is an example of history repeating itself, the stronger force will try to over come the weaker one with violence and try to make the so called "Barbarians" pay for their ingnorance by abusing their right of power. It is something that happens all the time unfortunately man has not learned his lesson.
Joanne,
I think you're right to say that lack of knowledge is an important theme in this novel. It's not a thread I had noticed myself, but after reading your post, I can see what you mean. The way you connect the idea of ignorance and the examples of literal and figurative blindness within the novel is insightful, as well. What I am wondering is whether Coetzee is suggesting that this ignorance/blindness can be overcome. As you pointed out, the Magistrate recognizes his ignorance and actively tries to uncover the truth, whether it be his attempts to decode the slips found in the ruins or his efforts to "decipher" and "understand" the marks of torture left on the barbarian girl (35). As you say, the Magistrate's attempts are futile; he ends the novel "feeling stupid" (180). Even after the Magistrate sees his recurring dream of the children in the snow come to life, he still remains unenlightened, incapable of understanding all that has happened in the past year. I think you and Ligia are right in suggesting that the root of the problem is the system of Empire in which one culture assumes superiority of another and effectively "blinds" everyone involved, even those who recognize their own inability to see, such as the Magistrate. For he is blinded; even in the end. Having been born and raised within the Empire, his vision is always mediated by the imperial ideology. He tries, but his dreams give him away: to him, the barbarians are always children; a weaker people who must be saved and protected by him. In spite of all his best efforts, the Magistrate cannot escape his colonial heritage, and therefore cannot see clearly.
-Melissa Filbeck
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