Theme Of Blindness In Waiting For The Barbarians

Jennifer Wells
Dr. Mehta
ENGL 2610.001: Assignment #1
3 November 2017
Can the People See? A Look at Blindness in J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians
There are varying degrees of blindness. There is complete blindness, where one is unable to see anything. There is limited blindness, where one is able to discern some things, but others may be outside of the field of vision or too blurry to distinguish at all. Also, there is selective blindness. This is where one chooses not to see things. It could be that one does not want to acknowledge what is happening around him, or it could be that one simply refuses to see things in any other way than his belief allows—meaning one is willfully choosing to ignore any other interpretation than his beliefs

Rather than engage in a fight, the barbarians led the troops on a merry chase through the unhospitable terrain the barbarians inhabit. Joll refuses to leave his carriage as his men gather supplies and belongings before heading back to the safety of the Capitol. The magistrate peers through the windows of the carriage, examining Joll: “His face is naked, washed clean, perhaps by the blue moonlight, perhaps by physical exhaustion . . . He looks out at me, his eyes searching my face. The dark lenses are gone” (146). The exposure of Colonel Joll is so stark. For the first time, the magistrate is able to view Joll as a human instead of as an emissary of the Empire. At this point in the novel, it is clear to see that the Empire is no longer able to hide from the colonized. Joll is no longer able to limit what the magistrate sees. The magistrate is able to separate Joll the man and Joll the Empire. Additionally, the magistrate is finally able to view the Empire for what it truly is. It is not the safe, helpful place it tried to be. It is not the benevolent parent to a wayward child. The Empire is a self-serving machine looking for ways its colonies can benefit the rest of the Empire. With this exposure of the Empire, her plan to further subjugate the people fails. She can no longer hide her agenda from anyone. Incidentally, Joll is also no longer able to limit his own vision. He has been exposed to the truth he has chosen to hide from himself. He cannot continue ‘blindly’ following the Empire, and carrying out her whims. Joll must now see the effects the Empire has had on the colonized. He must see the horror he has wreaked and acknowledge his responsibility for the current