Waiting for the Barbarians can be read as an allegorical attack to Apartheid South Africa. But it can also be read generally as an allegory of oppressor and oppressed. This is made possible by the writer not using specific temporal, geographical or historical context. He also uses an unnamed character, the Magistrate, as one of his main characters and hero. This essay centres at this particular character and the role he assumes. To achieve this end, first I will give a short plot of the novel putting the magistrate at the centre. Second, I will trace some of the echoes of the Life and Passion of Christ in the Magistrate’s experiences. Third, I will discuss whether he is a type of redeemer in a secular world. Then I will conclude.
At the start of the novel the narrator is a Magistrate in an unnamed town on the frontier of an Empire. On its edge live the ‘Barbarians’. The Magistrate encounters a head of a secret service, Colonel Joll, who has been sent by the empire to wage war against the ‘Barbarians’. Colonel Joll captures some of them and tortures them in the name of finding out the ‘truth’ (5) about the rumoured ‘Barbarian’ uprising. In the meantime, the Magistrate takes in a barbarian girl, who takes to begging in the town, after being left behind by her people on their return to the desert (28). After a while, taking pity on the girl, he takes her back to her people (79) then real trouble starts. A new officer named Mandel comes to the town and takes charge of his office (84). The Magistrate is arrested and tortured before being left free.
Later, the settlers tremble at the news of the looming barbarian uprising and leave the town for the capital. Mandel is killed when he tries to leave the place with his family (143). T...
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...ind echoes of the Life and Passion of Christ. There are a number of examples for instance; The Magistrate’s concern with the oppressed and this leads him into an enemy of the empire. He is then imprisoned tortured. He is also publicly humiliated like Jesus with public torture and a mock execution where he is hanged on a tree. While hanging, he also cries out loudly and he is mocked just as Jesus was before his death on the cross. Secondly, with the example of the Magistrate in mind, the essay has showed that he is a type of redeemer that the secular world needs since he advocates for justice. By he is also not the real kind of redeemer since his past moral life is flawed thus he lucks a moral credibility. Nonetheless to a greater extent, the example of the Magistrate is a type of redeemer in a secular world.
Works Cited
waiting for the barbarians by J. M. Coetzee
Atkinson, Rick. An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume 1 of the "Liberation Trilogy." New York: Henry Holt, 2002.
The Return of Martin Guerre, written by Natalie Zemon Davis, is the tale of a court case that takes place in sixteenth century France. Martin Guerre is a peasant who deserted his wife and family for many years. While Martin Guerre is gone, a man named Arnaud du Tilh arrives at Martin’s village and claims to be Martin Guerre. Bertrande, who is Guerre’s wife, Guerre’s sisters, and many of the villagers, accepts the imposter. After almost three years of being happily married, Bertrande takes the fraud to court under pressure of Pierre Guerre, her stepfather and Guerre’s brother. Arnaud du Tilh is almost declared innocent, but the real Martin Guerre appears in the courthouse. Throughout this tale, many factors of the peasant life are highlighted. The author gives a very effective and detailed insight to a peasant’s life during the time of Martin Guerre. Davis does a successful job of portraying the peasant lifestyle in sixteenth century France by accentuating the social, cultural, and judicial factors of everyday peasant life.
One of the crucial aspects of the play, is the quality and responsibility of civic responsibility that is of paramount importance, that all members of the Jury uphold this virtue obsequiously. As we analyse the story more obsequiously, we can prevail the personalities of the juror’s and a rough basis of their respected virtues are to be seen more evidentially. Although there are some jurors who do not exceed presumptuous assumptions in the jury room, some characters in the play already have a ‘pre-conception’, respectively, towards the initial accusation towards the sixteen-year-old boy.
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose I. Authors Background Stephen Ambrose was born in 1936 and grew up in Whitewater, Wisconsin, a small town where his father received the M.D. At the University of Wisconsin, he started as a pre-med, but inspired by a great professor he changed his major to History. After getting his M.A. degree at Louisiana State University, he returned to the University of Wisconsin to complete a Ph.D. Ambrose began teaching at the University of New Orleans. He started as a Civil War historian but changed to political history after President Eisenhower asked him to become his biographer. Since then, Ambrose has written more than twenty books. Among his best sellers are D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, Undaunted Courage and Nothing Like It in the World.
David W. Blight's book Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory and the American Civil War, is an intriguing look back into the Civil War era which is very heavily studied but misunderstood according to Blight. Blight focuses on how memory shapes history Blight feels, while the Civil War accomplished it goal of abolishing slavery, it fell short of its ultimate potential to pave the way for equality. Blight attempts to prove that the Civil War does little to bring equality to blacks. This book is a composite of twelve essays which are spilt into three parts. The Preludes describe blacks during the era before the Civil War and their struggle to over come slavery and describes the causes, course and consequences of the war. Problems in Civil War memory describes black history and deals with how during and after the war Americans seemed to forget the true meaning of the war which was race. And the postludes describes some for the leaders of black society and how they are attempting to keep the memory and the real meaning of the Civil War alive and explains the purpose of studying historical memory.
A true war story blurs the line between fact and fiction, where it is neither true nor false at the same time. What is true and what is not depends on how much you believe it to be. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” from the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the author provides various definitions to how the validity of a war story can be judged. The entire chapter is a collection of definitions that describe the various truths to what a true war story is. Unlike O’Brien, who is a novelist and storyteller, David Finkel, the author of “The Good Soldiers”, is a journalist whose job is to report the facts. Yet in the selection that we read, chapter nine, Finkel uses the convention of storytelling, which relies heavily on the stories the combat troops tell each other or him personally. Finkel attempts to give an unbiased view of the Iraq war through the stories of the soldiers but in doing so, Finkel forfeits the use of his own experiences and his own opinions. From O’Brien’s views on what a true war story is combined with my own definitions, I believe that Finkel provides a certain truth to his war stories but not the entire truth.
The novel “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer goes into great detail to describe the main character, Chris McCandless, who died traveling alone into the Alaskan wilderness. McCandless, whom in the novel renamed himself Alex, left his home and family to travel to Alaska in 1992. In Alaska McCandless planned to live an isolated life in the desolate wilderness, but unfortunately he did not survive. This non-fiction novel portrays his life leading up to his departure and it captures the true essence of what it means to be “in the wild”.
Many people say that the metal of a man is found in his ability to keep his ideals in spite of anything that life can through at you. If a man is found to have done these things he can be called a hero. Through a lifelong need to accept responsibility for all living things, Robert Ross defines his heroism by keeping faith with his ideals despite the betrayal, despair and tragedy he suffers throughout the course of The Wars by Timothy Findley.
After a journey into the dark history of Europe and Africa with Sven Lindqvist, I found myself shocked. It’s earth shattering. Ideas and historical events are presented through a journal/proposal of his unique view on racism. Lindqvist raises questions as to where racism was spurred and why what happened in late 1800’s and early 1900’s lead to the holocaust. Including religion, personal human values, advanced warfare and even societies’ impact as a whole. His travels through the Sahara and Africa in the early chapters show a more current day view of society over seas. The description of the desolate continent and harsh conditions paints a picture of what previous civilization lived through. He explains that part of the reason he has traveled to the desert is to feel the space all around him, a definite emptiness if you will. As his travels progress he introduces his own family life that pertains to the human emotion, which is also a big focus point in this book. Childhood beatings over taking the lord’s name in vain, dropped calls from his daughter that leave him torn and sad. He does an excellent job on taking the reader on a personal journey with him through his current day traveling and even his early life. Linking these personal experiences and tying in histories misconceptions of “right and wrong” is what makes this book so valuable. Lindqvist gives a relevant and educated answer to the question of how racism became such a terrible tribulation in all parts of the world.
Daru, the schoolteacher in a remote area of Algeria, is torn between duty and what he believes is the right thing to do when he is suddenly forced in the middle of a situation he does not expect. He must escort an Arabic prisoner to the nearest town. It is not that Daru has much sympathy for the man; in fact, he does not, and actually finds himself disliking the Arab for disrupting so many lives. "Daru felt a sudden wrath against the man, against all men with their rotten spite, their tireless hates, their blood lust." Unfortunately, Daru loves his homeland, and cannot bear to think of leaving, despite the chaos that is raging around him between France and the Algerian natives. I believe that Daru makes the right choice in letting the prisoner choose his own fate. Daru has reaso...
In J.M. Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarians, the Magistrate comes to discover the humanity of the barbarian through his interactions with the blind girl, which eventually leads him to learn about the nature of his own humanity. Although the Magistrate is more lenient on the Barbarians than Colonel Joll, he still unknowingly objectifies them, while placing himself above them. It is only when he is imprisoned that he comes to realize the fragility of his own humanity. Ultimately Coetzee uses the magistrate’s journey from empirical leader to broken and fearful prisoner to express that peace and stability between people can only be obtained when all humanity is valued.
... indifference of the world” (Camus 122). With sympathy toward Meursault secured, a natural disapproval of the society who condemns him is to be formed. By placing a mirror before the very society which this text intends to describe, the novel forces those who read it to reevaluate their seemingly natural assumptions concerning the “frivolous indulgence” of emotion, the stone cold immovability of morality, and most of all the purpose of judgment (Camus 40). In his essay on the guillotine, Camus defines compassion as that which “does not exclude punishment, but [which] withholds an ultimate condemnation” (Camus 40). With the creation of such a relatable character as Meursault, Albert Camus attempts to breathe compassion into an otherwise indifferent society, acting as the catalyst for a reaction which both sympathizes and reconsiders what essentially makes us human.
In this literature review I will discuss both Socrates and Jesus Christ (Jesus). I will compare and distinguish them, by their trial, misdeeds (through the view of society), law, justice and punishment. In addition, I will write about their influence in today’s society and what impact they have made through time. Both Socrates and Jesus had many things in common yet, they we’re different. Both had different religious beliefs. While, Socrates was polytheistic, believing in several gods. Jesus, in the other hand was monotheism, believed in only one God. Both were charged, tried, and executed for their “radical” behavior with society. Overall, both men sacrificed themselves for the possible chance of change.
Dr. Thomas Stockmann: Hero or Enemy ? Dr. Thomas Stockmann is the Medical Officer of the Baths in the play ''enemy of the people'' by Henrik Iben; and the brother of the Burgomaster (mayor) of the town. Jovial by nature, the doctor enjoys the company of "bright, cheerful, freedom loving young fellows" who share his idealism and ability to think freely. Throughout the play, Stockman shows himself to be a conscientious person and a caring father.
The setting of this book is four hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland on the Polar Ice Cap in fierce and extremely harsh climate. A group of men and women go down in a jetliner and they have to try to survive in temperatures of forty below. Six men and four women go through the most horrible climate imaginable and eventually survive. The kicker is that the plane did not just crash but was murder some of the passengers try to figure out who shot the pilot which caused the plane to crash into the ice cap of Greenland. The book is called night without end because every minute of everyday for the six days the people are on the polar ice cap. Eventually the passengers with the help of scientists from a research lab on the polar ice cap survive and their lives are returned to normal.