Wishful Thinking

The contrast between the characters of the Magistrate who is the protagonist in the novel, Waiting for the Barbarians, and Colonel Joll who is the antagonist is a perfect example of an antithesis based on their personality and moral outlook. The conflicting attributes of the characters form the basic elements of the antithesis. Throughout the novel, the Magistrate is portrayed as a truth-seeking person whereas Colonel Joll is described as a perpetrator of violence and injustice. In the sentence, “I was the lie that Empire tells itself when times are easy, he the truth that Empire tells when harsh winds blow.” J.M Coetzee tries to introduce an antithesis to the readers by contrasting the roles of the two characters. This sentence also indicates the Empire’s hypocrisy and duplicity. In the passage, the Magistrate comes to a conclusion that he is actually similar to Colonel Joll in a way that they both are part of the Empire’s machinery. The Magistrate’s character is simply a mask that hides the ugly face of the Empire, which is represented by Colonel Joll’s image. Concisely, the Magistrate and Colonel Joll are the two sides of the same coin, as the Magistrate puts it, “Two sides of imperial rule, no more, no less.” The contrast between ‘lie’ and ‘truth’ in the second sentence of the passage is very significant because it is the fundamental element of the antithesis introduced by Coetzee. The sentence implies that the role of the Magistrate in the Empire is merely superficial and the image of Colonel Joll is the reality. In the same sentence, Coetzee uses the phrases “when times are easy” to describe a ‘peaceful time’, and “when harsh winds blow” to depict a ‘trying period’. This choice of words is effective because it gives an activ...

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...ords rustier, the watchman will sneak down from his tower to spend the night with his wife…” In this sentence, we can see how the Magistrate becomes optimistic about the future of the town. It is only a matter of time until the ‘quiet’ returns. In this sentence Coetzee associates peace with ‘quietness’. By ‘quietness’ he does not mean an absence of noise or sound but, an absence of fear and anxiety. When the ‘quiet’ returns, the townspeople will have nothing to worry. There is no need for the watchmen to be alert all the time and they can even ‘sneak down’ from the tower to be with their wives.

The descriptions provided by Coetzee in this passage, although simple, are vivid and intriguing. Coetzee manages to convey his message successfully and effectively. Although the diction and vocabularies are very challenging to understand, this passage has its impact on me.