Waiting for the Barbarians: A Setting for the Discussion of Concepts, Issues, and Morals

In the opening pages of J. M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians we gather that this novel will be hypothetical, that it will be more concerned with the concepts and morals of the events-to-occur than with the actual events themselves or the people who make them happen. In these opening pages we are first introduced to two of the novel’s main characters. The narrator we learn to be a thinking and somewhat moral, yet still somewhat corrupted magistrate of his village. Sharply contrasting him is Colonel Joll, the torturing and brainless representative of the Empire in the narrator’s village. In the novel’s opening we also gain a sense of Coetzee’s style of writing. We become familiar to his simple wording and use of subsections within each section of the novel, through which he tells little parts of the story. Finally, we learn that the novel will discuss many concepts and issues: moral issues, political issues, concepts of authority and hierarchy, etc. But there is one issue that, at least in my mind, stands out from the rest.

This issue is that of torture. When I say it stands out from the rest, I do not mean that it is more important or deserves more attention, I just mean that it catches my eye much quicker than the other issues and concepts of Coetzee’s novel. I believe that the issue of torture grabs my attention so quickly because it is such a shocking and controversial issue. It is next to impossible to ignore imagery such as, “The grey beard is caked with blood. The lips are crushed and drawn back, the teeth are broken. One eye is rolled back, the other eye-socket is a bloody hole,” or, “There is a certain tone… A certain tone enters the voice of a man who is telling the truth. Training and experience teach us to recognize that tone.” With such imagery it is obvious that the morals of torture will be questioned in the novel. When I came across this first torture scene in my reading I remembered a radio talk show I had heard a while back in which I learned that the United States defined torture as “pain equivalent to death or organ failure,” so that certain agencies could justify their means of obtaining information “without torture.” Therefore, the morals of torture have two levels. Is torture moral? And if not, what is and what is not considered torture? (421)

Chinua Achebe – “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”

-There exists a desire—even a need—in Western psychology to set up Africa as a foil to Europe. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness displays this desire or need.
-Conrad’s (and Western) fascination: “What thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours…. Ugly.”
-Conrad is a racist – Heart of Darkness is concerned with the evil effect Africa has on Marlow and Kurtz, rather than the evil effect the Europeans have on the Africans. Therefore, Achebe cannot see the story as a great work of art.
-This racism (of Africa being inferior to the West) is so common and accepted that it is often not noticed. It will be a difficult task to change this perception of Africa, but it must be done, and it must be done soon.

Dilsey: From “De Beginnin” to “De Endin”

When Dilsey speaks the ten simple words, “I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin” at the Easter Sunday church service she does much to bring about closure to The Sound and the Fury. The first three sections of the novel are narrated by Benjy, Quentin, and Jason respectively. Yet with regards to the story of the entire Compson family, Dilsey is the only reliable source of information (not to be confused with “reliable narrator” since she does not narrate any part of the story). She is there in the beginning in 1898 when the Compson children are toddlers, and she is there in the end in 1928 when they are grown and in their thirties, so she is with the family for the entire duration of the story. Most importantly, though, she is sane. Benjy’s disability, Quentin’s early death, and Jason’s corruption make their contributions to the story either unreliable or incomplete. Therefore, these pieces of the story are somewhat scattered and confusing to the reader. Faulkner needed an ending to his novel that would unite these pieces into a single coherent story of the failure of the Compson family. So it is the purpose of this fourth section to bring about this unity, and Dilsey is a key aspect of this purpose. (223)