Initial Reaction to Waiting for the Barbarians

This might be a little bit of a stretch, but as I read Waiting for the Barbarians, I was reminded, especially towards the beginning, of George Orwell's 1984. Both stories are told from the perspective of a citizen of a larger empire or government ("The Empire" in Waiting for the Barbarians and Big Brother in 1984). Both narrators begin by being largely faithful to their government, as well as largely oblivious of the abuses perpetuated by this government. However, both narrators slowly become aware of the cruelty and corruption from their exposure to a girl who (indirectly, in the case of the beggar girl from Waiting for the Barbarians) cause the narrators to shift their perceptions about their evil empire. There are even hints in Waiting for the Barbarians of the "War is peace" sort of mentality that is present in 1984. The whispers around The Empire that the barbarians are banding together to attack, along with the presence of Colonel Joll to investigate the "threat," when there does not appear to be any at all, seem to be examples of warmongering and xenophobia, at the very least.
Coetzee sets up the story in a way that Colonel Joll is the first impression the reader gets of this nameless empire. In this way, Joll embodies The Empire for the duration of the first section. Joll is an interesting combination of ruthlessness and arrogance. He is brutally efficient in torturing his prisoners, but he does not bother to find or capture the correct culprits. In addition to setting up Colonel Joll and, by extension, The Empire, as being thouroughly unlikable, this indifference further supports the idea that The Empire does not actually believe that there is a barbarian conspiracy. If Colonel Joll and his superiors actually believed there was some sort of danger, they would probably be more interested in finding the actual perpetrators.
As for the prose itself, it is a nice change from dense description of Heart of Darkness, as well as the general weirdness of The Sound and the Fury. Waiting for the Barbarians reads far quicker than anything else we have read this year. The story is told from the perspective of a suprisingly intellectual and insightful narrator, who is perpetually attempting to put everything together, but is never quite able. It is an interesting effect for a story in which events are manipulated by a greater power: the cruel and downright Orwellian Empire. (407)
Note: I am sorry about the lateness of this entry. I misread the assingment sheet and thought it was due after the break.