First Impressions of Waiting for the Barbarians

After reading the first few chapters of the novel Waiting for the Barbarians, I am still somewhat confused on what to think. Coetzee’s style, with his use of the present tense, sets up for a rather interesting read—much less dense than Heart of Darkness. His style also allows the reader to establish a personal connection with the narrator, the Magistrate—the only character of this novel I have become fond of. Morally appalled to all that Colonel Joll (a man the Magistrate finds “no loyalty in his heart” for (17) does, the Magistrate acts as the only character to have some sort of understanding of limitations of torture. Likewise it intrigued me to see such polar opposites working for the same purpose, the Empire. The Magistrate even acknowledges the opposition of their thoughts when he states, “the Empire does not require its servants love each other, merely that they perform their duty” (6), and Coetzee goes even further to depict the segregation of their thoughts when the Colonel sends some prisoner who are in fact fishing people to the Magistrate. Upset with Colonel’s ignorance, the Magistrate begins denouncing the Colonel in front of the officers, an act that he even admits should never be done (17). As for plot, I find the novel somewhat lacking in tremendously compelling material thus far. As of now, the novel mostly consists of gruesome, vivid imagery of Colonel’s tortured victims and the sexual dealings of the Magistrate. The Magistrates journey to the barbarians was the peak of excitement for me, but what I truly await with much anticipation is the confrontation between the army against the barbarians as alluded to at the end of the third section. Despite its somewhat mundane beginning, I find the novel an easy read, therefore compelling me to see what lies ahead. (304)