Waiting for the Barbarians Analysis

The Magistrate uses the girl to attempt to learn about his mind-state.—“All this erotic behavior of mine is indirect: I prowl about her, touching her face, caressing her body, without entering her or finding the urge to do so……But with this woman there is no interior, only surface across which I hunt back and forth seeking entry. Is this how her torturers felt hunting their secret, whatever they thought it was?”-pg 43. Both the Magistrate and Joll see her as a key to something and try to unlock it. They both use the girl for their own purposes without any regard to her as a person, although Joll’s actions can be seen as much worse. The Magistrate never tries to get to know her beyond the surface or try to understand her (which is why he cannot understand the pain Joll has put her through). It is only on the trip to take her home that he sees that there is much more to her than he thought and regrets not getting to know her as a person and learning her language.

*Recall Heart of Darkness—The power of Marlow’s story was altered by experiencing it second- or third-hand rather than seeing it for oneself.

                The Magistrate learns about the fallibility and false notions behind the concept of Empire. His experiences with the brutal torture and inhumane treatment allow him to realize that the barbarians are not the true enemy (they will forfeit their innocence and dignity in the face of the oppressor) but Col. Joll and the corrupt Empire regime (he even points and calls Joll the true enemy to his face). The Empire does not uphold the sanctity of their own law and use any tactic they please to get what they want. (“They will use the law as far as it serves them, then they will turn to other methods. That is the Bureau’s way. To people who do not operate under the statute, legal process is simply one instrument among many. “ (82)

In Heart of Darkness, Marlow gains an understanding of the duality of man—he uses Kurtz as a mirror into his own understanding of humanity and is thus able to save his humanity from the psychological degredation that has ruined Kurtz. The Magistrate, on the other hand, has a harder time understanding this (“There is something staring at me in the face, and still I do not see it”). He, having been prisoner and scapegoat to his empire, struggles to assign meaning to all of his pain and suffering. His recognition of the humanity of the barbarians represents the first step in overcoming the prison of identity assigned by the state.