Plot Summary Of Waiting For The Barbarians By J. M. Coetzee
Waiting for the Barbarians opens onto a voice communication between the judge and Colonel Jolly; the magistrate narrates, starting the novel with an investigate Jull’s sunglasses — he’s ne'er seen something like them, and wonders if Jolly is blind.
The two, meeting at associate degree lodge situated within the settlement of the magistrate’s jurisdiction, drink from a flask. The judge notes that Jolly doesn’t discuss why he’s been sent to the settlement — he simply is aware of that Jolly has arrived from the capital of the Empire beneath “emergency powers. ” Jolly describes a look he participated in, and killing a “mountain” of animals. The magistrate discusses searching and fishing within the settlement, accenting the cycle of the seasons and migrations of birds. Jolly retires early, and therefore the judge says that he’s told the workers at the lodge of Jolly’s vital standing as a member of the Third Bureau, “the most significant division of the Civil Guard these days. ” The judge leaves the lodge, opting to sleep outside on a mat; he wakes up before dawn, and makes note of the gorgeous star-speckled sky, adding that he hasn’t seen the Empire’s capital town since he was a young man.
The magistrate’s narration then cuts to a different voice communication with Jolly. They’re in a very hut next to the settlement’s granary; 2 prisoners are being control there. The judge explains to Jolly that they don’t have any facilities for prisoners since there's very little crime within the village and punishments area unit typically issued within the kind of fines or necessary labor. The judge tells Jolly that the prisoners were picked up some day’s past, once a raid that occurred regarding twenty miles away. He adds that raids area unit uncommon, since the nomads typically keep one's hands off from the Empire’s forts. The prisoners, he says, claim to own been uninvolved within the raid, and he offers to assist Jolly with their language if he wishes to talk with them, adding: “perhaps they're telling the reality. ” The prisoners area unit a young boy and his uncle. rising to the barbarian boy, the magistrate says, “we wish to speak to you, ” however the boy doesn't respond. A guard then chimes in, accusative the boy of dissembling to not perceive.
Having detected that the boy’s face is contained and swollen, the judge asks UN agency beat him, however the guard denies any involvement, claiming that the boy “was like that once he came. ” The judge then asks the boy, directly, UN agency beat him, however once more gets no response — though he notes that the boy stares over his shoulder at Colonel Joll. attempting to clarify why the boy is staring, the judge tells Jolly that the boy has most likelier seen spectacles before, and should suppose Jollyy is a blind man. He smiles, however notes that Jolly doesn’t smile back it appears that, before of prisoners, one should maintain a specific behavior.
