Personal Identity In J. M. Coetzee's Waiting For The Barbarians

As singular beings, humans have the power to develop individual opinions, values, and morals. Personal identity is more than the body that holds the human soul. When the “self” takes away one’s human identity, they become an “other.” This “othering” process finally completes on the Magistrate in J. M. Coetzee’s 1980 novel Waiting for the Barbarians when he is physically tortured after opposing the Empire. While his torturers are beating his skull, his mind and body separate, and in turn, his perspective on the meaning of humanity is reformed. Torture convinces the Magistrate that it is his flesh and bones that make him human, not his ideas. When his body is ground down to its lowest point, the Magistrate is incapable of thinking about the justice, rights, and freedoms he holds in highest regard. The process of “othering” the Magistrate means taking his idea of his own humanity away. The Magistrate’s perspective, word choice, and imagery in the passage on page 115 reflect how the torturers succeed in “othering” him by defamiliarizing him with his own body and making him believe his thoughts don’t have value. The Magistrate’s reflection shows the reader the process of being “othered” by the “other” himself. This choice of narrative perspective provides an …show more content…
The Magistrate learns that in the power relationship between his mind and body, his body will always win. Although it is a seemingly inhumane practice, torture serves as a way to convince the Magistrate of the true meaning of being human—residing in a human body. With this, he is completely “othered” and outcasted from being an intelligent, analytical thinking human like the