Barbarian

Many of us have heard of the damaged relationships characterized by the turns of emotion and the dysfunctional behavior of two self-destructive individuals. In Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M.Coetzee uses the relationship between the Magistrate and the barbarian girl as a major theme. Throughout the novel we found that both of them are damaged, the magistrate is mentally damaged and the girl is physically. The destructive relationship between them is mostly based on torture, guilt, atonement, and power. The magistrate sees the blind girl as a way of trying to get forgiveness for the acts he did and he witnessed as a magistrate. At the beginning he just wants to help the blind girl but later on, the relationship turns from a charity…

The Barbarians The Barbarians were barbaric because they established their courageous acts and they were fearless, which lead to them conquering nearly all of Asia and create a enormous empire. When the Barbarians show how careless and reckless they were by the way they lived, that allowed them to possibly corrupt all of their empire. By the way they lived they didn't care at all how they treated their civilization as a whole. “From the start...lived in round moveable houses they called yurts.…

in which J.M. Coetzee creates within his Nobel-Prize winning novel, “Waiting for the Barbarians”, is home to a people who believe themselves to be more “civilized” and “proper” than those who are not as technologically advanced as them. As noted from the passage on page 51 of the novel, it is through constant acts of swindling, degrading, and bullying, as the narrator (the magistrate) describes it, that the “uncivilized”, or the “Barbarians”, are treated with as much disregard for dirt by the…

civilized conduct. On the other hand, Jack continues to represent corrupt leadership skills, consistently favoring savage tendencies. He rubs paint on his face and states that it symbolizes, “hunting. Like in the war” (63). He compares their civilization to war, implying that things should be dealt with violence, just like in the war, a barbarian thought. Unlike Ralph, who builds huts for the majority’s benefit, Jack constantly bullies Piggy and uses violence towards him, a barbarian instinct.…

From innocent children to violent barbarians, Golding uses his characters to symbolize human nature upon all the age groups in the world. In the Lord of the Flies, each character represents one’s individualism in society and reveals their roles on an island that is entirely isolated from civilization. The main characters often act as foils against one other main character of different thoughts and beliefs including Jack and Ralph, Roger and Piggy, and Simon—who is among the most unordinary human…

115). Golding is trying to show that, without society to conform them, humans will always revert back to their primitive instincts. As Ralph represents civilization, Jack represents the fragility of the conformed humans--- the savage. Jack, from the beginning, was less civilized than Ralph, and throughout was a symbol of freedom from acquiescence for the boys. “I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too” (Golding 127). By the end,…

During World War II, Bristol, England had many shipped city children to the country in the hopes of keeping them safe from the bombing raids. After the traumatic events during World War II, many of the children develop changed personalities. For example, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, starts with a group of English boys isolated on an island due to their plane crash away from the bombing raids. Ralph, the main character, leads the group of boys to become a civilized society. However, the…

Human Nature is Brutal In William Golding’s Lord of Flies, a group of British boys was on an isolated island, and after a few days with quarrels and fights between the boys, most of them finally survive. Although the novel seems like a cruel fiction story, the plot and the children shows some similarities with the thoughts of the Enlightment philosophers. In my opinion, the system of authority and reaction of children in Lord of Flies shares a lot similarities and differences with the thought of…

At first, the specs were a tool used for reuniting the boys to civilization, but in the end it was a symbol for how much their makeshift society turned against civilization completely. In William Golding’s Lord of The Flies, the schoolboys’ ability to maintain order is tested, with the option of resorting to savagery and turning against civil life and rescue. Piggy’s specs, a tool from civilization, became a tool for power, with the savages abusing its use. This shows that human nature corrupts…

After the boys split into groups leaving Ralph by himself, they turn into full-blown savages and set the whole island on fire to try and catch Ralph; and only when they are rescued do they realize the extent of their savagery. In prisons, the guards commit atrocious actions to prisoners due to rules of society not being enforced, and only when they are caught do they understand the savageness behind what they are doing. Ralph is all by himself against the rest of the savage boys who are trying…