George Orwell's 'Waiting For The Barbarians'

Waiting for the Barbarians described the establishment and the operation of the colonial discourse. To construct colonial discourse means building up a binary opposition, creating an imaginary image that is brutal, barbaric, who are in great need to be civilized to justify the existence of the civilized colonizers. The Empire means nothing without a subject to oppress. The invention of barbarians helps to produce power that permeates in the novel. It constructs the so-called “truth” which is imaginary and makes use of it to discipline the community in order to obtain colonial discourse. White (1978) pointed out that “If we do not know what we think civilization is, we can always find an example of what is not.” (p. 152) Building up “what is …show more content…
All these rumors make the residents worried and fear and gradually they believed the Empire’s fabricated story. Being fully convinced, the frontier residents become the supporting force of the Empire. It is a sign of success to obtain the colonial discourse. When the soldiers beat and humiliate the nomadic people and even the magistrate, people show curiosity and giggle. A little girl is even willing to try to take part in the torture. The fabrication helps to set up a representation system, under which, the colonizers can take full control. Setting up the binary images of the Empire and the barbarians endow the Empire the title of civilization while make the nomads barbaric. Under the name of justice, the Empire has the full right to wipe out their enemies. By creating the barbarous opponent to make itself necessary, the Empire successfully constructs the colonial …show more content…
The magistrate kindly asks about how she was injured by the police. However, the girl never answers this question directly, by either saying “I’ am tired of talking ”(Coetzee, 1982, p. 44) or simply “shrugs and keeps silent” (Coetzee, 1982, p. 31). The problem in their communication is caused by asymmetry of discourse, but not the language barrier. They can communicate properly in other situations, but only when she is asked to describe how the soldiers tortured her, she refuses to speak. In this case, the magistrate, the representation of the colonizers of the Empire, deprives the barbarian girl of the right to speak to build up his colonial discourse, forming a strong contrasting relationship between the two characters― the oppressor and the oppressed. In short, in the novel, the barbarians, from the beginning to the end, are silent, voiceless objects. They never get a chance to express themselves; their images are made up by the Empire; their fates are controlled by a man named Joll. It seems like the only thing would speak for them is their wounded

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