Waiting for the Barbarians

“Of the screaming which people afterwards claim to have heard from the granary, I hear nothing.”

The screaming happens during the interrogation of the boy and the old man. The Magistrate does not hear it because he has purposely walled himself off from it. He is trying to pretend that it is not happening, but in doing so, he becomes hyper-aware of both the torture and his desire to escape it. This incident is the beginning of his moral dilemma that changes his attitude toward the Empire.

“Pain is truth; all else is subject to doubt. That is what I bear away from my conversation with Colonel Joll.”

At the root of Joll’s method is the belief that infliction of pain of the accused is a sure way of obtaining confession. The veracity of the confession is not the purpose nor the concern. Torture as a means of displaying power is a hallmark of the Empire. Joll, rather than the Magistrate, is the true symbol of the Empire because it is through brutality and fear rather than legal institutions that the Empire maintains its control.

“Of this unrest I myself saw nothing. In private I observed that once in every generation, without fail, there is an episode of hysteria about the barbarians.”

The Magistrate points to the irrationality of the fear of the Other. In his time as magistrate, he has seen no reason to fear the Indigenous population, yet that is exactly what happens when Joll arrives. The speculation of the presumed attack is irrational if one considers actual fact, but that does not stop Joll and his guard from sparking fear in the townspeople.

“The jackal rips out the hare’s bowels, but the world rolls on.”

The Magistrate makes a starkly brutal assessment of the nature of the world. Implicit in the remark is the belief that violence perpetrated by the strong against the weak is the natural state of humanity. This phrase will take on ironic connotations when the Magistrate is in the position of the hare and experiences brutality and humiliation for himself.

“It would be best if this obscure chapter in the history of the world were terminated at once, if these ugly people were obliterated from the face of the earth and we swore to make a new start, to run an empire in which there would be no more injustice, no more pain.”

The Magistrate provides clarity on where he stands in opposition to Joll and the exercise of torture perpetrated by Joll and his men. It is idealistic in the face of the harsh reality of the Empire, but it sets up the philosophical binary between people like the Magistrate and people like Joll.

“Nothing is worse than what we can imagine.”

A reworking of a similar sentiment from Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “present fears/ are less than horrible imaginings” (1.3,137-138). What we imagine might happen to us is worse than when it actually does happen.

“Where civilization entailed the corruption of barbarian virtues and the creation of a dependent people, I decided, I was opposed to civilization; and upon this resolution I based the conduct of my administration.”

This passage reveals the Magistrate’s belief in the “noble savage,” a term from 17th-century English literature that means a “primitive” man in his natural state before experiencing the corrupting influence of Western civilization. The “noble savage” became a stock character in 18th- and 19th-century Romantic literature symbolizing of innocence. By referring to “barbarian virtues,” the Magistrate romanticizes the Indigenous people outside of the Empire. Though the Empire is a corrupting influence, characterizing the local people this way shows that the Magistrate is othering them by seeing their humanity as fundamentally different from his own.

“[T]hat is what war is about: compelling a choice on someone who would not otherwise make it.”

This view of war, spoken by Mandel, reveals how the Empire sees its military objectives. Once again, it reveals a system whereby those with power, in this case the military, subjugate and oppress those with lesser might. The allusion to compelling a choice from someone that they would not otherwise implies torture as a means not at getting at the truth, but a means of gaining the desired outcome from an unwilling participant.

“Dust rather than air becomes the medium in which we live. We swim through dust like fish through water.”

The description here is of the conditions the Magistrate and his traveling company endure as they traverse the desert on their mission to return the Indigenous girl to her people. The environment is harsh and unforgiving and forces the group to adapt in any way they can. The image of dust becoming air symbolizes that the group is quite literally out of its element. They do not belong in the desert, whereas the girl does.

“But like a fool, instead of giving her a good time I oppressed her with gloom.”

The Magistrate regrets his dark mood when the girl was with him at the settlement. Only when they have left the boundaries of the Empire does he see the girl finally as a whole human being with a personality. Until then, he has only seen her as a product of the infliction of torture. He pitied her but did not get to get to know her.

“I am aware of the source of my elation: my alliance with the guardians of the Empire is over, I have set myself in opposition, the bond is broken, I am a free man.”

Upon his return from returning the girl to her people, the Magistrate understands that he has crossed a line. He does not regret his decision; rather, he feels as though he has finally broken free of the Empire. Ironically, he says he has been liberated even though he knows that he will likely be imprisoned.

“Have I not simply been provoked into a reaction by the sight of one of the new barbarians usurping my desk and pawing my papers?”

The Magistrate inverts the identities of the Indigenous locals and the Third Bureau. He names the latter as the “new barbarians,” signifying the change that will take place in the power dynamics in the settlement.

“To spend days of one’s life keeping watch on a closed door and attending to the animal needs of another man! He has been robbed of his freedom too, and thinks of me as the robber.”

The Magistrate draws attention to the impact false imprisonment has on those whose duty it is to keep watch over the captive. It likewise robs them of higher pursuits and reduces their life to nothing more than attending to the animal needs of another man.

“How can I accept that disaster has overtaken my life when the world continues to move so tranquilly through its cycles?”

As the novel’s events unfold, the magistrate recognizes that his place in the world is entirely insignificant. This is not a cause for anxiety; instead, he sees it as an inspiration for accepting his fate. It gives him the perspective he needs when he regains his position at the end of the novel.

“I truly believe I am not afraid of death. What I shrink from, I believe, is the shame of dying as stupid and befuddled as I am.”

The Magistrate alludes to the need he has of dying with dignity, which he fears will be taken from him. It is an indictment of the Empire that even in death, the enemy is denied basic humanity.

“Barbarians. They cut away part of the embankment over there and flooded the fields. No one saw them.”

This is an example of the ambiguity of the accusations leveled against the Indigenous community. There is no evidence they have committed the act, which creates the suspicion that maybe it was committed by member of the Third Bureau as a way of stoking fear and increasing hysteria against outsiders.

“Perhaps at the very spot where you stand you will come upon scraps, shards, reminders of the dead. Also the air: the air is full of sighs and cries.”

The Magistrate’s reflection here suggests that all humanity is connected through time. The course of history runs through those who exist in the present. His pursuit of archaeology connects the past and present through pieces of the civilizations that came before his.

“They thrive on stubborn silence: it confirms to them that every soul is a lock they must patiently pick. Bare yourself! Open your heart!”

The Magistrate provides an explanation as to how the torturers perceive their duty. He also advises on how best to escape pain which is to just say what the torturers want to hear so that the misery is dispensed with, and one can just get to the end of it without suffering.

“Resentment builds up against those who are seen to be making preparations to go. They are insulted in public, assaulted or robbed with impunity.”

The division among the residents of the settlement grows. The infighting is new, and the formerly communal spirit of the town has been replaced by the natural human instinct to survive by any means necessary; it has become every person for him and herself.

“What has made it impossible for us to live in time like fish in water, like birds in air, like children? It is the fault of Empire! Empire has created the time of history.”

The Magistrate laments the complications wrought by the deeds of civilization. He blames the empire for depriving humans of the freedom to live as any other animal would. He sees civilization as a means by which humanity accesses the worst of its nature.

“The crime that is latent in us we must inflict on ourselves.”

The Magistrate mouths this to Colonel Joll as the latter prepares to abandon the town. The meaning here is that the pain we inflict on others will one day be inflicted upon us. The Magistrate has experienced this firsthand, so he knows the fate that awaits Joll now that he has failed in his mission.

“They lured us on and on, we could never catch them.”

In addition to expressing the futility of the empire’s persistent project to expand, the method of the imperial army’s defeat highlights their hubris. The indigenous people defeat the soldiers not through direct combat, but by exposing the army’s inability to respect, survive, or thrive in the land they are attempting to occupy.

“We would have made any concession, had we only known what, to go on living here. This was paradise on earth.”

The Magistrate’s tone here is reflective and remorseful. He romanticizes his life in the settlement, which for him, truly was comfortable. The concession that he and the townspeople did make was conceding their morality when they allowed Joll’s army to torture innocent people. The Magistrate’s paradise is a false paradise because from the beginning, it was part of the Empire, and therefore destined to cause harm.