Choose one symbol from Coetzee's work, and explain what abstract ideas/emotions/concepts that object represents. Use a quote (and provide a page number) in your explanation.
Be sure not to repeat a symbol another student has already discussed.
"Stooping over each prisoner in turn he rubs a handful of dust into his naked back and writes a word with a stick of charcoal" (p. 103)
Both the dust and the stick of charcoal are symbols of disrespect towards the “barbarians”. Dust symbolizes dirty or old and charcoal is usually also seen as dirty and not worth very much. It enhances the theme that the barbarians are “less than” the civilized community built and controlled by the Bureau.
The entire empire represents power and those who serve in the empire do not need to love the others. They are only there so serve those who are in power.
"I embrace her (escort)...the body of the other one (Barbarian girl)...sleeping in my bed in a faraway room..." Pg. 42
"Nothing would please me more than to curl up in her (escort) bed....forget my aches and pains, ignore the hunt that must by now have been launched for me, and...tumble into oblivion." Pg. 93
In "Waiting for the Barbarians", the escort is a symbol of escape. The main character/narrator/(ex)Magistrate uses her to escape from whatever is currently happening in his life--such as the Barbarian girl or pain.
"Show me what they have done to your feet" (pg. 28).
"I wash slowly, working up a lather, gripping her firm-fleshed calves...I lose myself in the rhythm of what I am doing" (pg. 28).
He knows that the soldiers tortured her and left her feet the way they are. He feels badly so he is washing and rubbing her feet as a penance to her, which serves to only make him feel better.
Nice work, Chynna. The washing of feet is also an allusion to Christ washing the feet of the disciples. You can read about that in more detail here: http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-washing-feet.html
Along these same lines, note how many barbarians were brought in to be executed on page 119: 12, the same number of Christ's disciples.
Coeztee uses the symbol of individuals who have brushes by saying who was the individual in charge of the girl being beaten and why did that individual hit that girl. Throughout the book the main character tries to find out why certain individuals are getting beaten.
Coeztee uses the symbol of individuals who have bruises by saying who was the individual in charge of the girl being beaten and why did that individual hit that girl. Throughout the book the main character tries to find out why certain individuals are getting beaten.
Coeztee uses the the opaque sunglasses that Colonel Joll wears as a symbol of how the Empire is a modem civilization and everyone else is below them, less than, the rest of the world is "barbarians". The sunglasses are significant because the wearer has a clear view of the world beyond the dark mirrored protective lenses, but while the rest of the world can see there own reflcetion in the lenses, they cannot see the eyes of the wearer. Eyes are a window to the soul. It is very powerful that the author emphasizes that not only does the colonel wear glasses and obstruct his eyes from the world, but back home everyone does the same.
"I have never seen anything like it: two little discs of glass suspended in front of his eyes in loops of wire....... One has fewer headaches. Look..... He has the skin of a younger man. At home everyone wears them."(Coetzee, 1)
The square and magistrate "From dawn to dusk I am on view on the square, roaming around the stalls or sitting in the shade of the trees. And gradually, as word gets around that the old Magistrate has taken his knocks and come through, people cease to fall silent or turn their backs when I come near." (Coetzee 146)
the square is a symbol of captivity and imprisonment. The magistrate is someone who keeps "watch" of the town and witness people being punished and torture. Later in the boob. the magistrate is arrested and held without trial. The magistrate is also a symbol of irony, because hes being punished by the same system he used to work for. -Dalia Pardo
Coetzee used repetition throughout the book with the phrase "Because the barbarians are coming today." He wanted to emphasize the importance of the arrival of the barbarians coming, and how dramatic it was for the people in the society. This also made it extremely devastating for the people when they failed to appear. -Eden Schmoll
"The baby cries and coughs, cries and coughs till I flee for refuge to the farthest corner of my apartment....Then one day I notice that the baby has stopped crying...he finds the little corpse under it's mothers clothes. She will not yeild it up, we have to tear it away from her...Her people seem to shun her"(Coetzee 22).
So I believe Coetzee uses the incident with the baby as a symbol for the Magistrate's loss of innocence, struggle with ethics, and the dissatisfaction with the life he has chosen. The Magistrate clearly is upset by this incident because he writes an angry letter to the Third Bureau. Even if the final result is him not sending the letter it still shows his frustration with the job he has. I believe it also is one of the examples of a struggle with ethics through your the book. He doesn't want to tourture people, especially if they are innocent. As seen with the boy and old man earlier on in the book. I believe the struggle between the guards and the mother is a metaphor for the struggle between what is right and what is wrong. Especially when he then ponders whether by them doing so has brought shame upon the mother, and therefore has done so as well upon himself. Finally, babies are often symbols for innocence and purity, so it is probable that this is how Coetzee is using the baby in Waiting for the Barbarians.
The barbarians are a symbol of fear. No one has ever seen them . They are repeatedly mention and thought to be dangerous ,but no has came across them yet. Page 97 - "They never stand up and fight,he says: their way is to creep up behind you and stick a knife in your back." The barbarians do not sound like vicious people like the book makes them seen. Mallory J. Moore
Coetzee uses "Tell me....Tell me" on page 41 to symbolize how interested and nosiey she wanted to know about the situation. He uses this as a parallelism symbolm to emphasis the importance of what really happened there at the prison. Houa Lee
"From such beginnings grow obsessions. I am warned."
He seems that he is only warned about the cockroaches and how he should anticipate them. The cockroaches (being drawn to gluttony, food, decay, and flesh) symbolize the flaw and sin within human nature.
"I am a country magistrate, a responsible official in the service of the Empire, serving out my days on this lazy frontier, waiting to retire." (8)
I think the empire symbolizes power in the sense that people servit and only do that. They are not to care for others. I say this because he is contantly telling himself it is not his duty to be caring for the boy.
"Stooping over each prisoner in turn he rubs a handful of dust into his naked back and writes a word with a stick of charcoal" (p. 103)
ReplyDeleteBoth the dust and the stick of charcoal are symbols of disrespect towards the “barbarians”. Dust symbolizes dirty or old and charcoal is usually also seen as dirty and not worth very much. It enhances the theme that the barbarians are “less than” the civilized community built and controlled by the Bureau.
- Vanessa Caudelaro
Nice work, Vanessa. "Dust" as a symbol repeats throughout the book and one idea it symbolizes is the distance between the "clean" and the "dirty."
DeleteThe Empire
ReplyDeleteThe entire empire represents power and those who serve in the empire do not need to love the others. They are only there so serve those who are in power.
-Patricia Vargas
The Escort
ReplyDelete"I embrace her (escort)...the body of the other one (Barbarian girl)...sleeping in my bed in a faraway room..." Pg. 42
"Nothing would please me more than to curl up in her (escort) bed....forget my aches and pains, ignore the hunt that must by now have been launched for me, and...tumble into oblivion." Pg. 93
In "Waiting for the Barbarians", the escort is a symbol of escape. The main character/narrator/(ex)Magistrate uses her to escape from whatever is currently happening in his life--such as the Barbarian girl or pain.
--Jayme Reyna
Nice work, Jayme. As in "The Netherlands Lives with Water," sex symbolizes both intimacy and alienation.
DeleteWashing of the Girl's feet
ReplyDelete"Show me what they have done to your feet" (pg. 28).
"I wash slowly, working up a lather, gripping her firm-fleshed calves...I lose myself in the rhythm of what I am doing" (pg. 28).
He knows that the soldiers tortured her and left her feet the way they are. He feels badly so he is washing and rubbing her feet as a penance to her, which serves to only make him feel better.
-Chynna Hook
Nice work, Chynna. The washing of feet is also an allusion to Christ washing the feet of the disciples. You can read about that in more detail here: http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-washing-feet.html
DeleteAlong these same lines, note how many barbarians were brought in to be executed on page 119: 12, the same number of Christ's disciples.
Coeztee uses the symbol of individuals who have brushes by saying who was the individual in charge of the girl being beaten and why did that individual hit that girl. Throughout the book the main character tries to find out why certain individuals are getting beaten.
ReplyDelete-Vanessa Mares
Bruises
ReplyDelete"That is were they touched me" pg.35
Coeztee uses the symbol of individuals who have bruises by saying who was the individual in charge of the girl being beaten and why did that individual hit that girl. Throughout the book the main character tries to find out why certain individuals are getting beaten.
-Vanessa Mares
Coeztee uses the the opaque sunglasses that Colonel Joll wears as a symbol of how the Empire is a modem civilization and everyone else is below them, less than, the rest of the world is "barbarians". The sunglasses are significant because the wearer has a clear view of the world beyond the dark mirrored protective lenses, but while the rest of the world can see there own reflcetion in the lenses, they cannot see the eyes of the wearer. Eyes are a window to the soul. It is very powerful that the author emphasizes that not only does the colonel wear glasses and obstruct his eyes from the world, but back home everyone does the same.
ReplyDelete"I have never seen anything like it: two little discs of glass suspended in front of his eyes in loops of wire....... One has fewer headaches. Look..... He has the skin of a younger man. At home everyone wears them."(Coetzee, 1)
-Alfred Flores
The square and magistrate
ReplyDelete"From dawn to dusk I am on view on the square, roaming around the stalls or sitting in the shade of the trees. And gradually, as word gets around that the old Magistrate has taken his knocks and come through, people cease to fall silent or turn their backs when I come near." (Coetzee 146)
the square is a symbol of captivity and imprisonment.
The magistrate is someone who keeps "watch" of the town and witness people being punished and torture. Later in the boob. the magistrate is arrested and held without trial. The magistrate is also a symbol of irony, because hes being punished by the same system he used to work for.
-Dalia Pardo
Coetzee used repetition throughout the book with the phrase "Because the barbarians are coming today." He wanted to emphasize the importance of the arrival of the barbarians coming, and how dramatic it was for the people in the society. This also made it extremely devastating for the people when they failed to appear.
ReplyDelete-Eden Schmoll
The Baby
ReplyDelete"The baby cries and coughs, cries and coughs till I flee for refuge to the farthest corner of my apartment....Then one day I notice that the baby has stopped crying...he finds the little corpse under it's mothers clothes. She will not yeild it up, we have to tear it away from her...Her people seem to shun her"(Coetzee 22).
So I believe Coetzee uses the incident with the baby as a symbol for the Magistrate's loss of innocence, struggle with ethics, and the dissatisfaction with the life he has chosen. The Magistrate clearly is upset by this incident because he writes an angry letter to the Third Bureau. Even if the final result is him not sending the letter it still shows his frustration with the job he has. I believe it also is one of the examples of a struggle with ethics through your the book. He doesn't want to tourture people, especially if they are innocent. As seen with the boy and old man earlier on in the book. I believe the struggle between the guards and the mother is a metaphor for the struggle between what is right and what is wrong. Especially when he then ponders whether by them doing so has brought shame upon the mother, and therefore has done so as well upon himself. Finally, babies are often symbols for innocence and purity, so it is probable that this is how Coetzee is using the baby in Waiting for the Barbarians.
The barbarians are a symbol of fear. No one has ever seen them . They are repeatedly mention and thought to be dangerous ,but no has came across them yet. Page 97 - "They never stand up and fight,he says: their way is to creep up behind you and stick a knife in your back." The barbarians do not sound like vicious people like the book makes them seen. Mallory J. Moore
ReplyDeleteCoetzee uses "Tell me....Tell me" on page 41 to symbolize how interested and nosiey she wanted to know about the situation. He uses this as a parallelism symbolm to emphasis the importance of what really happened there at the prison.
ReplyDeleteHoua Lee
"From such beginnings grow obsessions. I am warned."
ReplyDeleteHe seems that he is only warned about the cockroaches and how he should anticipate them. The cockroaches (being drawn to gluttony, food, decay, and flesh) symbolize the flaw and sin within human nature.
Ariene Edith Gregorio
"I am a country magistrate, a responsible official in the service of the Empire, serving out my days on this lazy frontier, waiting to retire." (8)
ReplyDeleteI think the empire symbolizes power in the sense that people servit and only do that. They are not to care for others. I say this because he is contantly telling himself it is not his duty to be caring for the boy.