Stilllll Waiting for Those Barbarians...

So far in reading J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians, I have been struck primarily by what seems to be the omission of details of the characters and setting of the story. Instead the author works to skip what many people would consider the basic descriptions –such as the colors, dialects, and even names of the characters- but instead focuses on small details. Two perfect examples of this technique are the narrator and the Barbarian woman. The narrator gives an in-depth description of himself naked in his bedroom, which only leads the reader to the conclusion that he is an old man, and the woman’s scars and wounds are also vividly depicted while her description other than that is referred to only as somewhat “plain.” The one notable exception –other than the magistrates prostitute “bird” woman- seems to rest with Colonel Joll. In being named, the author has made him stand out as an anomaly in the reader’s mind –or at least in mine. This, however, seemed odd to me since Joll, although being named, seems much more of a representation of the system of the Empire than an individual character. In fact, he was the only representation of the government other than the “soft” magistrate other than the visiting Lieutenant, who only reaffirms the harsh system of Empirical rule suggested by Colonel Joll.

In my reading of the story, I have become somewhat fond of this technique due to that it leads the reader to create associations with the personalities of the characters. It also helps to avoid any prejudice due to either the narrator or the reader –a refreshing contrast to Heart of Darkness. It also, through this technique, creates a sense of universality in which that the Empire could exist in practically any location and the story itself can truly be related to any portion of the world.

On a separate note, I was surprised at the lack of action dealing with the “barbarians” in the story –it does seem like an inordinate amount of time of, well, waiting- and the amount of time spent in the magistrate’s bedroom with personal affairs. Could it be that the Empire’s citizens are, in fact, the barbarians? I guess I’ll just have to wait and see -yes, a cliff-hanger. I’m attempting to spice up my blog entries (388).

An Unreadable Report: Conrad's Heart of Darkness by Peter Brooks

• Heart of Darkness told in style of 19th Century detective story in sense that Marlow is simply solving the mystery behind Kurtz's story and meaning behind his report
• Through his journey into the wilderness, Marlow finds not a tangible prize, but instead "a voice"
• Marlow throughout the story becomes an "echo of [Kurtz's] magnificent eloquence"
  
• However, the experience gained through the journey is indescribable to those who have not seen for themselves and is beyond description by human language, which is why Marlow referrs to the company making a "readable" account of the events later, and lying to the "Intended"
  
• Kurtz's last words "The horror! The horror!" are return to base language and sum up Kurtz's life experience as by 19th century style
• Entire point of the narrative is to retell in order to gain understanding and in turn to then cause another echo of the experience
  

the beggining and the end

The final section in Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury serves to bring the novel to a close in a way that reveals the complete destruction of the once high-and-mighty Compson family and continuance of the family’s downward spiral beginning with the changing of Benjy’s name. In this section –told in a third person point of view primarily following the family’s longest surviving servant, Dilsey, during the morning of April 8, 1928- the reader can see the complete breakdown of the family into a dysfunctional group dependent on others simply to survive. Mrs. Compson, bed-ridden and delusional, leaves all of the house-hold matters to Dilsey, complains about having to make the slightest effort, and clings to her status as a “lady” throughout the morning as a justification in how the family’s problems were neither her fault nor her concern. The third person perspective also conveys her self-centered attitude without any character bias –claiming that the tragedy of Quentin’s suicide was intended only to wound her. More importantly, it is this clinging to status which creates the feeling of closure upon the end of the story. Although the Compsons’ situation has changed throughout the story, the stubbornly cling to their traditions -as is clearly shown through Jason’s assault of Luster for taking the wrong way around the town square- and it is this failure to adapt which keeps them firmly attached to their downward spiral in both wealth and well being (240).