The Marginalization Of The Natives

This paper adopts postcolonialism to analyze J. M. Coetzee's third novel, Waiting for the Barbarians. The natives in the novel are perceived as"barbarians", the"Other", and the"imaginary enemy"of the Empire. Suffering from the loss of voice and identity, they are reduced to the"silent Other", and marginalized completely. There is no doubt that Colonel Joll in the novel plays an important role in the process. The Magistrate seems benevolent and tries to assert distance from Joll, but he cannot deny his complicity in the scheme. They are the"two sides of imperial rule"and the"faithful"guards of the Empire. Sensing the declining of the Empire, they attempt to affirm their dominant status and consequently to prolong the era of the Empire through violence and"othering"the natives. But their struggle turns out to be futile, and the end of the Empire is inevitable.