Trauma And Witness In Waiting For The Barbarians

Based on psychoanalysis and trauma theory, this thesis proceeds with the analysis of the Magistrate’s inner struggle and survival dilemma in J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the barbarians from three aspects:witness to violence, castration anxiety and displacement of identity, enriching the cultural and ethical implications of trauma in the interpretation of this novel. It concludes that the Magistrate is unable to extricate himself entirely from the ideological control of the Empire and recognized by the barbarians. For this reason, he fails to reconstruct a clear identity and work through his trauma. Moreover, this novel metaphorically suggests that the Magistrate’s experience is not merely his individual trauma but also the collective trauma of the white South Africans. It is not easy for the whites to obtain reconciliation with the blacks and work through their trauma.