In J.M. Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarians, the Magistrate comes to discover the humanity of the barbarian through his interactions with the blind girl, which eventually leads him to learn about the nature of his own humanity. Although the Magistrate is more lenient on the Barbarians than Colonel Joll, he still unknowingly objectifies them, while placing himself above them. It is only when he is imprisoned that he comes to realize the fragility of his own humanity. Ultimately Coetzee uses the magistrate’s journey from empirical leader to broken and fearful prisoner to express that peace and stability between people can only be obtained when all humanity is valued.
At the beginning of the novel, the magistrate actually seems to value the humanity of the barbarians quite a bit. After all, he is completely disgusted by the torture they have to go through at the hands of Joll, calling it an “obscure chapter in the history of the world.” (Coetzee, 24) The magistrate goes onto remark that if were in charge, he would “order that the prisoners be fed, that the doctor be called in to do what he can, that the barracks return to being a barracks, that arrangements be made to restore the prisoners to their former lives as soon as possible.” (Coetzee, 25) However, when one truly values humanity, one values it under all circumstances. When the magistrate begins taking care of the blind girl, he shows his true colors. The magistrate, sent to administer a remote post in the imperial colony most likely before the World War 2, wishes for a peaceful life.
The magistrate feels an immediate attraction to the girl he begins taking care of and wishes to seduce her. When he is unsuccessful, he becomes frustrated and confused about his own feeli...
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...aracter in the novel has, the novel ends with him “feeling stupid.” (Coetzee, 156) The girl is gone and the conflict between the empire and the barbarians rages on; the magistrate still does not have all the answers for the world that is crumbling around him. Still, he will presumably continue to search, as Coetzee largely leaves the novel open-ended. For the magistrate however, it is not his destination that is important, but his journey. During his journey he learns a lot about the nature of humanity, and about the nature of the conflict between empire and subject. Ultimately peace will not be achieved between the empire and the barbarians until each side fully recognizes the humanity of the other side, the same way the magistrate came to recognize the humanity of the girl.
Works Cited
Coetzee, J.M. Waiting for the Barbarians. New York: Penguin, 1982. Print.
When studying atrocities such as the Holocaust, the concept of morality is often questioned. However, as the medieval morality play illustrates, there are those that will decide, during these times, to make a free and conscious decision to do the right thing instead of following the temptation to commit a wrongdoing. The plays that have been read thus far in the semester have supported this assertion.
War has been a constant part of human history. It has greatly affected the lives of people around the world. These effects, however, are extremely detrimental. Soldiers must shoulder extreme stress on the battlefield. Those that cannot mentally overcome these challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sadly, some resort to suicide to escape their insecurities. Soldiers, however, are not the only ones affected by wars; family members also experience mental hardships when their loved ones are sent to war. Timothy Findley accurately portrays the detrimental effects wars have on individuals in his masterpiece The Wars.
In The Saga of the Volsungs, a paradoxical notion of the value of life emerges from almost every action that the characters perform. One’s corporeal death is almost of no concern in the sometimes harsh and cruel society of the saga. The importance of honor over almost anything else can explain many of the seemingly contradictory and nonsensical actions of characters in the saga. This obsession with honor constitutes the basis for an honor society—a culture where pain, death, and other earthly concerns fall short in significance to one’s good name and honor. Many of the actions inspired by this fixation with honor seem foolish, but considered within the context of how the culture in the saga views reputations and honor make perfect sense.
The central idea is that man is responsible for defining his own sense of honor. A clear choice between right and wrong does not always exist. The safest decision is not always the easiest to live with. What Dubus seems to be commenting on is the transformation of man as he grows older. At an older age, you learn to accept things you cannot change.
In “War and Massacre” by Thomas Nagel, Nagel argues that there are limits on what can be done to an enemy even its for the sake of overall good. He believes that such an idea is grounded on the principles of Absolutism, where morality is determined by the action itself (deontology). This is contrary to the view of Utilitarianism, which relies on the premise that Morality is determined by its consequences (Consequentialism). Although could one in fact generate such a moral structure around war? Do the ends justify the means in War? Through identifying with a real-life example, I will look to expand on Nagel’s account where an action taken by a country in war would be prohibited even if it were for the overall good.
In Bryan Stevenson’s book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, he uses methods of gothic language, partial language, biased facts and repetition to portray prisons in a negative light, allowing him to subtly persuade the reader, he often times does this through the negativity of prisons focusing on: prison guards, the structures themselves and the mistreatment of the prisoners. This method is a vital form in storytelling, but often times detracts from the overall message of Just Mercy and the injustices of the prison system.
We see that the author’s purpose is to allow the readers to understand that the prisoners were not treated humanly, and allows us to see the negative attitudes the authority had towards the prisoners.
...o look at the clerk’s submission and read it as a technique to gain power. If the clerk is not praising Petrarch, he is critiquing him and his interpretation of the tale. Petrarch believed the tale to represent submission to God, through the clerk’s false submission he twists the tale, making it about the way submission can be used by some authorities to control and abuse. The masochistic acceptance of punishment on the part of Griselda correlates the internal corruption that flourishes in those who hold power and strive to maintain that hold.
September 11, 2001 marked a tragic day in the history of the United States; a terrorist attack had left the country shaken. It did not take long to determine those who were behind the attack and a call for retribution swept through the nation. Citizens in a wave of patriotism signed up for military service and the United States found resounding international support for their efforts in the war on terror. Little opposition was raised at the removal of the Taliban regime and there was much support for bringing Osama Bin Laden and the leaders of al-Qaeda to justice. Approval abroad diminished approximately a year and a half later when Afghanistan became a stepping stone to the administration’s larger ambition, the invasion of Iraq. The administration would invent several stories and in some cases remain silent of the truth where would prove positive for the Iraqi invasion. It seems they were willing to say anything to promote the largely unpopular and unnecessary war they were resolved on engaging in.
In Milgram’s article, he discusses the basic principle of obedience and the necessity of such behavior in the structure of society and all social life. For many people, obedience is a deeply engraved behavior pattern, and very well a strong impulse overriding training in ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct (Milgram 579). Milgram set up an experiment at Yale University to see how much pain one would inflict on another simply because of being commanded to do so. Authority won more than not.
“History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of biological differences among people themselves.”(Diamond 25) This statement is the thesis for Jared Diamond’s book Guns Germs and Steel the Fates of Human Societies.
We have been taught that we should always follow our priorities, whether it is dealing with jobs, families, education, or faith. Ethical egoism teaches us that if our interests are any one these or something else, we should put it first because these are our values. But how far should we go in protecting our values? Is there a limit of how they should be protected? Am I doing what’s best for my priorities or for me? Although we should protect our values, there needs to be a limit and a focus of how I should protect my values with the best intentions. The film, Prisoners, presents this moral dilemma of torture through the characters’ decisions and emotions.
Dr. Thomas Stockmann: Hero or Enemy ? Dr. Thomas Stockmann is the Medical Officer of the Baths in the play ''enemy of the people'' by Henrik Iben; and the brother of the Burgomaster (mayor) of the town. Jovial by nature, the doctor enjoys the company of "bright, cheerful, freedom loving young fellows" who share his idealism and ability to think freely. Throughout the play, Stockman shows himself to be a conscientious person and a caring father.
One Hundred Years of Solitude is the subjective “history” of the founding family of the town of Macondo. During its early years, the town is isolated the outside world, except for a few traveling gypsies who frequent the town, selling supposedly extraordinary new technologies like ice, telescopes, and “scientific advancements” and implanting ideas of alchemy into the head of the patriarch of the Buendía family, José Arcadio Buendía. A rather impulsive and inquisitive man, he is also deeply solitary, alienating himself from other men in his obsessive investigations into the science of alchemy, taking the last of his wife, Úrsula’s, inheritance in an attempt to create gold out of other more common methods. After José Arcadio Buendía’s attempts at alchemy prove to be less than fruitful, he shifts his aspirations to finding a path back to civilization. He leads the founding men of the town on a quest to retrace their previous path to Macondo, but ultimately declares that it is surrounded by water on every side and it is impossible to regain contact with the rest of the world.
...ed and they have been degraded to a sub-human level which is often associated with qualities that are considered inferior to humans such as the lack of self-control, unintelligence and immorality. The prisoners have also been compared to the animal sheep, trying of hide themselves, when they are in a vulnerable situation. Sheep is known for the universal symbol of innocence and goodness, however since the tone of the passage is tinted with despair and fear, it reminds readers that sheep often need the protection and supervision of a shepherd and thus highlights the feeling of vulnerability. The Germans consider the prisoners of different species to them; “This something in front of me belongs to a species which it is obvious opportune to suppress”, they also use the word “fressen” to describe the prisoner’s way of eating, which is “the way of eating of animals”.