Themes in Literature/Belonging and Exile/Keys to the Labyrinth

A labyrinth is a complicated, irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way. In Greek mythology, the labyrinth is used by King Minos to hold the Minotaur captive, which Theseus eventually kills. The characters in Waiting for the Barbarians align with those of the myth. The Magistrate is Theseus, the Minotaur is the Empire, and the barbarian girl is the string that guides the Magistrate through his journey of escaping the Empire's vicious mindset. A minotaur is "a fabulous monster of Crete that had the body of a man and the head of a bull." The Empire is the Minotaur because the inhabitants have a man's body and a monster's mind. Throughout his journey, the Magistrate views the barbarian girl as the key to his labyrinth because her presence encourages him to change his point of view on the Empire's actions.

The Magistrate's empathy towards the barbarian community wavers. His mindset changes several times throughout the novel after he comes in contact with the barbarian girl.The Magistrate comforts the barbarian boy, Joll is torturing during the night, when Joll is not around. The narrator states, "listen to me, boy, … I am not going to harm you." The Magistrate goes out of his way to inform the boy of the actions he should take to avoid further punishment. By doing this, he shows that he is sensitive to the barbarian boy's feelings. Unfortunately, he makes no move to counteract Joll's harsh treatment. The unveiled sympathy, yet the hesitancy to take action suggests that the Magistrate is under the control of the Empire and refuses to be seen as a betrayer.

After finding the barbarian girl and having a one-sided relationship with her, he begins to break away from the Empire's treacherous mentality. The Magistrate meets the physically blind barbarian girl when she is begging in the settlement. He takes her in and gives her a job. In return, he explores the barbarian girl's body. His first encounter with the girl suggests that he does not want the settlement to become a haven for beggars. Nonetheless, the desire the Magistrate displays to take the woman from the public eye contradicts his determination to save the barbarians from the cruelty of the Empire. The relationship between the Magistrate and the barbarian girl is not one-sided, as earlier stated. It is more of a soothing, sexual release ritual he partakes in daily. According to him, "My eyes close. It becomes an intense pleasure to keep them closed, to savour the blissful giddiness.” Despite not engaging in sexual activities, the Magistrate still feels pleasure from his perverted actions towards the girl.

The Magistrate discovers the true strength of the barbarians that the Empire overlooks through the girl's body. The "barbarians" are viewed as such due to their way of living, which is significantly different from those living in civilization. He tries to read her body throughout his time with the barbarian girl. According to the narrator, "It has been growing more and more clear to me that until the marks on this girl's body are deciphered and understood…" To him, the barbarian girl's body is an impenetrable surface he must get through. Similar to the sensitivity the storyteller displays towards the barbarian boy, it is also shown towards the barbarian girl, which is why he tries so hard to read her. Jennifer Wenzel states, "In allowing the girl to refuse translation of her tortured body into language, Coetzee presents the body as "key to the labyrinth" and a way out of the deconstructive wilderness." The girl refuses to allow the Magistrate to translate the torture on her body into language, which is why he does not know the full extent of her suffering until she tells him. The barbarian girl's reluctance to expose her suffering suggests that she wanted to keep something private to herself, seeing as everything else was already taken from her, like her freedom, her sight, her balance, and her body.

The barbarian girl's body can also be seen as impenetrable because the speaker can not decipher the full extent of her torture; but because her body can sustain itself against the frontier environment. In her earlier quote, Wenzel mentions "deconstructive wilderness," which is the perception that individuals have different histories and relationships with the environment. When the Magistrate takes the girl back to her people, he and the other men display difficulty surviving the trip, while the barbarian girl does not struggle despite living in the settlement for a while. In truth, people from the Empire need multiple necessities to survive on the frontier and even live in the settlement. In contrast, the barbarians living with the land prove that the barbarians are more robust than the civilians of the Empire. This ties to the girl being the key to the labyrinth as the speaker realizes that the Empire will never possess the same strength as the barbarians. The barbarians know that they are stronger than the people from the Empire, and the storyteller acknowledges this while discussing barbarians. The Magistrate is aware that the barbarians believe they should "be patient, one of these days their crops will start withering from the salt, they will not be able to feed themselves, they will have to go” . The nomads are just waiting for disaster to strike so the people can leave, and they can graze and be one with nature once again.

The Magistrate shows this newly founded determination to bring justice to the barbarian community. He has a conversation with the new conscript about the barbarians, where he unleashes his pent-up rage at the Empire's treatment. The Magistrate states, "Instead I hear my voice rise in tone and anger” . He acknowledges that he should "be cautious" and end the conversation. However, he is determined to prove to this new conscript that the people of the Empire are the real barbarians. The Magistrate realizes that even though he is not physically torturing the barbarian girl, his actions are equivalent to Joll's. After this revelation, he eventually decides to bring the girl back to her people. In the letter, the Magistrate tells the provincial governor that he will "restore some of the goodwill that previously existed, I am undertaking a brief visit to the Barbarians”. He is going to correct the wrongs the Empire has done to the barbarians. At this point, the Magistrate has become so anti- Empire that he does not care about how rebellious his actions may seem to the high officials. Due to his recent mindset changes, he is not surprised that he would be imprisoned upon arriving at the settlement.

After he learns he is imprisoned, the Magistrate realizes he is "a free man." Despite being imprisoned, he still feels free. However, the Magistrate quickly becomes aware of his barbarism that has been trying to show itself from when he could not shoot the buck. While he is unable to explain his actions or lack of action, it is clear that being around the barbarian girl and witnessing the freedom of the buck foreshadows his own life when he is free. He states, "Never before have I had the feeling of not living my own life on my terms” . After being imprisoned, the Magistrate experiences this as he no longer has the right to request things from people in the settlement. At this point, he defends the "barbarians," (the fisher people), in front of the entire settlement, which connects back to my earlier point of how being around the barbarian girl changes the Magistrate's mindset toward the barbarians.

In closing, the barbarian girl is the last push the Magistrate needs to break his monstrous mindset fully, yet he fails to achieve his primary goal. From the beginning, he expresses his ambition to change the Empire's and the barbarians' history. With the help of the barbarian girl, he can free himself. However, he has failed to change the mindset of the other people as no matter where the people move, the mindset will always be the same. History is similar to a labyrinth as it continuously circles until those trapped can be guided out. The barbarian girl was the Magistrate's guide. However, in the end, he is just as lost as he was before he met the girl. The Magistrate’s ending also aligns with the previously stated myth. At the end of the myth, Theseus abandons Ariadne after she helps him escape from the labyrinth and ends up living a life full of fighting after his father's death. Whereas, in a way the barbarian girl has abandoned the Magistrate and now he must fight for not only a change in history but also for his life after everyone is aware of where he stands between the Empire and the barbarians. The barbarian girl is referred to as the keys to the labyrinth, but truthfully, she did not unlock anything except for the Magistrate's freedom.

--Kiara Byrd