De-Humanization Of Torture

By definition, torture is “ the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment.” The representation of torture has been a key controversy in academic literature and continues to spark conversations among critics today. This topic is current when acknowledging the growing popularity of torture by the world’s governments in recent years, and how the existence of torture in the modern world has raised difficult questions for writers on their representation of torture (Gallagher). J.M Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarian represents torture in a contextual, and metaphorical way that pushes the boundaries of this topic. Coetzee represents torture through the use of the protagonist, the Magistrate as an allegory for
In representing the Magistrate in different stages of torture Coetzee is able to highlight the function torture serves in the hierarchy of the Empire. By showing the de-humanization of torture and its establishment of hierarchy on individuals who are not in positions of power, J.M Coetzee shows that torture is established on the grounds of power. The topic of torture is significant to the novel because it shows the dynamics that created the torture within the novel, and contributed to the inequalities amongst the various races. Susan Gallagher and Michael Moses, both comment on J.M Coetzee’s innovative depiction of torture that has established a long awaited conversation about the realities of torture. Waiting for the Barbarians is a important piece of literature that mirrors the historical realities of civilization by choosing to describe torture in such a way that the readers think about the impact of power, and the de-humanization of
The Magistrate at this point in the novel witnesses torture such that he thinks it is unjust but never acts on those feelings. While witnessing torture in the beginning of the novel and in the end the novel the Magistrate is in positions of power, however after his own personal experience of being tortured he no longer chooses to ignore barbarians being tortured but in fact help them. In Coetzee’s depiction of torture he is putting emphasis or the “morality of authority,” thereby offering commentary on the individuals in power and the purpose behind torture (Moses). By using the protagonist to show the hierarchy created by the Empire in the novel, Coetzee was able to show the function torture serves in power. Furthermore Coetzee’s depicts torture by eliminating the distinct between “them” and “us” the evil and the innocent (Gallagher). He does this by not only representing the protagonist as innocent but evil. When met with the Barbarian girl, the Magistrate initially acts as he chooses, this proves that not only does torture function as a reinforcer for hierarchy, but he two work together