Waiting for the Barbarians

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1980

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Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Character Analysis

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Part 6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 6 Summary

The town, having been pillaged, is without leadership. The Magistrate steps into his former role, although this time he is not a representative of the Empire. With the harshness of winter fast approaching, the Magistrate directs the remaining residents to do what they all can to prepare. Their only line of defense against an invasion is trickery; they have placed soldier helmets on pikes on one of the fort’s ramparts with the hopes of convincing attackers that soldiers are still on guard of the town.

One night, the Magistrate is awakened by a pounding at his door. A scared and panicking soldier is there demanding to know where Mandel is. Outside, the Magistrate recognizes Joll’s carriage. He is able to see Joll inside, and for the first time, Joll does not have on his sunglasses. Joll’s soldier, meanwhile, searches quickly the town only to discover that there is nothing of use left for his unit to steal for their journey back to the capital, other than some bread. As this is occurring, Joll’s carriage is pelted with rocks by the townspeople. The Magistrate demands from the panicked soldier an explanation of what happened to the army. It turns out, they were tricked. They never were able to confront the nomadic people who were purposely leading them further and further into the mountains where the regiment was decimated by the harshness of the weather and the lack of provisions. Most of the unit either died of exposure or starvation. The Magistrate makes eye contact with Joll as the carriage is about to depart. He mouths a message to Joll: “The crime that is latent in us we must inflict on ourselves” (146). Eventually, the carriage leaves.

The residents begin excavating wells for drinking water. In one particular area, as they are digging, they come across human remains, and it is soon apparent that there are multiple bodies in a mass grave. They fill the well back in.

The Magistrate begins a sexual relationship with Mai, the cook at the inn. In spite of all that is happening, and the threats that loom, the Magistrate feels the need for human connection. He also begins writing a history of the town as a record for later generations who will arrive to excavate the ruins of this settlement. Snow has fallen as the novel nears its conclusion. The Magistrate walks outside and notices children building a snowman, which brings him a measure of joy that he has not felt since the novel commenced.

Part 6 Analysis

As the town reestablishes some semblance of order following the chaotic and abrupt departure of the civil guard, the Magistrate steps into the leadership vacuum and resumes his former position. However, this time it is different. Since the Empire has abandoned the town, the outpost currently exists as an independent entity. While there appears to be evidence of outsiders moving closer and closer to the town, such as when horses hoof prints are spotted in the fields surrounding the town, there is still no definitive proof that anyone is planning to attack. When Joll returns in his carriage in the middle of the night, the Magistrate discovers from one of his men that what caused the army’s demise was not the Indigenous people after all. Instead, the weather and the desert were the true causes of their demise. This knowledge provides the Magistrate with some needed perspective, and while the town remains weary, their primary concerns return to the work of surviving the coming winter.

The way in which the army was decimated is an important message of the novel. The panicked soldier who visits the Magistrate in the middle of the night says of those they were pursuing, “They lured us on and on, we could never catch them” (147). The pursuit of conquering the Indigenous community was a futile one, and it speaks to a larger statement on the assumptions of imperialism. Conquest for the sake of conquest is eventually a self-inflicting doom. The more an empire pursues its lust for expansion, the more stretched it will become, until ultimately it either must retreat or face annihilation.

As the outpost has been effectively cut off from the Empire, the Magistrate begins to consider similarities between it and the ruins that he has discovered throughout his time as magistrate. When he leads the excavation of a well, and a mass grave is discovered, he sees it as an omen, and proceeds to write so that like the scrolls he has discovered, there will be a record of the people who inhabited the settlement. History imposes itself on the Magistrate and it suggests a rise and fall of civilizations over the course of time. The Magistrate inherently understands this dynamic, and his written record will serve as further proof that one day, perhaps soon, the oscillation of history will swing back the other way from where it has been during the reign of the Empire.