a c0nFuSed OLd mAn

Waiting for the Barbarians is told in the first-person narrative. Its content is in chronological order. It reveals almost all of the narrator's thoughts. How much simpler can it get?

A lot.

The story is told by an old man who doesn't know what he's looking for. Repeatedly in the story the old man searches for physical objects and well as ideas that may bring him a sense of clarity and purpose. But they almost always seem to elude him. Or rather he doesn't understand what little he finds. The old man is too confused about his own sense of purpose to comprehend himself.

He lives on the frontier of an Empire he doesn't believe in. He "protects" the Empire from barbarians he doesn't even find barbaric. Talk about mixed messages.

He finds great pleasure in unearthing artifacts from the past. The barbarian ruins near the town fascinate him. So much so that he even pays money out of his own pocket to those who will search the site for him. The 256 pieces of wood he finds make no sense to him. The number is "perfect," as both a square and a very common multiple. It seems so perfect, like the Empire, but he can't make out the meaning of it. His fascination of the past is apparent, but why is he fascinated so?

Another example of his purposelessness is when he goes hunting early one morning. The old man feels alive again with "all the strength and swiftness of [his] manhood." (38) He encounters a ram during his hunting trip, but pauses before he shoots it. He doesn't understand why his pulse doesn't quicken and why the hunt is "robbed of its savour." Before he knows it the ram has run off and he is left "trudg[ing] on purposelessly for an hour before [he] turn[s] back" home. (39)

But the number one example of his confusion is the semi-blind native girl he keeps in his room. In an ritualistic fashion, he rubs her with oil each night as he massages her. They sometimes talk, but usually he is lost in his own mind, enraptured in an almost stupor-like state. Although the thought sometimes comes to mind, he never "enters her." What does he do this nightly routine for? He doesn't understand why at all, and my bet is she understands even less. And then why does he go on a quest to return her?

This man has no idea what he's looking for, much less what he wants. He speaks of his enjoyment of the quiet aspects of life, his hobbies and recreations. But then he goes searching for trouble when the Empire enters the town. By broaching the subject of barbarians with the new lieutenant and truly answering what he believes the barbarians want, the old man goes searching for trouble. He searches for trouble by fostering his relationship with the native girl. And walks right into trouble when goes into the barbarian land.

What a crazy, confused old man. But I guess that makes the story.

(509)