Repression And Resistance-A Study Of Waiting For The Barbarians From The Perspective Of Lefebvre’s Spatial Theory

J.M. Coetzee is a famous contemporary South Africa’s writer, literary critic and translator. Waiting for the Barbarians is his first work to obtain worldwide reputation, which is often regarded as his most successful work and has won the highest literary award of South Africa-- the Central News Agency(CNA) Literary Award.This thesis adopts the perspective of Lefebvre’s spatial theory to excavate a variety of spatial meanings through a detailed analysis of the text and its implications.It reveals that although there is no exact time and place in this novel, there still exists the description of space.According to Lefebvre’s unitary theory and spatial triad, which are based on the proposal of trialectics by him, the body of this thesis can be divided into three parts for further discussion, which are the physical space, the social space and the psychological space respectively. The physical space coversthe absolute space and the abstract space. In the physical space, the representational space is used to show metaphorical meanings, which implies the social background and connotations of the novel as well as the main charactersinvolved. The frontier town in the novel has changed from an absolute space to an abstract space while the “barbarians”’ living space still implies an absolute space, which indicates the repression on them from the colonizers. The social space functions as a tool, both in body humiliation and in mind control. In the social space, individuals and collective groups all suffer repression from the colonizers who come from the Third Bureau and represent the Empire no matter whether they are from the same race or not. They resist through their own effort as vulnerable social groups. The typical characters of the individuals are the old magistrate and the blind girl. Although they belong to different races, they both suffer repression from the colonizers, who possess the supreme power. Therefore, they resist against the repressed social space through their awakening. The repression on collective groups is mainly showed through the repression on the “barbarians” and the blind girl, whose suffering symbolizes the repression on women. The two collective groups resist against the social space through their efforts in order to obtain the right to make their own choices. The inner choice of individuals facing physical and social dilemmas is quite important for the characters’ development, and their choice can convert dilemmas into new chances and make the old magistrate, the blind girl and the villagers survive successfully in boththe physical space and the social space through their psychological awakening, which can be considered as a way of their resistance. The old magistrate’s changes are quite obvious. In the beginning, he just obeys Joll’s entire orders without resistance. But in the end, he becomes a person who is brave enough to resist against unfair treatment, dares to maintain his own standpoint, adheres to his own principle and eventually obtains his salvation.The innovation of the thesis lies in that it frees readers from the confinement of time by disrupting the traditional rational hegemony, broadeningthe people’s vision and paying attention to the ordinary people’s life in Waiting for the Barbarians. It also proves that the inner choices and changes of individuals through their self-redemption, self-adaption and self-awareness have great influence on their life.