Politics of Irony in J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians

Abstract

The objectiveof this study is to deal with the implication of Coetzee’s use of politics of irony in his novel Waiting for the Barbarians. It is claimed that Coetzee maneuvers politics of irony in order to undercut the colonial attitudes towards colonized. Through the tool of irony, Coetzee attacks the cruelty and barbarism of colonialism. The Magistrate realizes barbarity of colonizers rather than the barbarity of so-called barbarian people, after he himself becomes the victim of colonizers’ cruelty. So, he resists the power of colonizer;his entire attempts to resist the power function ironically that undercuts the power of colonization. He seems to give suggestion for stopping colonization which is a very brutal and savage mission, not a civilized one.Colonizers call themselves civilized and superior but,ironically,Coetzee attacks the colonizer through the colonized, who are shown more civilized and superior than the colonizers.