In James Clifford's article “On Ethnographic Allegory,” allegory is defined as “a story in which people, things and happenings have another meaning, as in a fable or a parable: allegories are used for teaching or explaining.” Read as such, the allegorical claims of the magistrate in Waiting for the Barbarians backfire. In the magistrate's writing and teaching, as will be discussed in this chapter, events are “not themselves but stand for other things.” This chapter offers a reading of Waiting for the Barbarians that serves as a remodeling of imperialist masculinity and relations for the sake of redeeming empire. This definition of allegory and my reading of the disabled woman's character in Coetzee's novel are inspired by Ato Quayson's concept of “aesthetic nervousness.” As Quayson advances, “Because disability in the real world already incites interpretation, literary representations of disability are not merely reflecting disability.” Accordingly, I read the disability of the female character in question within Coetzee's narrative as allegorical and conducive to thought-provoking interpretations.

The magistrate's ethnographic project is merely an autoethnography in progress. His goal is the production of the knowledge and meaning that would allow him to relate to the new young men of empire and construct an appropriate model of masculinity to serve empire. The magistrate in the narrative tries to forge a masculine bond through explaining his ideas to the young officer. This endeavor stands in contrast to the magistrate's relations with the old colonel and the barbarian woman, with whom no dialogues are attempted. The colonel and the barbarian woman are representative of old colonial models and relations. Accordingly, the magistrate does some ethnographic work on them. As he studies these two, he explores his reactions. The underlying autoethnography voices a rejection of what the colonel and the woman stand for and what he shares with them. He rejects old age, feminization, and open brutality as inadequate for the purpose of continuing occupation and distant nonviolent coexistence. His autoethnography could also mean self-rejection; however, the magistrate seems to regard his ability to see these aforementioned shortcomings and his ideas about them as a redeeming act.