Waiting for the Barbarians

The first-person narrator of the novel, the Magistrate is an older man who has benefited from his position within the settlement. He has lived a fairly quiet and comfortable life up to the point when the novel begins. His main goal at the outset is to remain living the same kind of lifestyle until he is able to finally retire. He is generally a modest man and is not opposed to using occasional self-deprecation.

Morally, the Magistrate is repulsed by the activities brought to bear on the town by the arrival of Colonel Joll and the civil guard. However, his passive resistance is an indictment of his moral failings. It also demonstrates where the true power of the Empire resides, which is in its military, not in the bureaucracy as represented by the Magistrate. Therefore, as much as the Magistrate is disgusted, he has no real power to do anything to stop Joll. His moral culpability is therefore debatable.

The Magistrate feels that because he is a representative of the Empire, he is complicit in all that transpires. When he offers the girl work and a place to live, he is trying to rectify the past wrongs committed against her.