In J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, the Rumors Spread around the town Demonstrate the Ignorance of Civilization

Coetzee's description of the rumors (120-121) shows how unaware the citizens are of what the barbarians are actually like. The settlements' opinion and actions involving the barbarians displays the ignorance that is rampant throughout civilization. <Tab/>The village's belief in the rumors allows the empire to use the barbarians as scapegoats for their actions. The soldiers and military personnel are the most suspected source of origin for the rumors. With the …

…in the village has met a barbarian before other than the helpless barbarians being tortured, but the citizens still manage to hate them. If the citizens spent time to learn about the true culture of the barbarians they would not fear or hate them. This is never attempted and the citizens put themselves into their own caskets of fear. As said by Titus Livius Livy, "We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.