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Pre-assignment activity (complete this to earn up to an additional 5% on your
mark!)
Compulsory
1. Reflect on the potential impact of using AI to write literary analyses on academic
integrity. How does relying on AI for assignments contrast with the themes of truth and
moral ambiguity in Waiting for the Barbarians? (2)
Choose any ONE of the questions below
1. Reflect on how the themes of oppression and colonialism in Waiting for the
Barbarians relate to historical or contemporary issues in your own cultural background.
Provide specific examples. (3)
2. Discuss how the themes of uncertainty and moral ambiguity in Waiting for the
Barbarians resonate with your own experiences or observations. How do these themes
challenge or affirm your worldview? (3)
3. How did reading Waiting for the Barbarians impact your view on power and justice?
Reflect on specific moments in the novel that influenced your perspective. (3)
Main Assignment Question
In discussing postmodernism, scholar Linda Hutcheon states, “Postmodernism is a
contradictory phenomenon that uses and abuses, installs and then subverts, the very
concepts it challenges” (1988: 3). With this perspective in mind, analyse how J.M.
Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians embodies postmodern characteristics. Select a
passage from the novel that you believe exemplifies its postmodern aspects. Write an
essay arguing why this passage is representative of postmodernism in literature. Your
analysis should focus on one to three elements of postmodernism.