Analysis of Compradors in Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians and Kureishi’s London and Karachi

Abstract

This paper analyzes two texts: J. M. Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarians and Hanif Kureishi’s short story "London and Karachi" for their representation of comprador characters. The concept of the comprador, which represents intermediaries and tools of the empire, serves as the main theoretical lens. A close reading and thematic analysis of the texts compares how both texts portray such characters and their complicity with the imperial project of violence, domination, and control. The paper analyzes that Coetzee’s text deals with an allegorical empire, whereas Hanif’s short story presents post-independence Pakistan in a neo-colonial situation of subjugation. It concludes that Coetzee’s comprador character acknowledges his complicity and tries to make amends, whereas the limited scope of the short story does not let Kureishi develop the comprador characters to the full extent. The analysis of these texts helps us identify and understand such characters in the history of post-colonial nations and the literary representation of such histories.