Destruction of Reality & the Search for a New World
The magistrate is made to question his place in the Empire because he has always thought himself as not just a servant of it, but as part of it. However, when Colonel Joll begins with his “investigations” the magistrate realizes that without having actually tortured any of the prisoners himself, he has taken part in the dark affairs of the Empire and cannot fathom the idea. After the magistrate sees Joll off to his expedition he states, “[s]o I ride back, relieved of my burden and happy to be alone again in a world I know and understand.” (Coetzee 15) After Joll has brought in the elements of pain and torture in to the world of the magistrate his world is changed, and he is taken out of his element, finding himself questioning how he should act. His duty to the Empire and his duty to mankind come into conflict in his mind because he has never previously had to make those types of choices.
