Waiting for the Barbarians
Why was the girl unhappy?
In the recently released movie, Why was the girl that she would ferquently cry to the other woman about being unhappy with the magistrate, when he did all those nice things for her? I can only imagine she belongs to a warrior culture, and expects him as a man of the enemy not to disrespect her with pity. But he's being a kind wimp, washing her feet, dreaming of her, thinking he can bridge the culture when she knows he cannot. I see her behavior not only as possibly the product of her savage warrior culture, but possibly even as a woman toward a man. Does she think him a fool; not a man to respect? Is there some reason given in the book or in the movie that I missed?