'Foe'

    Foe by J.M  Coetzee 

John Maxwell Coetzee(born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of  the 2003 Nobel  Prize  in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in the English language. He has won the Booker Prize (twice), the CNA Prize (thrice), the Jerusalem Prize, the Prix Femina étranger, and The Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and holds a number of other awards and honorary doctorates.

Introduction of 'Foe'

Foe is a 1986 novel by South African born Nobel laureate J.M Coetzee. Woven around the existing plot of Robinson Crusoe,Foe is   written from the perspective of Susan Barton, a castaway who landed on the same island inhabited by "Cruso" and Friday as their adventures were already underway.Like Robinson Crusoe, it is a frame story, unfolded as Barton's narrative while in England attempting to convince the writer Daniel Foe to help transform her tale into popular fiction. Focused primarily on themes of language and power, the novel was the subject of criticism in South Africa, where it was regarded as politically irrelevant on its release. Coetzee revisited the composition of Robinson Crusoe in 2003 in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

1) How would you differentiate the

character of Cruso and Crusoe?

Both Foe by J.M. Coetzee and Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe have many similarities an differences. Robinson is the protagonist and the narrator of the novel.Cruso to be portrayed as a highly unreliable character.Crusoe is individualistic, self-reliant, and adventurous.

Cruso, a parody of Daniel Defoe's character Robinson Crusoe, is first seen living on the island that Susan washes up on.  Defoe uses Robinson Crusoe to explore certain issues like race, gender exploration, and independence through his eyes. 

While Coetzee uses his piece to update the outlook of the story by throwing some changes into the mix, like a female main character. Defoe left many questions unanswered while Coetzee tries to answer some of them,Susan Barton is a complex character but she helps fill the void of women left from the original text. In Robinson Crusoe,  Crusoe’s personality, beliefs, and feelings, as he’s the narrator and main focus of the book. In Foe, Barton gives specific descriptions that we the reader did not receive from Defoe’s novel.

The  difference in  Foe is that the main character is a woman who goes by the name of Susan Barton. While Crusoe’s name is spelled differently in Foe. It is spelled Cruso as opposed to Crusoe in the original text. Robinson Crusoe is just a man on an island, although Foe does go a little further into detail about him  For example Barton goes on to describe Crusoe to us, “The stranger’s eyes were green, his hair burnt to a straw color. I judged he was sixty years of age. He wore…a jerkin, and drawers to below his knees, such as we see watermen wear on the Thames, and a tall cap rising in a cone, all of these made of pelts laced together, the fur outwards, and a stout pair of sandals. In his belt were a short stick and a knife. A mutineer...yet another mutineer”.

2.Friday’s characteristics and persona in Foe and in Robinson Crusoe.

Friday’s character within both the texts is an important role in the plot and is used to explore themes within them. 

There is a large difference between the roles of the two Friday’s in the novels.  Coetzee’s Friday is the first character that Susan Barton meets when she is stranded on the island. He is quickly transformed from “a dull fellow” to an object of fascination when she discovers his mutilation.  

Both Friday’s lack and acquisition of speech in the novels is very important. In Robinson Crusoe Friday is described as a very fast learner and a good student. 

Within Robinson Crusoe Friday not only learns English but can discuss theological ideas and theories. 

3.Who is Protagonist?

Susan Barton is the protagonist of 'Foe' by J.M Coetzee.

The presence of a female main character, Susan Barton inCoetzee’s Foe critiques Defoe’s original imagination of Robinson Crusoe by showing the marginalized role of women in the seventeenth century. Susan is very much a man’s woman, a sensual woman represented through her sexuality. In his portrayal of Susan, Defoe is critiquing the traditional male attitude towards women.The rational and struggles for power and independence in the society of the Enlightenment where the story is set. She is seen as non-rational, less valuable and as Other of the white, European male due to her gender.