Thinking Activity:Foe

This blog is a response to a task which is given by Yesha ma'am This blog is deals with several question which is given in a task.

About Writer:

J.M. Coetzee, in full John Maxwell Coetzee, born February 9, 1940, Cape Town South Africa), South African novelist, critic, and translator noted for his novels about the effects of colonization. In 2003 he won the Noble Prize  for Literature.

About The Novel:

J.M Coetzee 's novel Foe (1986) is a metafictional novel that draws on fragments of other texts. In essence the novel is a representation of representations and it builds on Daniel Defoe 's Robinson Crusoe (1719). Language is a central feature in the novel and it becomes especially important for the character of Susan Barton. Susan is fascinated with the muteness of Friday the slave and on numerous occasions she attempts to teach Friday to speak and write so she can understand him and his history better. However, Susan believes that communication with Friday can only occur through speech and writing and it is this idea that presents Friday as a passive subject in Susan 's perspective.

Coetzee states that, “Where I do my liberating, my playing with possibilities, is in my Fiction. “But Friday is the true test

Now i am giving the answers of questions which is assigned in a task

1. How would you differentiate the character of cruso and crusoe?

Coetzee creates the illusion that Susan Barton's report might have indeed been the antecessor of the literary classic Robinson Crusoe. Coetzee rewrites the story of the 18th-century white castaway, introducing us to the complicated links between reality, fiction, and metafiction. He also makes us realize that an author writing a novel always has an intention that makes him depict a certain character in a certain way, and what impact this intention can have on culturally shaped images of (social and cultural) history.

Coetzee rewrites Robinson Crusoe, and he does so in the 20th century, being a white, critical South African writer. As we think about his intention in rewriting the story, we come upon the fact that Daniel Defoe had his intentions, too. That he was, although being a very liberal mind, a child of his times, and thus promoting a view on the encounter of Europeans with the 'savage' natives during colonial times that is indeed told from a very European, or even 'colonial', point of view.

Coetzee's novel functions as an 'eye-opener' to the reader; when he rewrites the story of white European Robinson Crusoe and his fate in the Caribbean, it is an act of adding his own version of colonialization to the culturally shaped view on history - he thus corrects the official accounts, of which Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is one, by adding the voice of a minority that was speechless before.

Cruso, a parody of Daniel Defoe's character Robinson Crusoe, is first seen living on the island that Susan washes up on. He is shown to have made a life for himself on the island, but Susan notes his lack of enthusiasm to be "rescued" and he is portrayed as somewhat stubborn by her. Cruso tries to exert his dominance over all things on his island, whether it's the monkeys that share the island with him, or the new addition of Susan. He is shown to be an aging man and takes ill a number of times in the first part before dying on board the ship that saves them. 

2.Who is the protagonist?

According to me susan is the main protagonist because she is most concerned with telling the story of “Cruso’s island. ”J.M. Coetzee, who presents Barton as a submissive supporting actress to the extremely dominant character of Robinson Crusoe. Coetzee’s Foe bestows a voice on the female castaway but fails to award her a voice of strength because Robinson Crusoe dominates not only the island they are both stranded on, but also the whole story itself.

She finds herself as the mere female companion to the king and his manservant, Friday. Barton rationalizes Cruso’s role of king as she sees him “on the Bluff, with the sun behind him all red and purple, staring out to see…I thought: He is a truly kingly figure; he is the true king of the island” . Coetzee makes Barton the woman behind the man, defining her as a “free and autonomous being like all human creatures that finds herself living in a world where men compel her to assume the status of the Other” .  Barton is quick to assume the submissive role on the island as the assertive character of Robinson Cruso takes the lead on the island and in her story.

Susan Barton also views her sexuality as therapy for Cruso at the end of his life when he suffers from a raging fever. She spends many nights with him while they are on board the ship that rescued them, holding him and using her body to cure him. She describes:

I lie against Cruso; with the tip of my tongue I follow the hairy whorl of his ear. I rub my cheeks against his harsh whiskers, I spread myself over him, I stoke his body with my thighs. “I am swimming in you, my Cruso.

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

 As per J. M. Coetzee  character of Friday 

Friday slowly emerges as the heart of the novel. He is a slave who lives on the island with the man who is ostensibly his master. Cruso says that a slaver cut out Friday's tongue many years ago and Cruso never taught Friday any language beyond the most rudimentary instruction. This inability to communicate leaves Friday trapped in a silent world. Friday leaves the island and travels to England but it is only at the novel's end that he comes close to being able to express himself. The journey toward this act of self-expression emerges as the narrative of the novel. Friday attempts to express himself in a number of different ways. He ritually scatters petals on the sea, he plays music on his homemade flute, and he performs frenzied dances. Friday imbues these actions with a private meaning that is unknown to the rest of the world. Susan is the only person who attempts to glean meaning from these actions but she fails to understand their significance. Friday is shut inside his silent world even when he is trying to communicate. Friday eventually learns to write. Though he can only write a single letter over and over, it is the first step toward a shared understanding of Friday's pain. Foe and Susan provide Friday with a voice by teaching him to write. Meaning no longer has to be projected onto Friday's actions. He finally possesses the tools to make the world understand his pain.

As Per Robison Crusoe  the character of Friday  

Robinson Crusoe names the man Friday, with whom he cannot at first communicate, because they first meet on that day. The character is the source of the expression "Man Friday", used to describe a male personal assistant or servant, especially one who is particularly competent or loyal.

Friday is a key figure within the context of the novel. In many ways he is the most vibrant character in Robinson Crusoe, much more charismatic and colorful than his master. Indeed, Defoe at times underscores the contrast between Crusoe’s and Friday’s personalities, as when Friday, in his joyful reunion with his father, exhibits far more emotion toward his family than Crusoe. Whereas Crusoe never mentions missing his family or dreams about the happiness of seeing them again.