"Robinson Crusoe" and "Foe"

Hello everyone,in this blog I will discuss Robinson Crusoe" and "Foe"


Introduction

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.



J.M.Coetzee:-

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 Nobel Prize for Literature.



Plot of the novel:-

Susan Barton spends years looking for her missing daughter in Brazil. She finally gives up on her search and sails back to England. The ship's crew mutinies and casts her adrift in a boat with the body of the dead captain. When Susan can row no more, she plunges into the water and washes ashore on an island. The island is inhabited by a 60-year-old white man named Cruso and his mute slave named Friday.

Susan is accepted into the two men's company. She eats and sleeps in Cruso's camp while she tries to fathom the strange relationship between Cruso and Friday. The island provides Cruso and Friday with enough food to survive but Susan is driven nearly mad by the constant wind. Cruso keeps no record of his time on the island and has no desire to leave. He grinds his teeth in his sleep and his memory is scattered. Susan and Cruso argue when she wanders outside of his encampment but he yields to her and agrees to make her a pair of shoes.

Susan struggles to make Friday obey her. Cruso reveals that Friday's tongue was cut out by slave masters. Susan wonders whether Cruso cut out Friday's tongue and she begins to pity Friday. One day Cruso is struck down by a fever. Susan nurses him back to health. She lays beside the feverish Cruso on his bed during a terrible storm. When she feels his unwelcome hands on her body, she tries to push him away but eventually she relents. Cruso and Susan have sex one time and never mention it again.

Susan sees Friday paddling a log out to a specific area of the sea off the coast of the island. When he spreads petals on the water Susan wonders whether Friday possesses a hidden secret. Later Cruso shows her the system of terraces he has created from rocks. The terraces are large gardens designed for the island's future inhabitants. The gardens remain bare because Cruso has no seeds to plant.

Cruso contracts a fever again. A ship lands on the island while he is ill and offers Susan the chance to escape. She takes the sick Cruso aboard and sends the crew to collect Friday. All three leave the island. Cruso dies on the voyage home by which time Susan is posing as his wife.



Part 2

Susan writes a series of letters to the writer Daniel Defoe whom she addresses as "Foe." She hopes that he will write and publish her account of the island but they disagree on how the story should be told. Susan and Friday live together supported by Foe. He pays for their food and lodging in exchange for the rights to Susan's story. The heavily indebted Foe disappears to escape the attention of bailiffs who want to recover their money; this leaves Susan and Friday to fend for themselves. With nowhere else to go, they move into Foe's empty house. They grow carrots in his garden and sell his possessions in order to survive.

A girl begins to watch Foe's house. Susan is suspicious of the girl and confronts her. The girl reveals that she and Susan share the same name. Susan refuses to believe that the girl could be her daughter. She believes that the girl is a liar and that she has been sent by Foe in order to give the story of Susan's life a happy ending. The girl stays in Foe's house until Susan leads her to a forest clearing and tells her that Foe is her father. Susan hopes the lie will confuse the girl and encourage her to leave. The girl departs the next day. Friday finds a set of Foe's robes and wears them while he dances manically in the house. This strange behavior frustrates Susan.

Susan and Friday walk to Bristol. Susan tries to grant Friday his freedom. She hopes to put him on a ship and return him to Africa. The walk is long and hard. They sleep outside and eat what they can but soon they appear disheveled and homeless. They arrive in the major port Bristol, where Susan tries to convince a ship to take Friday. She suspects every captain that agrees to her plan will sell Friday back into slavery. Susan and Friday remain in England.


Part 3

Susan and Friday return to London from Bristol and arrive at Foe's new lodgings. He invites them in and orders food for everyone. Foe's work on Susan's story is progressing slowly. They disagree on how the story should be told. Dinner ends and Foe welcomes the arrival of the girl who pretended to be Susan's daughter. The girl is accompanied by an older woman named Amy who claims to have been the girl's nurse. Both the girl and Amy insist that they know Susan, but Susan insists that they do not. Foe admits that he is trying to manufacture a happy end to the story.

Later that evening Amy and the girl make their excuses and leave. Susan prepares to leave with Friday but Foe invites them both to stay. He gives Friday a place on the floor in the corner where he can sleep. Susan accompanies Foe to bed. They lay awake after having sex and talk about Friday and the need to tell Friday's story.

The next day Foe encourages Susan to teach Friday to write. She spends all morning trying but becomes frustrated. Susan tries to explain her failure. She leaves Friday behind and goes out for a walk around London. Friday is sitting at Foe's desk when she returns and is scribbling the same letter over and over. Foe believes that Friday is learning to write. Susan and Foe sit on the bed and talk.


Part 4

An unnamed narrator walks in a dreamlike state around Foe's lodgings. The narrator observes Susan and Foe while they sleep and examines Friday closely. The narrator finds a manuscript in the room and begins to read. The narrator is transported to the island and goes below the waves to the sunken ship. The narrator finds Friday in the corner. Examining Friday's mouth, the narrator notices a long slow stream pouring out.



How would you differentiate the character of Cruso and Crusoe?

In Daniel Defoe’s novel, Robinson Crusoe, the novel portrayed as a foundational text to early fictional writings and introduced writers as well as readers to having a narrative in an island setting. Within Defoe’s novel, one is able to get a glimpse of the stereotypical gender roles from the 17thcentury because patriarchy reigned supreme. Women were property while men were authoritarians. The novel is shown through the eyes of a middle-aged white male during colonization. Crusoe “owns” the islands and instructs those living there just as if he were the “governor” or political leader-just as any British colony would be governed. By this, the reader is able to see through the eyes of Robinson Crusoe about the issues of not only gender but with race and independence. AlthoughRobinson Crusoewas written in the early 1700’s, a more recent novel by J.M. Coetzee called Foewas an artistic piece that imitated Defoe’s well-known work. Even though the two novels share many similar aspects, Coetzee framed his work to provide an updated perspective of the story Defoe had composed by adding in the presence of a woman figure, incorporating a new setting, and more modernistic viewpoint.