Susan Character Study

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       This Blog is an Assignment of paper no.: 203- The Postcolonial Studies  In this assignment I am discussing Character Study of Susan. 

Personal Information 

Name:- Mansi B. Gujadiya

Roll Number:-12

Enrollment Number:-4069206420220013

Batch:-M.A SEM -3( 2022-23 )

Email ID:- mansigajjar10131@gmail.com

Paper Number:-203

Paper Code:-22408

Paper Name:-The Postcolonial Studies 

Submitted to:- English department MKBU

Topic:- Susan Character Study 

Introduction

Foe, published in 1986, is the fifth novel of South African writer J. M. Coetzee who won the Nobel Prize in 2003 and the Booker Prize twice. Foe, set in the 18th century, is a poignant contemporary rewriting of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. It tells a story about how Susan, a female castaway and a character absent in Defoe’s original text, challenges Crusoe and Foe, and how she pursues the right to speak for Friday. Through depictions of Susan’s complex relationships with Crusoe, Foe and Friday, Susan’s marginal status is especially noticeable. Hence, this blog attempts to explore Susan’s de-marginalization in Foe from the perspective of feminism through the analysis of the crescendo of female voice and Susan’s quest for authorship.

The novel finally focuses on Susan’s failure to tell Friday’s story and her complete submission to patriarchal system, however, in the process, the increasing feminist awareness of Susan Barton and Susan’s de-marginalization can be seen as a successful point. She challenges patriarchal authority through the crescendo of her voice from silence to cry-out and her transformation from “the Other” to “the Self”.

Literature Review

Foe, the rewriting of Robinson Crusoe, has attracted great attention from home and abroad. Numerous researchers have conducted a variety of studies from the perspectives of post-colonialism, feminism, deconstruction and intertextuality.

Susan’s De-Marginalization

The Crescendo of Susan’s Voice: Transformation from Femininity to Existential Choice

“Crescendo” is a musical term. It metaphorically refers to a gradually loud Susan’s voice in Foe. This section aims to explore Susan’s De-marginalization through the analysis of the crescendo of Susan’s voice. Her voice changes from silence to cry-out illustrating her transformation from holding back to having the courage to face patriarchy, which means Susan transcends femininity constructed by patriarchy society and voices for her true self. It is actually a way of de-marginalization.

Susan’s Silence

In Foe, Crusoe’s island is a metaphor for patriarchal society, and Crusoe represents patriarchal domination. Susan, a female in a marginal status, thus chooses to be silent when facing male authority. For example, before Crusoe goes out to make a routine inspection of the island, he gives Susan a knife for self-defence and demands Susan not to leave his residence, yet the reason given by Crusoe is that the apes outside are not afraid of women. And he even said to Susan “while you live under my roof you will do as I instruct!” . Then, Susan complies with Crusoe’s request to stay in his castle. It conjures up the concept “female domain”, which emerges because the industrial revolution led to the emergence of different domains of activity for men and women  . The female domain emphasised femininity, where it is generally accepted that women should fulfil their roles as wives and mothers and that, in the home, women must be pure, pious, gentle, kind and obedient, and more than that, women are inherently fragile, incompetent and innocent, thus male protection is needed to protect them from the evils of society  . Because of this femininity constructed by social and matriarchal system at that time and her marginal status as a newly arrived and female, Susan is unable to be completely independent and separate from Crusoe, thus she choose to be silent and become a “woman” under the patriarchal rule, and still cannot carve out an authentic existence for herself, choosing what she wants to be. However, it does not mean that Susan’s voluntary silence is a complete submission to male authority; her feminine consciousness actually keeps in the process of awakening.

 Susan’s Cry-Out

Although Susan is under patriarchal rule, represented by Crusoe, she is still boldly in revolt. Her voice gradually changes from silence to cry-out, for instance, Susan’s request for a pair of shoes. Susan has no extra clothes or shoes, and she cannot always walk without shoes. But when she repeatedly asks Crusoe, Crusoe shows his reluctance several times, only asking Susan to be more patient because he would make a good pair of shoes for her, then there remains no action. When Susan retorts to Crusoe in the rough sandals she has made by herself, “patience has turned me into a prisoner” , Crusoe throws away all of the materials left in exasperation. Ren (2014) considers the image of shoes as “a marker for civilization”, because it is Adam and Eve who are enlightened and understand shame and so cover their naked bodies with clothing, hence shoes in here become the symbol of civilization  . However, this study tends to take the image of shoes as a representation of discourse power, not just civilization. In Crusoe’s patriarchal rule, shoes are made by men and given to women, just as men forcibly give women certain characteristics. Susan’s decision to make her own shoes is a reflection of her voice “cry-out” and struggle for discourse power. This example illustrates that Susan realises her marginalised status, and her stronger feminine consciousness makes her voice for her true self and transcends patriarchal structure. It is actually a great progress in carving out an authentic existence for herself and de-marginalizing.

In short, Susan’ gradual loud voice from silence to cry-out shows the awakening process of her feminine consciousness. She tries to get rid of marginal status and the femininity given by patriarchal society, transcending traditional rule and making a new existential choice to be truly self.

Susan’s Quest for Authorship: Transformation from “the Other” to “the Self”

The quest for authorship of Susan actually has gone through a process of development, from the submission to traditional female status to her query about patriarchal authority of male writers then to her quest for her own authorship. This section aims to explore the process of Susan’s quest for authorship and analyse how she transforms from “the Other” to “the Self” and achieve the goal of demarginalization.

Susan’s Submission to Traditional Female Status

In The Second Sex, Beauvoir argues that men set themselves up in the role of the subject and name women as “the Other''. Women are constructed by men, by whole social structures and traditions. Women’s creative potential has been suppressed by the patriarchy, while men control “truth” and power. As a result, women have lost their vitality and become “the Other ''. In Foe, It is after Susan’s talk with the captain on her voyage back, she is encouraged by him to turn her island experience into a story, a truthful story. It is a story you should set down in writing and offer to the booksellers  . The captain’s words have intrigued in her the idea of narrating the island story. But as a woman in the patriarchal society, Susan is not confident of her creative ability from the very beginning. She thinks the only way is to find a writer for her to finish this task, thus she seeks help from Mr. Foe. From this example, Susan’s subconsciousness of seeking for male writer’s help illustrates Susan's submission to her traditional female status and to be “the Other”. To some extent, this patriarchal norm suppresses women's attempts and creativity in writing.

 Susan’s Query about Patriarchal Authority of Male Writers

Because of Susan’s submission to her traditional female status and lack of confidence at the beginning, she asks Mr. Foe for help. However, in her contact with Foe, she becomes less and less trustful of his ability and work. Thus, Susan begins to query about the male writer’s authority. Foe tries to explore more details of their story on the island in order to make the story more intriguing. His version includes five parts: “the loss of the daughter; the quest for the daughter in Brazil; abandonment of the quest, and the adventure of the island; assumption of the quest by the daughter; and reunion of the daughter with her mother”. He argues that the island story lacks variety and it should be written as a mere section of his version. He even tends to add episodes which do not actually exist in her story. On the contrary, Susan considers it unnecessary to reveal a whole history of her existence, and she is against his construction of the story which fails to tell the truth. From this example, it can be seen that under the control of Foe’s patriarchal authority, Susan realises that her life is determined by Foe’s authorship and authority, and thus it has become a story without anything left. Susan’s query about Foe’s authority means that her role of “the Other” begins to be changed and her attempt to break through to marginalised status. She gradually transforms from “the Other” to “the Self”.

Susan’s Quest for Her Own Authorship

According to Beauvoir, “the Self” is active and knowing, whereas “the Other” is all that “the Self” rejects: passivity, voicelessness, and powerlessness. In the process of Susan’s quest for authorship, she actually has transformed from “the Other” to “the Self”. Susan, as a woman in a marginalised status, hopes to narrate her story according to her own will, but she discovers that Foe always indulges in outrageous adaptation of her story. Foe ignores the truth of her narrative and divides the story into five parts, and thus Susan is against his conception. “I lived there too, I was no bird of passage, no gannet or albatross, to circle the island once and dip a wing and then fly on over the boundless ocean. Return to me the substance I have lost, Mr Foe: that is my entreaty”  . Susan determines to trace her lost substance by relating her island story. She challenges the patriarchal authority and is eager to gain the true substance by relating her own story. She struggles against gender inequality in the patriarchal discourse and attempts to recover the right to speak for the marginalised group. The opposition between Susan and Mr. Foe for the discourse power of the story is the embodiment of female writers’ struggle in the patriarchal society, which has a great significance to the subversion of authorial authority.

 Conclusions

With the assistance of Beauvoir’s existential feminism, this is attempts to explore Susan’s de-marginalization in novel Foe through analysing the crescendo of Susan’s voice and Susan’s quest for authorship.

By examining the crescendo of Susan’s voice, the study finds that Susan’s voice changes from silence to cry-out illustrating her transformation from holding back to having the courage to face patriarchy, which means Susan transcends femininity constructed by patriarchy society and voices for her true self. Besides, the process of Susan’s quest for authorship shows Susan’s transformation from “the Other” to “the Self”.

Susan’s gradual loud voice from silence to cry-out and the process of Susan’s quest for authorship illustrate that the process of her de-marginalization in patriarchal society is successful because of the awakening of her feminine consciousness and her transformation from “the Other” to “the Self” during the process. 

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