Wednesday, November 8, 2023

J. M. Coetzee’s ‘Foe’ & Daniel Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’: A Comparative Analysis

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:- 

This blog is a part of a thinking activity given by Megha Trivedi Ma'am from The English Department, MKBU, Bhavnagar. Check out Megha Trivedi Ma'am's Blog Site (Click Here) for more information and knowledge about works and writers. In this blog I am going to discuss the comparison between 'Foe' by J. M. Coetzee and 'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe.


J. M. COETZEE:- 

J.M. Coetzee, born on February 9, 1940, in Cape Town, South Africa, is a distinguished South African novelist, critic, and translator renowned for his literary works exploring the impacts of colonization. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003 for his notable contributions to the field. (Britannica)

J.M. Coetzee's writing career began in 1969 with his first book, "Dusklands," published in 1974. His novel "In the Heart of the Country" won South Africa's CNA Prize in 1977 and gained attention globally with "Waiting for the Barbarians" (1980). Achieving acclaim, he won the Booker Prize with "Life & Times of Michael K" (1983) and "Disgrace" (1999). Beyond fiction, he penned fictionalized memoirs like "Boyhood" (1997) and "Youth" (2002), and explored topics of literary censorship and South African culture in essay collections like "White Writing" (1988), "Doubling the Point" (1992), and "Stranger Shores" (2001). He also delved into fictionalized lectures with "The Lives of Animals" (1999), later included in "Elizabeth Costello" (2003). (J. M. Coetzee)

'FOE':- 

  • Writer: J. M. Coetzee 
  • Published: 1986 
  • Main Characters: Susan Barton, Friday, Cruso & Foe 
  • Post-Colonial Novel 
  • Follows the story of female character Susan Barton and experience of her adventure (Coetzee)
"Foe" by J.M. Coetzee is a different version of the famous story "Robinson Crusoe." It's about a woman named Susan Barton who gets stuck on an island. There, she meets Robinson Crusoe and his friend Friday. But this book is not just an adventure story. It's more about who has power, how we tell stories, and how we use language. Susan struggles to tell her story, so she asks a writer named Foe for help. He tries to make her experiences into a story. This book makes us think about who gets to tell stories and why it's hard to show things accurately. It talks about problems like colonialism and differences between men and women. It also talks about how we tell stories and why it's not easy because of language.

DANIEL DEFOE:-

No man has tasted differing fortunes more, 

And thirteen times I have been rich and poor. (Mutter)

Daniel Defoe was born in London, England, in 1660 and passed away on April 24, 1731, also in London. Daniel Defoe was an English writer who wrote famous books like "Robinson Crusoe" and "Moll Flanders." He was also a journalist and wrote for the government. "Robinson Crusoe," published in 1719, became really popular and was translated into many languages. In his stories, Defoe showed a deep understanding of people and their struggles, even though his characters often found themselves in unusual situations. His writing style was simple and detailed, making the stories seem very real. His books sometimes had some problems like being too preachy and lacking a clear shape. But still, he was a powerful writer who knew how to keep readers interested. His last major book was "Roxana," and even as his health declined, he continued to write until the end of his life. (Mutter)

'ROBINSON CRUSOE':-

  • Writer: Daniel Defoe Published : 25 April, 1719 
  • Main Characters: Robinson Crusoe, Friday & Xury 
  • Colonial Novel 
  • Follows the story and adventure of male character Robinson Crusoe (Defoe)
"Robinson Crusoe" is a famous book by Daniel Defoe. It's about a man named Robinson Crusoe who gets stuck on a faraway island for 28 years because his ship crashes. He figures out how to live there by making a home, finding food, and taking care of the land. The story tells about how he survives, meets some people who want to eat him, and later becomes friends with a guy named Friday, whom he saves. It shows how he never gives up and learns to live all by himself on the island. 
Here is an animated video to understand this story available on YouTube:-

COMPARISON OF THE CHARACTERS:-
Protagonist:- 
In "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe, the protagonist is Robinson Crusoe himself, a resourceful and determined man who becomes stranded on a deserted island and learns to survive against the odds.
In J.M. Coetzee's "Foe," the primary protagonist is Susan Barton, a castaway who meets Robinson Crusoe on an island. Susan seeks help from a writer named Foe to tell her story, as she struggles to communicate effectively. While Susan Barton is the central character, Foe also plays a significant role in the novel as a writer attempting to reshape Susan's experiences into a story.
This also can be seen as Gender reflection by Coetzee by changing the Protagonist from male to female in 'Foe'. 

“Cruso” vs. “Crusoe”:-
Cruso in this novel is more like a minor character than Crusoe. Similar to Robinson Crusoe, Cruso is a survivor of a shipwreck. Unlike the detailed background provided for Robinson Crusoe in Defoe's work, Cruso's past is shrouded in mystery. The novel does not provide a clear account of his life before the shipwreck. In "Foe," Cruso's character is used to explore themes of colonization, power dynamics, and exploitation. He becomes a symbol of how colonialism and storytelling can distort and silence the experiences of those who are subjugated.
Crusoe is a Protagonist of the novel and his adventure is the main idea discussed in it. He is curious, resourceful, and determined, which are qualities that serve him well during his trials on the deserted island. The central event of the novel occurs when Crusoe is shipwrecked on a deserted island off the coast of South America. He is the sole survivor of the shipwreck and is left stranded on the island, where he spends some of the years of his life. Crusoe's time on the island forces him to become self-reliant and he learns to build shelter, make tools, hunt, and cultivate crops.
  • Coetzee changed the way people think about English ideas by rewriting Robinson Crusoe. In "Foe," Cruso was different from the original Robinson Crusoe. In "Foe," Cruso was shown as old, not strong, silly, superstitious, stubborn, unsure, and not taking action.
  • Here is my Presentation on this topic.

SIMILARITIES & DIFFERENCES:-
His character is mysterious and open to interpretation, and his fate is left unresolved in "Foe." "Foe" by Coetzee explores themes of narrative and power. Readers are left to consider the possible outcomes that, Is Cruso Dead or Alive? In this novel Coetzee concentrated more on the character of Susan and did not give the proper description of Cruso. Foe has the ideas of Postcoloniality, Subaltern thought and Deconstruction of Defoe’s Eurocentrism. (Han)
In the end of the Robinson Crusoe, he and Friday are Rescued and return to civilization. Defoe centers on survival and self-reliance. Readers are left to consider the possible outcomes of what happened after Crusoe went to civilization. In this novel Defoe wrote the character development of Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe can be read as Allegorical Autobiography. Defoe is believed to have drawn inspiration from the actual experiences of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish privateer who lived on the island of Juan Fernández, situated in the Pacific off the coast of Chile, when creating the character Robinson Crusoe. In this novel Defoe wrote the character development of Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe can be read as Allegorical Autobiography. (Seidel)

'FOE' AS A POSTCOLONIAL AND 'ROBINSON CRUSOE' AS A COLONIAL NOVEL:-

In J.M. Coetzee's book "Foe," things are shown in a different light compared to the usual stories about taking over other lands. The book changes how people usually tell stories about colonization. It looks at who has power and who doesn’t in these kinds of situations. The story focuses on a woman named Susan Barton, who is stuck on an island. She becomes the main person telling the story, and she faces a lot of difficulties in making others understand her experiences. This shows how hard it is for people whose voices aren’t usually heard, especially during times when one group of people controls another. The book is all about questioning the ideas of the people who come from Europe and how they see the world. It gives importance to voices that are often ignored, like Susan Barton's, showing how tough it is for those who aren’t in power to share their stories and be heard.

In "Robinson Crusoe," the book by Daniel Defoe, it shows how people from one place went to other lands and took control, emphasizing the idea of being in charge over those places and the people there. The main character, Robinson Crusoe, treats Friday, a native person, as someone below him, which reflects the idea of one group dominating another, more like Eurocentric Perspective. The story is mainly about Robinson Crusoe's point of view, and this makes the book all about how he sees the world, showing the viewpoint of people from Europe as the most important. It focuses on a man exploring, taking charge, and being in control on an island that he thinks nobody else lives on. The book reinforces the idea that one person from Europe can take over and be the most important, which was a common belief during the time the book was written.

Construction and Deconstruction of Imagined Community—A Comparative Study of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and J. M. Coetzee’s Foe in Light of Nationalism by Wenju Han from School of English Studies, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China:-

What is an Imagined Community?

"Imagined Communities" is a concept introduced by political scientist Benedict Anderson in his book of the same name, published in 1983. This concept refers to the idea that modern nations or communities are not defined solely by physical interactions or personal relationships among their members. Instead, they are "imagined" by the people who belong to them, often with a shared sense of identity and belonging, even if most of the individuals within the community will never meet or interact with each other personally. They share a common sense of identity, culture, history, and belonging, which is often reinforced through shared symbols, language, traditions, and narratives. This concept is particularly relevant in the context of modern nation-states, where millions of people can identify as citizens of the same country despite not knowing each other individually. (Examples:- LGBTQ, Weeb, Army(BTS), Etc.)

  • This paper argues that Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe contributed to form the nation of England as an imagined community, shaped “Englishness” and Euro-centrism, but J. M. Coetzee’s Foe deconstructed “Englishness” and Euro-centrism, aroused the national imagination of the Africans by rewriting it, so as to expose the fact that Euro-centrism was constructed by language, indict the Dutch and English colonial administration in South Africa and its profound and lasting hurt: the deprivation of the rights of speech, the destruction of their culture, and encourage the Africans to eliminate cultural inferiority and discrimination by creating new voice. (Han)
What is Euro - Centricism?

Nationalism:-

  • Some historians argue that colonialism was an outgrowth of nationalism. Once the people in the leading industrial powers started to strongly identify as British, French, German, American, or Japanese, they fell in love with the idea of planting their national flags all over the map. Hence, “empire.” 
  • They shared a common interest in extricating the nation from colonial rule and in establishing an independent nation-state with a distinct, unified national identity.
Further, If we see through the lens of Benedict Anderson's concept of imagined communities, "Robinson Crusoe" and "Foe" relate to each other in terms of deconstructing and reimagining characters and ideologies, and how they contribute to the national imagination of their respective countries. Also, It highlights how "Foe" is a postmodern and postcolonial reinterpretation of "Robinson Crusoe". Defoe contributed shaping to Eurocentrism by creating an enterprising English colonizer Robinson, who is the representative of the English bourgeoisie of the eighteenth century. J. M. Coetzee’s Foe can be seen as a postmodernist and postcolonial rewriting of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, as a parody.

Foe is the original name of Daniel Defoe. “Defoe later added the aristocratic-sounding “De'' to his name, and on occasion claimed descent from the family of De Beau Faux”. By changing Defoe to Foe, Coetzee sent Defoe back to his original name, and thus deconstructed Defoe’s construction of his name, disclosing the truth that everything can be constructed by words to serve one’s respective purpose. The purpose of J. M. Coetzee’s keeping the names of these characters is to deconstruct them. By subverting the hero Crusoe created by Defoe, J. M. Coetzee deconstructed Euro-centrism. He deconstructed the imagination of the English people of their national spirit of being superior colonizers, and constructed the national imagination of Africa.

  • Benedict Anderson (1991) defined nation as: It is an imagined political community—and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign. 
  • Inherently Limited: Anderson emphasizes that nations have boundaries or limits. They are not boundless or infinite. Instead, they have specific geographical, cultural, or historical boundaries that define the extent of the community. These limits help distinguish one nation from another. 
  • Sovereign: Example - a king who can rule his people without any interference from other countries. By switching Friday from a Caribbean boy in Robinson Crusoe to a Negro in Foe, and depicting him as a black slave whose tongue has been cut by the slave-traders or his master Cruso, Coetzee reminded the Africans of their history of being enslaved, colonized and silenced, and thus aroused the national imagination of the Africans as a community. (Han)

Daniel Defoe's construction of the National imagination of England by Robinson Crusoe:-

Eighteenth century marked the dawn of the age of nationalism. The Role of Language in Constructing the Imagined Community of England (The character Robinson in Robinson Crusoe speaks English, the language spoken and read by the English people. Those who spoke the same language would often identify themselves as the same community, so when the English people read the novel written in their language, and found that the hero’s mother tongue was also English, they would identify themselves with Robinson.) The Role of Places in Constructing the Imagined Community of England (Description of particular place - the city of York).

The Portraying of Characters in Arousing the Imagination of National Characteristics (Englishness, he was depicted as a strong-willed, God-like colonizer, which encouraged the English people to be colonizers of nature and other nations, Robinson colonized the “barbarous” people represented by Friday. He tamed Friday with guns, English and bible, which are the ways to colonize other peoples. Robinson succeeded in his colonization of Friday in language, Language Colonization, Religious Colonization, Lifestyle Colonization. Even in appearance, Friday was Europeanized,  He was Caribbean. (Han)

Coetzee's construction of the  National Imagination of Africa by rewriting Friday:-

  • By switching Friday from a Caribbean boy in Robinson Crusoe to a Negro in Foe, and depicting him as a black slave whose tongue has been cut by the slave-traders or his master Cruso, Coetzee reminded the Africans of their history of being enslaved, colonized and silenced, and thus aroused the national imagination of the Africans as a community. 
  • Friday’s loss of tongue symbolized the deprivation of the rights of speech of the black. Friday’s tongue was cut, which even caused Susan’s unselfconscious and uncontrollable discrimination, “I caught myself flinching when he came near, or holding my breath so as not to have to smell him. Behind his back I wiped the utensils his hands had touched”. 
  • Susan, who was sympathetic to Friday out of the same position as the oppressed, who was excluded and oppressed as women, had the rights of speech in Foe, so she symbolized the white in South Africa after gaining independence from the British Commonwealth of Nations. 
  • Friday was castrated, which was a metaphor of the destruction of African culture. In Foe, Coetzee revealed that Africa was distorted and ambiguous. When Susan found an Indiaman to send Friday to Africa, the mate of the ship told her that “Africa is a great place, madam, greater than I can tell you” But the master of the Indiaman told her that “One half of Africa is desert and the rest a stinking fever-ridden forest”. As to what Africa is really like, even Susan had no idea. The telling of the story of Africa was left to Friday, but he lost the power of discourse. So the essence of African culture was castrated by the colonizers. (Han)

WORKS CITED:-


Words:- 2920

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