This blog is written in response to a blog task assigned by Yesha Bhatt Ma’am based on J. M. Coetzee’s Foe which is a retelling of Danial Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. It deals with several assigned questions as a task.
How would you differentiate the character of Cruso and Crusoe?
The Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau applauded Crusoe’s do-it-yourself independence, and in his book on education, Crusoe is never interested in portraying himself as a hero in his own narration. He does not boast of his courage in quelling the mutiny, and he is always ready to admit unheroic feelings of fear or panic, as when he finds the footprint on the beach. Crusoe prefers to depict himself as an ordinary sensible man, never as an exceptional hero. Crusoe seems incapable of deep feelings, as shown by his cold account of leaving his family—he worries about the religious consequences of disobeying his father, but never displays any emotion about leaving. As an individual personality, Crusoe is rather dull. His precise and deadpan style of narration works well for recounting the process of canoe building, but it tends to drain the excitement from events that should be thrilling.Crusoe is nonetheless very interested in possessions, power, and prestige. When he first calls himself king of the island it seems jocund, but when he describes the Spaniard as his subject we must take his royal delusion seriously, since it seems he really does consider himself king. His teaching Friday to call him “Master,” even before teaching him the words for “yes” or “no,” seems obnoxious even under the racist standards of the day, as if Crusoe needs to hear the ego-boosting word spoken as soon as possible.
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. He also enjoys telling stories about how he ended up on the island and how he found Friday, all which contradict each other and vary greatly, suggesting to the reader either forgetfulness due to old age or that Cruso repeatedly tells lies to suit his needs and in this case, the story. Both cause Cruso to be portrayed as a highly unreliable character.
This table brings out the major difference between both, Cruso and Crusoe.
Friday’s characteristics and persona in Foe and Robinson Crusoe.
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.
If Crusoe represents the first colonial mind in fiction, then Friday represents not just a Caribbean tribesman, but all the natives of America, Asia, and Africa who would later be oppressed in the age of European imperialism.
The first and most obvious point about Friday's relationship with Crusoe is that Friday is Crusoe's subordinate. Friday always calls Crusoe "master," for example. Crusoe also mentions that their relationship is much like that of "a Child to a Father". Foe deconstructs Robin Crusoe and gives its postcolonial reading. We find the change in the center point of both the novels. Foe has Susan Barton, the interloper character and female narrator. But we find Friday, the only similar character across both books.
Defoe’s Friday is exploring the themes of religion, slavery and subjugation. While Coetzee’s Friday is used to explore more strong themes like of slavery, black identity and the voice of oppressed or subaltern.
In Coetzee’s Foe Friday is without voice and he has left the disturbing question of who has cut Friday’s tongue or mutilated it open. This question is never answered and the attempts to communicate with Friday leaves us wondering whether the slaves that capture Friday remove his tongue or was done by the colonist Cruso, who felt no need of a great stock of words.
We also find that Defoe’s Cruso gave a lot more care and interest to language than Coetzee’s Cruso. Defoe’s Cruso, appreciated documentation in his own language and also took pleasure in teaching Friday to speak.
Defoe’s Crusoe was certainly concerned with language, but never investigated the language that was Friday’s own, erasing Friday’s history by naming him, and teaching him English. In this way, he could only voice the thoughts that Crusoe had given him language to speak. This was challenged by the voiceless Friday in Coetzee’s work, a character who literally couldn’t speak. In this, it could be argued that Coetzee was asserting that it was not his right to give voice to an oppressed black character, and let Friday stand for the victims of apartheid and slavery, where Defoe (due to the beliefs of society at his time) believed that it was right and natural for Crusoe to claim the position of Master to Friday, and to speak for him.
Friday was somehow better than the average Caribbean tribesman As Friday in Foe stood for the victims and slavery whereas Crusoe’s Friday was not doing all that and is portrayed as being a anglicized version of Caribbean man.
In Coetzee’s work, Friday is allowed to be sullen and unpleasant, easy to see, but hard to like, he is created to be the embodiment of all the oppression experienced by a racial group, to only be able to take in, never to give out ideas or understanding, to be central to a story he can have no part in. The silence of Coetzee’s Friday could also be said to reflect the reader, who, like Friday, can only react and respond to situations.
The representation of Friday in these two texts is vastly different, and one could hardly believe that the two were in fact the same character. With different histories, and different personalities, in fact all both have in common is playing the role of the non-white slave in the text, to serve a literary purpose, in both reflecting the views of wider society towards non-white people, and in showing the development of other characters.
Is Susan reflecting the white mentality of Crusoe (Robinson Crusoe)?
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.” (44)
Major difference between two novels Robinson Crusoe and Foe is inclusion of women’s voce in Foe. This female voice is presented by Male author J.M. Coetzee. She is a female castaway but fails to award her a voice of strength Crusoe dominates not only the island they are both on but also the whole story itself.
“I presented myself to Cruso, in the days when he still ruled over the island, and became his second subject, the first being his manservant Friday” (Coetzee 11)
Throughout the novel, she describes the island as “Cruso’s island.” She finds herself as the mere female companion to the king and his manservant, Friday. 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” (Dragunoiu 15). 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 is a sensual woman, and as the only female character in both Defoe’s novel as well as Coetzee’s novel, she is represented through her sexuality. She 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.
Susan Barton’s voice is projected through the words of the male author who created her. Using the text as evidence, it seems as though Coetzee purposefully creates a female character of weakness. She goes through a myriad of roles throughout the novel—each of which clearly point to her as a minor character in a book that is supposed to be about “the female castaway” (67). Although Susan Barton is the voice of the novel, she is not the main character because she is most concerned with telling the story of “Cruso’s island.” J.M. Coetzee is a male author who uses the voice of Barton to convey a deeper understanding of Defoe’s male character, Robinson Crusoe. Coetzee uses her as merely a device to relay the stories of Cruso and Friday. Hence, she doesn't reflect the white mentality of Crusoe.
I hope this blog is useful. Thanks for visiting.
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