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CPolidori - Foe. Chapter II
[author: Chiara Polidori - postdate: 2007-10-08]

Text:  Foe by J.M. Coetzee
Task: Analysis of the second chapter

 

The second chapter ismade up by a series of letters written by Susan Barton. The letters are adressed to Mr Foe but they do not reach him because he is hiding, trying to avoid, escape  his creditors. The chapter is particularly important: it is longer  than other chapters.
The second chapter keeps the first person narrator, who is Susan Barton. The letters are written by a woman. In fact the language changes: it is poetic and emotional as you can see from the descriptions  Susan Barton makes of every thing(!).


Inside these letters you can note that Susan persuades Daniel DeFoe to turn her account of life on the island into a popular book of adventure.


While she wrote all the letters, she lived a lot of adventures: for example she meets with a girl who believed to be her daughter. The meeting creates confusion in Susan's mind but it doesn't limit  her desire to meet Mr Foe.
It is important to remember that Coetzee adopts a Postmodernist style but this chapter doesn't recall any of  Robinson Cruso's adventures: it is a novelty!
Through the letters Coetzee conveys Susan's emotions straightforward : he underlines subjectivity because he writes word by word what she feels in every situation.
For example when she describes Mr Foe's house she doesn't limit the description to the details of the house, but she adds what she feels.
Moreover it is important to underline that the presence of Friday becomes fundamental for her: she understands that Friday is too important because maybe he hides the real story on the island but he doesn't tell it!


The problem of language becomes an important point of reference  in this chapter: it  wants to underline the intentions of the writer:  the attention is no longer on what has been told but on how and from whose prospective it is being told!
The second chapter is more important than the first one because it expresses Susan Barton through what she tells.
An intelligent reader can note that Susan Barton seems to be obsessed by Mr Foe: she always repeats his name and she tries to  imagine his reaction in front of the letters. It might be said she hopes the novelist writes the story according to her version, her position on the island. This is important because it underlines Coetzee's message and attention for  the marginalization, represented by Friday and Susan Barton.