Text: Foe by Coetzee
Task: Analysis of Chapter IV
OBJECTIVES
Cultural:post colonial and post-modern writing
Intertextual:links with other forms and text
Linguistic:reflecting the writing skill
This chapter may tell the treader about the possible meaning of the novel or to say it better, in this final part Coetzee wants to explain the meaning of the title.
In this chapter the main important character is Friday that is a black man who cannot speak because he has no longer got his tongue.
In this chapter the atmosphere is mysterious and it is very difficult to read it owing to his complexity .
The differences between Robinson Crusoe and Foe are mainly that:
- in "Robinson Crusoe" the narrator is the same character, that is Robinson,
- in "Foe" the narrator is nameless;
the other difference is that in Robinson Crusoe, Robinson was saved by mutineer, in "Foe" the story remains interrupted and the writer gives up finding the truth .
The other difference is referred to Friday : in Daniel De Foe's 's story Friday is considered only as a servant , in Coetzee's novel Friday is in the centre of the story or better Friday is the voice of truth and so the story is moving around him.
In this part of the novel a big problem is taken into consideration: the problem of language. As a matter of fact, Susan Barton says that Friday's story is essential but at te same time impossible to be told.