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SMilan - 1st Classtest 1st Term
[author: Sara Milan - postdate: 2007-10-03]

Text: Coetzee's Foe
Task: Writing Argumentative texts

OBJECTIVES

Cultural: See colonization from the point of view of the colonized

Intertextual: Robinson and Cruso

Linguistic: Improve productive skills

 

1st Class test 1st Term 5th Form

  1. Foe and Robinson Crusoe are two important novels in English literature. Robinson Crusoe was written in the 18th century by Daniel Defoe. The title takes its name by the name of the main character and it tells about a man who shipwrecks on a desert island. Foe is written in the 20th century by J.M. Coetzee. This novel is one of the main important postmodernist products. We don't know really why the title sounds like that. It means enemy, but it also may refer to Defoe's real name. the novel is a re-writing of Robinson Crusoe; as a matter of fact we can find some similarities and some dissimilarities in the two books. The structure of the two novels is very different: Defoe's story in divided in 46 chapters, while Foe consists of 4 chapters. Defoe uses all the chapters to tell the story of a young man who shipwrecks on a desert island, where he meets a black man called Friday and he lives there with them. Foe is very different: in the first chapter Coetzee tells about Susan Barton, a woman who shipwrecks on an island where she meets two characters: Cruso and Friday. The second one includes some letters which Susan sends Mr. Foe, an important ghost writer. The third one consists of Susan's meeting with Foe, while the fourth is very short and includes the conclusions. The narrative technique is also different. We must say that the narrators are different: in Robinson Crusoe the narrator is a man, in Foe it is a woman. It implies that the way facts are described to the reader is different. The description of the shipwrecks in Foe isn't very taught: the narrator introduces the story referring to her feelings. This is also important because in this way the reader can't imagine for example what the place is like something else. This is why Susan gives the description of everything around her and of her pains precisely. In the Robinson Crusoe the narrator limits himself to tell the story, saying only what he does, we must also say that the two texts haven't an ideal reader, but the level of understanding depends on the cultural background of the reader. Considering the theme of the shipwreck we can notice that in Robinson Crusoe there is a dynamism: it is described through Robinson movements. An intelligent reader can also note that there is a different vision of the island: in Robinson Crusoe it is a physical one, in Foe it is filtered by feelings, another important factor is the character of Friday: in Foe he is a man, and not a servant. This is important because Coetzee introduces the problem of racism.