AbstractsOther

Susan and Friday

by Margaretha Nicklasson




Institution: Linnæus University
Department:
Year: 2014
Keywords: otherness; gender; rationality; Coetzee; Humanities; Humaniora; English; Engelska
Record ID: 1330791
Full text PDF: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-32240


Abstract

<strong>ABSTRACT</strong> This essay aims to study rationality and otherness in J.M. Coetzee’s Foe. Susan Barton, the female protagonist in the book, is rational and struggles for power and independence in the society of the Enlightenment where the story is set. She is seen as non-rational, less valuable and as Other of the white, European male due to her gender.             Friday is male, but non-white and he is perceived as Other as well because of the colour of his skin. Although Friday is mute he tries to communicate, but his ways of communication are often ignored by others.             Through the representation of these characters Coetzee subverts the conventional idea that rationality is linked to the white European male.