There is a saying, "you don't know what you got until it's gone." Even the Folk/Rock legend, Joni Mitchell, sang about this in her song "Big Yellow Taxi." In J. M. Coetzee's Foe, this phrase sums up how Susan Barton thinks Friday feels now and her time spent on the island where she was marooned. Through Susan's process of storytelling, Coetzee is showing how the oppressors are giving a voice to the oppressed. Her story is one of discovering the truth behind Friday's cut off tongue in relation to the importance of communication. What she comes to find is that she has not escaped the island because she has found many other island-like formations in the city causing her frustration and Friday's sullenness. Like the song, she longs to be back on the island she has shared with Cruso where Friday can be safe and content.
From the very beginning, Susan did not want to be on the island. She could not understand how Cruso and Friday were happy and content living on the island without material supplies and without verbal speech. Cruso told her, "You think I mock Providence. But perhaps it is the doing of Providence that Friday finds himself on an island under a lenient master, rather than in Brazil, under the planter's lash" (23-24). The slavers on the mainland cut out Friday's tongue. Even though Friday does not have a tongue, he can still communicate with Cruso with simple words and hand gestures. Plus, in a sense, Friday is free on the island. He does not have to worry about being treated differently or sold into slavery in the middle of the ocean. Despite what Cruso says, while on the island, Susan still believes the mainland is much better than the island because Friday will have the luxury of modern conveniences and people to help him. In reality, Cruso and Friday already have everything they need on the island to live a fulfilling life. Cruso has asked Susan to remember, "not every man who bears the mark of a castaway is a castaway at heart" (33). He has made a home for himself and Friday. Cruso is not surviving; he is living and he does not need anybody to read his story.
Susan is learning and trying to express in her story the year spent on the island because she wants Cruso, Friday, the island, and herself all to be remembered. As she is trying to write her story, Susan discovers that her story is a series of mysteries. The truth lies with Cruso, who has passed away, and with Friday, who cannot speak. Susan wants answers to her questions about Friday's past. Through the process of writing her story, she is realizing that Friday is human, not a savage and should not be sold into slavery. In a civilized world, Friday is an island in his own body. Although he communicates in other ways, such as music, Friday cannot talk or fully communicate in speech. Without a form of verbal communication, Friday is alone in a world full of people. Friday dances "to remove himself, or his spirit, from Newington and England" (104). Friday is dancing to get away. He is transported back to his home on the island, back to where he is comfortable. His dancing is an island itself.
In reality, Susan does not literally want to be back on the island she has shared with Cruso. She wants to be in a peaceful place where she can find the answers to her questions. Like Cruso did on the island, Susan is only trying to live her life in the city. But, unlike Cruso, her life cannot start until her story is written. In the song, Joni Mitchell said, "they took all the trees and put them in a tree museum." By taking Friday off the island and returning to civilization, Susan has learned that Friday does not belong in the city. People will take advantage of him and sell him into slavery for money because he cannot speak. Slavery is Friday's prison or "museum" in the civilized land. Susan is able to see how Friday can never be free. In order to continue her story, Friday needs to speak. Foe has said, "Friday has no speech, but he has fingers, and those fingers shall be his means" (143). Friday's freedom in the civilized world will come with his written words about the island. Coetzee is showing how the oppressed do not have their own voice. It will take a long time until the victim's voice can truly be heard. Through Susan's storytelling, outsiders get to hear what the civilized people think of how the oppressed feel. When it comes down to it, sometimes the oppressors are wrong. The truth can only come from the oppressed.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Life and Times of Michael K
There are many different kinds of fences in this world. Some fences add to the aesthetic appeal of a property while other fences are meant to keep unwanted intruders out or even unwanted vagrants captive. J. M. Coetzee symbolizes fences as figurative barriers in Life and Times of Michael K. A fence is a metaphor, not only of Michael’s life in the novel, but fences also have meaning in regards to war and even have a presence in our society as well. In the novel, by moving from town to town, camp to camp, or building to building, Michael learns the meaning of life between all of these fences that are constructed and supposedly doing their jobs. When Michael moves, he crosses these boundaries that are set up by the authority just so he can live in peace, while an individual in today’s society might cross a fence in order to have a better life.
In the novel, Michael comes across many borders in the form of barbed-wire fences. Most of these fences on farms are meant to keep people out, but in the camps, the fences are meant to keep people in. The first distinct time readers encounter a border is when Michael climbs over a barbed-wire fence into an apple orchard where, “worm-eaten fruit lay everywhere underfoot; the fruit on the branches was undersized and infested” (39). Michael learns here that he will actually eat this infested fruit in order to survive, meaning that he will do anything to be a part of this earth. Michael is constantly saying that he is a gardener. He learns that whoever owns this land is not taking care of the orchard and the plant life is dying. Michael finds life in this death and is able to satisfy his hunger. He also instills in himself a stronger connection with the land and the value of plants, making this need to cross any fence to find the purpose of life in the land.
Even the house on the farm where his mother grew up is a fence in itself. Inside is desolate and he only finds comfort when he sleeps in the kitchen because there is a hole in the ceiling and Michael can see the stars. Michael is so connected to the earth that he needs his freedom, away from fences in order to flourish. That is why he planted pumpkins near the river bank. But then, when he leaves and escapes to the mountains, Michael worries, “tomorrow will be their last day… the day after that they will wilt, and the day after that they will die” (65). He views these plants as his children. Even when he is up in the mountains, away from fencing, Michael still shows his concern for his pumpkins. He learns that even though he had to abandon his “children” in order to survive, he feels guilty. Living off the land, away from fences, Michael has started a life and he is now able to show his true emotions and feelings. Sometimes people are trapped in their homes or they cannot show their emotions. Like Michael has plants, hopefully people can find a source of freedom that makes them happy.
When he was taken to the labor camp, Michael was forced into a fenced property. He couldn’t leave; if he did he was told he would be shot. Being held against his will has made him truly unhappy. When he finally escaped, luckily he wasn’t killed, but “every mile or two there was a fence to remind him that he was a trespasser as well as a runaway” (97). Sadly, the land he lives off of is not his. Michael will jump over any fence to feel closer to the land and feel a sense of belonging in this world. Figuratively, when one jumps over a fence, it may seem like they are doing something wrong, but in reality, that person may be escaping a horror or standing up for what is right. Michael would rather be in danger of being captured than actually being held captive. Michael tells the doctor, “I always wanted to fly. I used to stretch out my arms and think I was flying over the fences and between the houses” (133). This imagination tells the reader that Michael has always been captive, even in his school or institution. He was never free and he never saw the land bordered by a fence as a safe place.
In the novel, Michael comes across many borders in the form of barbed-wire fences. Most of these fences on farms are meant to keep people out, but in the camps, the fences are meant to keep people in. The first distinct time readers encounter a border is when Michael climbs over a barbed-wire fence into an apple orchard where, “worm-eaten fruit lay everywhere underfoot; the fruit on the branches was undersized and infested” (39). Michael learns here that he will actually eat this infested fruit in order to survive, meaning that he will do anything to be a part of this earth. Michael is constantly saying that he is a gardener. He learns that whoever owns this land is not taking care of the orchard and the plant life is dying. Michael finds life in this death and is able to satisfy his hunger. He also instills in himself a stronger connection with the land and the value of plants, making this need to cross any fence to find the purpose of life in the land.
Even the house on the farm where his mother grew up is a fence in itself. Inside is desolate and he only finds comfort when he sleeps in the kitchen because there is a hole in the ceiling and Michael can see the stars. Michael is so connected to the earth that he needs his freedom, away from fences in order to flourish. That is why he planted pumpkins near the river bank. But then, when he leaves and escapes to the mountains, Michael worries, “tomorrow will be their last day… the day after that they will wilt, and the day after that they will die” (65). He views these plants as his children. Even when he is up in the mountains, away from fencing, Michael still shows his concern for his pumpkins. He learns that even though he had to abandon his “children” in order to survive, he feels guilty. Living off the land, away from fences, Michael has started a life and he is now able to show his true emotions and feelings. Sometimes people are trapped in their homes or they cannot show their emotions. Like Michael has plants, hopefully people can find a source of freedom that makes them happy.
When he was taken to the labor camp, Michael was forced into a fenced property. He couldn’t leave; if he did he was told he would be shot. Being held against his will has made him truly unhappy. When he finally escaped, luckily he wasn’t killed, but “every mile or two there was a fence to remind him that he was a trespasser as well as a runaway” (97). Sadly, the land he lives off of is not his. Michael will jump over any fence to feel closer to the land and feel a sense of belonging in this world. Figuratively, when one jumps over a fence, it may seem like they are doing something wrong, but in reality, that person may be escaping a horror or standing up for what is right. Michael would rather be in danger of being captured than actually being held captive. Michael tells the doctor, “I always wanted to fly. I used to stretch out my arms and think I was flying over the fences and between the houses” (133). This imagination tells the reader that Michael has always been captive, even in his school or institution. He was never free and he never saw the land bordered by a fence as a safe place.
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