Shifting of the Agent of Disciplinary Power in J. M.Coetzee’s Foe

【Abstract】In Foe by focusing on the characters like Friday and Susan Barton， Coetzee challenges colonial authority as well as patriarchal ideology. Just as Friday is disciplined on racial grounds， Susan is silenced as a woman pushed outside the canon of male authorship. However the agent of disciplinary power shifts when Friday and Susan respectively resist colonialist and patriarchal ideologies. By virtue of Foucaults concept of disciplinary power， this article aims to exhume Coetzees critique of Western totalizing narratives and patriarchal ideology.

【Key words】Foe; disciplinary power; resistance

【作者簡介】王盈鑫，蘇州大學外國語學院。

1. Introduction

John Maxwell Coetzee who was born in Cape Town， South Africa， on 9 February 1940， was the 2003 Nobel Laureate in Literature and the first novelist to win the Booker Prize twice. Foe as Coetzees fifth novel is a rewriting of Defoes novels， mainly Robinson Crusoe. Coetzee in Foe shifts his focus to the resistant process of the oppressed against the discipline， which deconstructs the power of western colonial representation and patriarchal authority. The present paper seeks to investigate J.M. Coetzees Foe in terms of Foucaults concept of disciplinary power， which shifts the agent of disciplinary power.

2. Discipline from the Oppressors

According to Lois Tyson， “patriarchal subjugation of women is analogous to colonial subjugation of indigenous populations” （Tyson， 423）. While patriarchy treats women as different and Other to male expectations， colonialism treats the colonized as different and Other to colonialist ideologies. Being disciplined is a common fate for women and the colonized in Foe.

Susan， a woman trying to access the power of authorship a is a marginal figure cast in the role of the silenced other for lack of self-representation. She is silenced by the canon of male authorship. In the novel， Susan Barton determines to write the island story on her own for she wants to be “a free woman who asserts her freedom by telling her story according to her own desire” （Coetzee， 131）. But she is aware that she needs the artifice a writer like Foe can provide to make her story sellable. In a sense， Barton is articulating imposed differences between masculine and feminine language.

Asserting superiority over Friday can be interpreted as an attempt on Susans part in the creation of a stereotype. Friday is stereotyped as uncivilized/subaltern. Susan Barton， in an attempt to liberate Friday from her authorial control， actually imprisons him. In London， she has a room on the second floor， while Friday has a bed in the cellar. When Susan and Friday visit Foe and eat with him， Susan must remind Foe to order food for Friday， and the black man has his meal after the whites have eaten， indicating that he is not considered as their equal.

3. Resistance from the oppressed

“we cannot have power without resistance： it comes up against power， struggles with it， and attempts to use its forces or to evade its traps” （Foucault， 162）. Resistance is the adaptive response of power， and more importantly resistance is never merely negative but positive in the self-formation or the formation of subjectivity.

Despite her disadvantaged position against Foe in the struggle to take over the narrative， Susan does not completely leave her story to the hands of Mr. Foe. By insisting on her freedom to tell her story according to her own desires， Susan claims “Who was to say there do not exist entire tribes in Africa among whom the men are mute and speech is reserved to women？” （Coetzee， 69）. The quotation provides the strongest evidence of Susans assertion of her individuality.

Through silence， Friday resists being classified and disciplined by white majority no matter in body or in mind. On the island Susan dashed the flute from Fridays hands when the monotonous repetition of his six-note tune annoyed her. But in Britain， Friday has some intuitive understanding of the authority of writing and of the role of the author. When Friday dances in Foes robes， Susan calls out his name and is ignored; when she puts out her hand he brushes it aside. Friday by silence succeed not falling into the danger of black skin and white masks and in a way decompose white discursive power.

4. Conclusion

Through analyzing the relation between colonizer and colonized， the oppressor and the oppressed in terms of Foucaults disciplinary power theory， Coetzee in Foe not only revisits and challenges colonial discipline but also turns his attention into the issue of patriarchal authority. Susan and Friday as the oppressed successfully shift the agent of the disciplinary power and speak for themselves.

References：

[1]Attwell， David. J. M.. Coetzee： South Africa and the Politics of Writing[M]. California： University of California Press，1993.

[2]Doubling the Point[M]. Harvard： Harvard University Press，1992.