Basically an extension of Daniel DefoeÆs Robinson Crusoe, J. M. CoetzeeÆs Foe recounts the story of Susan BartonÆs experiences on a deserted island with Cruso and Friday and her attempt to get Foe to write an account of these experiences. In CoetzeeÆs story we see a transformation of colonialism and its ideology in Defoe into one of existential meaninglessness in Foe. In Robinson Crusoe, the tale of the shipwrecked Crusoe and his eventual self-sufficiency and relationship with the savage Friday, we see the typical elements of European colonialism and ethnocentrism. In Foe, we see that disenfranchised groups, like women and blacks, are provided a voice that is denied them in Robinson CrusoeÆs ethnocentric perspective. Nevertheless, with no overriding ideology or ethnocentric view, CoetzeeÆs novel shows the transition from realism to postmodernism in its portrayal of both the uncivilized and civilized world as lacking in meaning. As such, we see that the prevailing belief that drove colonialism in DefoeÆs era, that white, Christian, civilized society was superior to black, indigenous and uncivilized society, is rendered neutral in CoetzeeÆs existential world where neither society offers man much meaning.
The historical practice of colonialism was driven by an ideology of superiority, fostered by a belief that English (i.e. white and civilized) society and its culture and religious beliefs were superior to those of uncivilized indigenous populations in remote lands. In colonizing such cultures, Europeans systematically undermined and denied the values, beliefs and identity of the colonized. Values, culture, traditions, and religious beliefs of the colonized were viewed as inferior, thereby justifying European social practices from religious conversion and slavery to appropriation and exploitation of the lands of indigenous populations. In an era before autonomy and self,rule were viewed as the inherent rights of all ...