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Exploring Objectification of Colonial Subjects in J. M. Coetzee’s Foe



Author(s)

Seema Dagar

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5313/2017.03.003

Objectification, a phenomenon, in Foucault’s term, can be possible through “dividing practices” which divide the subject from others. It can be seen when the subject can be differentiated within the realms of good and bad, rich and poor, and powerful and powerless. Subject in Foucault’s notion is the diagnosis of what we are and how the power subjected the subject. It also echoes the idea of Stephen Best where he explains that a muted slave has not simply been objectified, but thingified. J. M. Coetzee’s Foe traverses through the conduit of objectification of Friday, cannibals slave who has been muted by his master. This novel articulates the testament of power and latent limitations of language, language as an expression of truth and the antithesis of silence. Friday’s tongulessness is the mystery behind his submission and subjugation to slavery. It can be explored through the power of textaulity which has been controlled by the powerful. This novel intends to look upon the marginalized and voiceless condition questions the writing process of Susan Barton. It also echoes the phenomenon of Foucaultian concept of silence and resistance which has been tool to negate hegemonic power and it gives power for not being subjectivized. Therefore, it initiates the possibility of adaptation of the process of unbecoming to finish the authority of apparatuses as echoed by Althusser. Further, it portrays the hegemony in the construction of colonial subject by controlling the power of language, freedom to write and economic freedom. The paper in the context intends to examine the complex process of translating Friday into an object through the process of objectification.

objectification, tongulessness, submission, subjugation, apparatuses