In Foe, the ways in which J. M. Coetzee alters the characterizations of both Cruso and Friday shed light on the colonial mission of eighteenth-century England that Daniel Defoe explored in the original novel. Coetzee enlarges Friday’s role, largely through expanding the novel’s scope beyond the island and making England part of the setting. Friday is thus shown as living in the colonial center as well as the empire’s remote periphery. However, Coetzee decided to deny Friday a voice. Without the ability to speak for himself (or write his own story), Friday remains at the mercy of powerful White people. Showing that legal freedom does not guarantee equality, Coetzee also draws attention to the universal effects of the slavery system. Beyond the legal restrictions on African people’s freedom, the author suggests that slavery supported the colonial mission by convincing White people of their right to dominate others.

Through his introduction of a third character, a White woman, onto the island, Coetzee explores the power dynamics of gender as well as race. Friday cannot speak because he has been silenced. The Crusoe character finds it important to tell that Susan that he dominates Friday, having the power to make Friday whatever he wants him to be. This type of power dynamic is paralleled by Susan’s narrative, in which she creates the character of Friday. The dilemmas that Friday faces, cut off from his home and culture, are fundamental in Coetzee’s critique of imperial England—and his own country of South Africa. Friday does not achieve power or autonomy but remains dependent.