Foe

Foe explores the relationship between stories and agency. The novel is presented as a story within a story, as Susan’s experiences are written up in a manuscript, which is then sent to Foe. The debate about how to write this story becomes a question of agency, in which Susan argues for her right to tell her story in her own way. She tells Foe that she is “a free woman who asserts her freedom by telling her story according to her own desire” (131), and in a society that disenfranchises her because she is a woman, she wants to retain some control over her story and thus her life. Through her letters to Foe, Susan expresses concern that he is trying to manipulate her story to become more appealing to mass audiences. By Part 3, she is accusing him of inventing a daughter so that her broader story can have a happy ending. Susan rejects Foe’s attempts to rewrite her story. She does not believe that he should have the right to alter the facts about her life. The truth of what happened to her on the island and the truth about herself,