The role of Friday

The role of silence throughout the novel Foe confuses the reader and at the same time, carries the reader throughout the story. The vector through which silence embodies is in Friday, the seemingly mute slave. Friday mainly communicates through blank stares with all of the characters in the book. He never speaks, and this drives Barton insane. We as the readers are infatuated with the silence that Friday carries because Barton is fixed on it as well. Even more, we are concerned with what the silence hides. What does Friday hold to clarify the sea of lies that surrounds Barton’s voyage? Is it the truth? Or is it simply a meaningless falsity? The result of this ever-present silence produces a paranoia to discover the truth and its contents.

            It seems interesting to me that Friday has no tongue, which is why he cannot speak. The tongue is the strongest muscle in the body. With this instrument, humans can shape words that produce the truth, which is a powerful tool that we use to navigate our lives. Without this powerful muscle, we are weakened because we cannot tell the truth. The lack of having a tongue leaves Friday at a disadvantage because he cannot verbally communicate with others. However, it seems as though Friday does not want the truth to be known because he will not learn the letters of the alphabet. This gesture shows that the truth will be trapped in silence, which is lost to the readers throughout the book.