Fiela's se Kind: English Summary

The story opens on a particularly foggy day in the Knysna forest where Elias van
Rooyen, a beam maker, is trying to work. Commotion ensues when it appears that one
of his four children, the three-year-old Lukas, has disappeared. Elias stubbornly tries to
assure his wife Barta that the boy is fine, but gradually realizes that something must be
done. Barta and the other neighbours set out to find the boy, but they can't. For the next
few days, everyone in the forest helps to search for Lukas, to no avail. Barta and Elias
must accept that their son has been lost; a year later, someone finds bones that possibly
could be those of Lukas.
The narration switches to introduce us to the Komoeties, a black family that lives in the
Long Kloof, an area of open plains on the other side of the mountains from the Knysna
Forest. The family is headed by Fiela, a fierce and hardworking woman, and Selling, her
husband, whose health is in decline. They have four biological children—Kittie, Emma,
Tollie, and Dawid and one adopted child, named Benjamin. Benjamin is white and was
found as toddler on their doorstep; Fiela immediately took him in and raised him as her
own.

One day, two white men in suits show up at the Komoetie home, explaining that they are
there to take the census. Fiela panics, knowing that if someone from the government
finds out about Benjamin, they will take him away. Sure enough, when the census takers
spot Benjamin, they are shocked and question how a white child could be part of a black
family. They come up with the idea that Benjamin could be the lost Lukas van Rooyen
who disappeared in Knysna nine years earlier. Fiela asserts that this is impossible
because the trek between the forest and the Kloof is too treacherous for a small boy to
complete. The men, looking down on her and Selling because of their race, try to brush
off her argument. They tell her they will inquire with the Knysna magistrate and
promise to return soon to take Benjamin.

Fiela spends the next weeks in deep anxiety over Benjamin being taken; she prays to
God for help. When months go by without the men returning, Fiela is able to relax
somewhat. She and the Komoeties work on tapping aloe and breeding their two
ostriches, Kicker and Pollie. Ostrich feathers are very valuable and Fiela hopes to use
the yield to eventually purchase the land of the neighboring Laghaan family.

Back at the van Rooyens', Elias van Rooyen is trying to create a plan to trap the forest
elephants. His idea is that he can loosen a tree where the elephants wrap their trunks to
pass around a steep cliff so that they fall below and die. Then he can take the ivory and
sell it, thereby freeing himself of his menial labour as a beam maker. Elias is shown to be
quite irritable and paranoid about how others perceive him, believing that he is looked
down on by the woodcutters because he is a beam maker. He sets out for the forest to
execute his plan; however, he is not only outsmarted by the elephants but also almost
trampled by them. Furious, he returns home, where he discovers a forester who has
come there to inform him and Barta that Lukas has been found.

The census men finally return abruptly to the Long Kloof to inform the Komoeties that
they will be taking Benjamin. Although she is extremely upset, Fiela realizes that there is
nothing she can do besides letting them take her son. She makes the men promise to
bring him home after a few days, as she feels assured that they will realize that
Benjamin isn't actually Lukas. She packs a bag for Benjamin and dresses him in his
nicest clothes so he can make a good impression on the Komoeties. The census men take
the boy in a horse cart through the mountains to the village of Knysna. Benjamin is
nervous and doesn't completely understand what's going on, as it is only through this
situation has he become consciously aware that he is of a different race than the
Komoeties. He speaks in the vernacular of a "coloured," which both amuses and disturbs
the government men and the magistrate; they tell him he must learn to talk like a white
child.

Once in the village, Benjamin is taken to meet with the magistrate, Mr. Goldbury. All that
Benjamin can say is that he is Fiela Komoetie's child, but the magistrate doesn't
want to hear this; he hastily decides that Benjamin is Lukas. Meanwhile, Elias and Barta
are making their way through the forest to the courthouse, where they have been called
to meet the boy who might be their long-lost Lukas. Barta is very nervous, shocked that
Lukas could possibly have been found; Elias, annoyed, tries to calm her down. When
they get there and see a lineup of boys, Barta is able to pick out Lukas. Thus it is decided
Benjamin will go home with the van Rooyens. He is taken back to their house, where
everyone calls him Lukas. He doesn't quite understand what is going on and doesn't
want to call Elias and Barta "ma and pa."
The Komoeties wait for days for Benjamin to be brought home, but he never arrives.
They realize that the census men lied to them. Fiela is worried and decides she will take
it upon herself to go see what has happened. She sets out on the journey of walking from
the Long Kloof to the forest. It is a journey she has done in the past, back when Selling
was doing prison labour in the mountains. We learn that when their children were still
young, Selling impulsively killed one of the Laghaans and was put in jail for several
years. He was pardoned earlier than expected, but his health deteriorated greatly from
the hard labour. It was during Selling's imprisonment that Benjamin showed up at the
doorstep.

The days go by at the van Rooyens', and Benjamin can only think about when Fiela will
come and rescue him. Elias is becoming more and more frustrated that Lukas refuses to
speak or call him pa. He gets the idea to make the boy help him with making wood
beams. Lukas gets to know his younger sister Nina, who is the most relatable member of
the family. Nina loves to spend time in the forest, much to her parents' chagrin. Lukas
tries to get Nina to show him the way to the gravel road that leads out of the dense
forest; she agrees to do this if he gives her the five-shilling that Fiela left him with.
However, when Lukas disappears, Elias beats Nina until she tells him where he went;
thus, Elias is able to catch up with the boy.

Fiela finally reaches Knsyna. When she tries to speak to the magistrate, she can only find
a constable, who tells her that the case of Benjamin is over and he is already living with
the van Rooyens. Fiela is shocked and defeated; she returns to the Long Kloof to tell
everyone the bad news. The Komoeties are in a state of grief for days afterward, but
Fiela, as the matriarch, encourages everyone to persevere and keep up with the daily
work. Fiela decides that she will go to Knysna again and try to talk to the magistrate.
This time, she is angrier and less willing to play the submissive role of a "proper black
woman." When she gets there, she confronts the magistrate directly, who tells her to go
away or else she will be in trouble. She returns home again and this time enlists the help
of her white neighbour, Petrus Zondagh, who goes to Knysna to see if he can speak
with the magistrate. This attempt doesn't work either and Petrus advises the Komoeties
to accept the situation.
Elias has moved on to a different plan to trap the elephants; he will build a deep snare-
pit in the ground for them to fall into. Elias is informed that a forester, sent by the
magistrate, will visit the van Rooyens to check on how Lukas is adjusting. Elias
purposely sends Lukas and Nina to play in the forest that day so that the forester won't
see the boy's sullenness.

Time passes and Benjamin gives up hope that he will be rescued. He starts to adjust to
life in the van Rooyen family, helping Elias with his work and playing with Nina in the
forest. Whenever he is too quiet or rebels in any way, he faces beatings from his father,
so he quickly learns to submit. Nina becomes more and more rebellious, frequently
escaping to the forest instead of doing her chores. They are forced to help their father
build the pit, not knowing what it's for. Later, when Nina finds out that Elias has trapped
an elephant calf in it, she is shocked and angry, as she is a lover of elephants.

As a result of killing a baby elephant, Elias becomes a target of vengeance for the mother
elephants; he can no longer go into the forest without fear for his life. As time goes on,
he becomes more and more paranoid about the elephants and stops leaving the house.
He only makes wood beams and tries to order his family around, especially Nina, who is
increasingly distant. Nina is now old enough to work as a servant, so Elias forces her to
take a job in the village caring for British people's children. She has several of these jobs
but is fired each time for bad behaviour; each time she comes home after being fired,
Elias beats her. It has been seven years since Benjamin/Lukas was taken from the Long
Kloof; he no longer identifies as a Komoetie, seeing this as an experience of his past.

At the Komoeties', the family is grieving the death of Dawid, who died suddenly after
being bitten by a spider. Fiela feels that God has abandoned her now that she has lost
two of her sons and her other son, Tollie, has become a drunk. The Komoeties have
successfully been breeding ostriches and amassed enough money to buy more land, yet
none of this makes Fiela or Selling truly happy.

One day, Elias sends Lukas to find Nina in the village, after she has been fired yet again
and has refused to return home. Lukas sets out on the gravel road. For a while now, he
has had the knowledge and ability to leave the forest if he wanted to, but he has chosen
not to. Yet this time, something in him makes him take a detour to the seaside after he
hears that there is a ghost ship there. At the sea, Lukas is moved by this landscape and
starts to finally consider who he truly is. He goes to Knsyna, where he finds Nina
working for a kind English woman named Miss Weatherbury. At the cove, Lukas
encounters some oarsmen and decides to work for them. He asks Nina for one favor: to
return to the forest and tell their parents that he won't be coming back.

Elias is incredibly angry to receive the news that Lukas won't return and tries to devise
a plan to get him back, which entails him going through the forest. He asks an
indigenous person of the forest how best to defend himself from the elephants. Though
he follows this guidance, it doesn't work: Elias ends up getting brutally attacked and
injured by the animals.
Lukas works for a sailor named Kaliel September, where he learns about rowing
and fishing. Nina is nearby, so they spend time together; noticing her beauty, Lukas
begins to have feelings for his sister. This disturbs him greatly and makes him feel
guilty; as a result, he begins to wonder if he could truly be Lukas van Rooyen. One day,
Lukas receives news that his former brother, Dawid, has died. This news brings back
memories of the past and Lukas decides to go visit the Long Kloof.
When Benjamin arrives at the Long Kloof, Fiela and the others are overjoyed and feel
that God has finally answered their prayers. He stays with them for a few months,
during which time they catch up and reconnect. One day, though, Benjamin tells Fiela
that he must go back to the forest and resolve the truth of his identity with Barta van
Rooyen before he can stay in the Long Kloof for good. Back in the forest, Lukas
discovers how badly injured Elias was. Elias is furious that Lukas has run away, but in
his wounded state, he can't beat him for it. Lukas confronts Barta and asks if he is truly
her son; she becomes frightened and tells him that he is. Lukas feels that he must accept
this information and returns to the seaside, where he is happy to see Nina again, even if
he must relate to her as a sibling.
Lukas goes back to working with Kaliel and John Benn, the captain of the pilot ship.
One day, he helps the oarsmen try to rescue a ship and witnesses some sailors die. He
returns from the job to see Nina and feels such a strong attraction to her that he again
questions his real identity. He decides once more to confront Barta. This time, when he
does, Barta finally admits that she knew all along he was not Lukas and that she was
encouraged by one of the census men to pick him that day in the courthouse. Hearing
this, Benjamin feels relieved and walks away from the van Rooyens for the last time.
Benjamin spends some days living in a cave, contemplating his life and the absurdity of
a lone census-taker determining his fate. He goes to the seaside, where he tells the other
oarsmen to call him "Benjamin Komoetie" and that he will work there for a while before
returning to "his people" at the Long Kloof. He then goes to see Nina at Miss
Weatherbury's house.
Karakters:
Benjamin Komoetie / Lukas van Rooyen
Benjamin Komoetie could be considered the protagonist of the story, as the plot centers
on his struggle to understand who he is and in which family he belongs. Benjamin is
found on the doorstep of Fiela Komoetie at just three years old and raised as her "hand-
child," or adoptive child, alongside her four other children. Though he is white and the
others are black, he never questions the difference until the day men from the
government come to take him away. He is erroneously brought to be Lukas van Rooyen,
a child who went missing as a toddler. Benjamin is forced to adopt this identity as Lukas
and work as an apprentice to his "father," Elias van Rooyen, building wood beams. At
first, Benjamin resists this role, solely wanting to return to the Long Kloof and what he
believes to be his family there. Over time, however, he has no choice but to make a home
where he is and dissociate from his former life. Gradually, he takes on the mannerisms
and mentalities of forest people, becoming accustomed to grueling labor and developing
a loyalty to the van Rooyens, even helping Elias to subdue the rebellious Nina.

As he grows up through the story over the span of a decade, Benjamin transforms from
a carefree child who loves to play with boats, to a stifled adolescent, to a young man
feeling confused about his place in the world. Finally an adult, Benjamin is able to break
free of the van Rooyens' grip and take some space by the seaside where he starts to
doubt the original story of him being Lukas. Through the help of Nina, along with Barta
van Rooyen's ultimate confession, Benjamin receives the clarity necessary to make an
informed choice about who he truly wants to be, beyond others' projections of him.
Between the van Rooyens and the Komoeties, Benjamin decides that it is the latter
family that truly feels like home.
Fiela Komoetie
Fiela Komoetie is a woman living in the Long Kloof with her husband, Selling, and her
five children. She defies all of the racist stereotypes of a black woman at this time: she is
educated, hard-working, and wholly self-reliant. She became the matriarch of the
household after Selling was sentenced to prison and his health deteriorated. She is
constantly on top of the daily work, making sure everyone is occupied with a chore,
believing deeply in the Protestant value of a strong work ethic. Her deep morality is
evident in many of her actions, such as the fact that she took in Benjamin, an abandoned
child, even though he is of a different race. We also see her compassion in the loving
way she treats her ostriches, Kicker and Pollie, rather than seeing them solely as a
source of profit. A religious woman, Fiela is constantly dialoguing with God, especially
when times get tough and she feels she has been abandoned by her creator, not
understanding why she has been made to suffer so much.

This is the contradiction of Fiela's character: on the one hand, she presents a tough and
independent image, which is in many ways a reality; on the other hand, under this shell
of self-sufficiency she has been forced to adopt in response to difficult life situations,
there is still the softness of her maternal instinct that seeks comfort and emotional
release. If Fiela has a flaw, it is that of pride, as we see in the way she resists admitting to
Petrus—someone who could potentially help her—that Benjamin was taken. Perhaps in
reaction to the unfair prejudices towards black people at this time, Fiela seeks to prove
that she and her family are utterly capable, yet this often comes at the expense of
pushing out support when it's most needed. Still, Fiela's fierce loyalty to her family and
her perseverance when it comes to getting back Benjamin demonstrate a strong
feminine leadership that is continually contrasted with the tyrannical presence of Elias
van Rooyen. Just like the mother elephant who seeks revenge on Elias for killing her
baby, Fiela will stop at nothing to confront the injustice done towards her child.
Selling Komoetie
Selling is the husband of Fiela. While their children were still small, he impulsively killed
one of the neighbors and was sentenced to prison for several years. During this time, he
was forced to work on the construction of the road going from the Long Kloof to Knsyna.
Although he was pardoned earlier than expected, the hard labor destroyed his health,
affecting his ability to provide for his family and thereby requiring Fiela to take the lead
of the household. Though his physical weakness makes it difficult for him to fully engage
in family life, he is no less devastated than Fiela at Benjamin being taken. This is further
driven home when Benjamin eventually returns and Selling's health improves as a
result. Selling's calmness and levelheadedness are depicted in complementarity to
Fiela's volatility, such as when he advises her to be polite when meeting the magistrate.
Emma, Kittie, Dawid, and Tollie Komoetie
Emma, Kittie, Dawid, and Tollie are the other children of Fiela and Selling. They play a
mostly peripheral role in the story. Dawid is described as the sibling to whom Benjamin
is closest and the one who is most supportive of his parents. His shocking death from a
spider bite brings further despair to his parents, yet it also serves as the catalyst for
Benjamin to return home.
Elias van Rooyen
Elias van Rooyen is a maker of wood beams who lives in the forest with his wife, Barta,
and his four children. From the beginning of the story, Elias is shown to be stubborn,
hostile, and shut off from his emotions; when his three-year-old son Lukas goes missing,
Elias denies the possibility of it until the last possible moment, as if not wanting to deal
with reality. He is constantly feeling annoyance towards his wife and children, seeing
them mainly as vessels to serve him or to help him make money. When Lukas has
supposedly been found nine years later, Elias mostly thinks about how the boy can be
used for work. The narrative occasionally takes us into Elias' point of view, and here we
witness his paranoid train of thoughts, constantly comparing himself to the woodcutters
and worrying about how the forest elephants might kill him. As a result of Elias'
obsession with money and status, he concocts several elaborate plans to trap the
elephants and steal their ivory, through which he believes he can finally be free from the
grueling work of beam-making.

In many ways, Elias is the antagonist of the story, yet he is never depicted as a
malevolent caricature: rather, we see a flawed man whose deep survival fears and sense
of entrapment in the forest lifestyle have led him to become the bully of his own family,
trying to control his children so that they may never leave the forest either. This
especially comes to a head with his daughter, Nina, who constantly tries to escape work
and live out the playful whims of a child. Elias' response to constantly inflict physical
punishment is neither just nor effective, leading to Nina's eventual flight from the family
as well as Lukas' rejection of the van Rooyens.
Nina van Rooyen
Nina is the youngest of the van Rooyen children and the only girl. She stands out from
her other siblings in that she detests staying at home and following the orders of her
parents. She is by nature a free-spirit and a rebel, going against the feminine roles of
forest life so that she may follow her heart's desires. Her deepest love is the forest itself:
the trees and animals feel more like family to her than her own siblings do. When she
gets her own mouth-organ, she enjoys nothing more than mimicking the songs of the
birds, as if she desires to be one of them. Her respect for the elephants, especially after
unexpectedly witnessing their birthing ritual, contrasts with Elias' wrath towards them.
As Nina grows up and Elias forces her to work as a servant in the village, we see her
struggle as her love of freedom comes into conflict with the practicalities of adult life.

When Benjamin arrives, Nina is the one van Rooyen to whom he can relate; she
eventually inspires him to break free of his role in the family and seek his own identity.
Benjamin's crush on Nina when they become older also guides him into the realization
that he is not van Rooyen by blood, allowing him to leave the family without guilt.
Barta van Rooyen
Barta van Rooyen is the wife of Elias van Rooyen and the mother to Willem, Kristoffel,
and Nina. She embodies the stereotype of a meek woman who is completely dominated
by her authoritarian husband. In this way, she is portrayed as a very different type of
woman than the ardent and self-confident Fiela. Barta plays a key role in the plot by
choosing Benjamin as her lost son Lukas yet secretly knowing that he is not really
Lukas. The reason she keeps this information to herself is subject to interpretation, but
the fear of her husband's wrath may play into her reluctance to admit that she was
wrong about Lukas. Though she is largely responsible for sustaining the erroneous
situation, by telling the truth she also becomes the one who liberates Benjamin to go his
own way.
Willem and Kristoleff van Rooyen
Willem and Kristoleff are the two elder brothers of the van Rooyen family. They have
taken after their father by dedicating their lives to making wood beams and living in the
forest. Their decision to work for their in-laws at times makes Elias feel angry and
jealous. They are not prominent in the story, but they symbolize the type of man Lukas
could become if he were to choose to stay with the van Rooyens.
The white census-takers
The white census-takers are the government officials who visited the Long Kloof to take
information about the people there and found out about Benjamin being a white child
living in a black family. They are the ones who take the boy away, thereby catalyzing the
events of the story. The tall one is ultimately revealed to be responsible for causing
Benjamin to stay with the van Rooyens, as he apparently told Barta van Rooyen before
she looked at the lineup of boys that "the one in the blue shirt (Benjamin)" was her lost
child. Their sense of duty to the law, coupled with their racism against the "Coloured,"
makes them feel justified in ripping the Komoetie family apart.
Mr. Goldsbury
Mr. Goldsbury is the magistrate. He is an upper-class English man whose position
endows him with a sense of authority that makes people like Fiela and Barta van
Rooyen feel they must impress him or submit to him. He is instrumental in the decision
to take Benjamin away from the Long Kloof. His authoritative yet hasty ruling
exemplifies the regular injustices wrought by a prejudiced legal system.
Petrus Zondagh
Petrus Zondagh is a neighbor of the Komoeties. He is a white man of higher class.
Although there are many tensions between white and black characters in the story,
Petrus is shown to have a good relationship with the Komoeties. He employed Selling
for many years and offers his help and sympathy after Benjamin is taken away from
them.
Mr. Kapp
Mr. Kapp is the forester whom the magistrate sends to check up on Lukas. Elias
desperately tries to present a good image of himself and his family so as not to raise any
suspicions of Lukas' maladjustment.
The Laghaans
The Laghaans are neighbors of the Komoeties. We don't know much about them, nor do
we directly meet them—we only hear about them through Fiela. Selling killed one of the
Laghaans years earlier after they took his sheep. Fiela eventually saves up to buy their
land, which she wants to give to Benjamin. For her, the Laghaans are a reminder of the
troubles of the past.
Kaliel September
Kaliel September is an oarsman whom Benjamin encounters when he visits the seaside.
He ends up living with him for a few months, learning to row and fish. Kaliel is depicted
as a tough man with a colourful array of past experiences as a sailor. Kaliel
demonstrates self-sufficiency, which inspires Benjamin to create a new life for himself
and cut ties with the van Rooyens.
John Benn
John Benn is the pilot of the ship aboard which Benjamin desires to work. Before he can
work with John, though, he must learn to row. John Benn is depicted as a gruff and
serious man, yet he shows concern as Benjamin is going through his identity crisis and
encourages the boy to lighten his burdens.
Miss Weatherbury
Miss Weatherbury is a wealthy English woman who hires Nina as a servant. Unlike
other villagers, she is kind and gives the rebellious Nina many chances. She also
encourages the girl to keep her wages rather than give them to her father.
Hoostukke 1-5 : Chapters 1-5
OPSOMMING EN ONTLEDING: SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
The story opens on the day that a child goes missing. We are introduced to Elias van
Rooyen, who is chopping wood in the forest. It is a very foggy day. He is the man of
one of four families on Barnard’s Island and the only one who is not a woodcutter by
trade. His wife, Barta, serves him coffee. Elias ponders how he can provide for his
family, especially as his four children grow older. His eldest child, the 6-year-old Willem,
informs him that his brother, 3-year-old Lukas, is missing. He goes to look for him
everywhere but can’t find him. Everyone begins to worriedly look for Lukas, including
Aunt Malie, Gertie, Sofie, and Barta. This is much to the annoyance of Elias, who feels
sure that the boy must have fallen asleep in someone’s house. Elias searches all over the
island and in the forest, slowly coming to realize that the child is, in fact, missing.
By nightfall, he is still not found and Barta is in deep grief. The other women tend to her
and the house becomes “like a house of death.” They are all worried that Lukas will get
lost in the fog and or perhaps killed by the “bigfeet,” which are elephants. Malie’s
husband, Martiens, takes over and orders everyone to different activities to help the
situation. The men search all night for the boy with no success. Each following day,
more and more men from the island join the search—until the sixth day, at which point
Martiens admits that the boy can’t be alive any longer. Barta is devastated, as is Elias,
although he is still somewhat in denial of what has happened. Seven months later, in
August 1865, a forester reports to Elias that he has found the skeleton of what looks like
a small child, although it could also be that of a baboon.

In the single page of Chapter 2, we learn about a boy named Benjamin, who has always
felt like his parents’ “hand-child,” meaning that he was fed by hand rather than from the
breast of his mother. He and his siblings Dawid, Tollie, Emma, and Kittie live between
the mountains in the Long Kloof, next to their neighbors, the “stupid Laghaans.”

In the next chapter, we meet Fiela Komoetie, the mother of Benjamin and the other
children. This summer, Fiela has failed to recognize several strong omens, being too
focused on the ostrich. She and her husband Selling have come into possession of an
ostrich, a very valuable animal. She thinks of the hardship of the terrible droughts this
year as well as Selling’s ill health, but then she corrects herself, knowing it is sinful not
to be grateful to God for what He has provided. She is happy to have one male ostrich,
Kicker, who is now 3 years old; now she has gotten him a hen, a female ostrich. The
feathers of the ostrich alone have provided Fiela with a lot of money. She is excited at
the prospect of breeding them and making even more money. Her children help bring in
the new female ostrich.
Two men dressed in black suits arrive by cart at Fiela’s house. She is nervous and
surprised to see such strange characters. They are from the government, sent there to
do a census; they request that Fiela and Selling provide the names and birthdates of
themselves and their children. This sends Fiela into an internal panic, for a reason not
explicitly said. She prays that Kicker will break loose from his pen so that she can be
distracted and can get out of talking to these men. Unlike Selling, she is able to provide
them her birthdate, which is apparently rare for “colored” people in the area, who
typically don’t know their details. We learn that Fiela is also somewhat literate. She then
gives them the information of her five children and tells them about what they do for a
living (farming) and the church to which they belong.

Then, all of a sudden, Benjamin, the youngest child at 12 years old, appears in the room.
His presence shocks the government men, as he is white, while Fiela and the rest of her
family are black. The men become upset, asking how Fiela can possibly have a white
child and insisting that she must have stolen him. Fiela, having known that this day
would come, fiercely defends her child and explains how he was left on her doorstep.
One of the men remembers the lost van Rooyen boy in Knysna from nine years ago and
suggests that Benjamin may be that boy. Fiela denies this, noting that it would be
impossible for a three-year-old to walk such a far distance. The men try to talk to
Benjamin and see if he remembers anything about the day he was found, but he doesn’t.
The men leave frustrated, promising to return to Knysna the next day to inquire about
the other boy.

A few months go by; Fiela begins to relax when it becomes April and the men still have
not returned. The “stone” of her worry becomes lighter. They name the female ostrich
Pollie. Fiela wants to start bringing the two ostriches out in the pasture but is worried
that Pollie still has her “wildness” and might try to escape. She orders her children to
take turns watching them—except for Benjamin, who isn’t allowed because he gets too
close to the birds. When they bring Pollie out to the pasture, she is surprisingly calm.
Fiela is frustrated that Kicker hasn’t yet made a move to mate with Pollie and is worried
they won’t reproduce soon enough so that she can sell their feathers and buy the land of
the Laghaans. One evening, Benjamin runs to his mother in excitement; Fiela becomes
frightened, thinking that the government men are back to take him. But, to her relief,
Benjamin informs her that Pollie is doing a mating dance.

The narrator returns to Elias van Rooyen, who is contemplating his new plan and
feeling annoyed by the constant questions from Barta. His sons are now older, but he
still feels burdened, as if he has little help in his work. Elias’ plan was sparked after
hearing a story from Dawid Olwage. Dawid was in the forest when he saw a group of
elephants—a surprising sight, considering the narrowness of the path. He then
observed them getting around the edge of the cliff by wrapping their trunks around a
tree and carrying themselves over to the other side. Hearing this, Elias has the idea to
slightly saw the trees there so the elephants will grab onto it and then fall down the cliff
and die. This way, he would be able to scavenge their tusks, something he has always
strived for. He tells Barta that he is going away for five days, but he doesn’t tell her the
real reason why.

Elias observes his daughter Nina, now 10, and thinks about the uselessness of having a
daughter while living in the forest, as she is not able to help provide for the family. He
also thinks about how difficult it is not to be a woodcutter in this community, feeling
that he is looked down upon by the others; the woodcutters compare his work of
making beams, believing he makes more money than they do. Elias sets out for the
forest and is able to find the tree that Dawid spoke of. He does his work to loosen the
tree and then must wait out until the elephants come around. He waits for days until he
finally sees the elephants come by, right when he is on the verge of giving up and going
home. However, when the elephants go around the bend and approach the tree, they
pause, knowing that something is wrong; they end up turning around and going the
other way.
Elias is extremely upset and frustrated that his plan has been in vain. When he tries to
return home the next day, he encounters a group of elephants who almost trample him;
he runs for his life. He must go another way and gets home later than he intended; Barta
has worried about him, but he brushes off her concern, feeling sorry for himself. Right
after this, a forester comes to his door and informs him that men from the government
have possibly located Lukas, his lost son. A boy has been found with colored people in
the Long Kloof. Elias can hardly believe it, and he is told by the forester that the boy will
be sent for the next day.

ONTLEDING: ANALYSIS
The first few chapters of Fiela’s Child takes the reader into life in 19th-century South
Africa through the exploration of two different families: the van Rooyens and the
Komoeties. From the initial sentence, we are placed into a scene of tragedy: the three-
year-old Lukas van Rooyen has gone missing and, after many days of searching, the
people of the rural forest community conclude that he is dead. Although this situation is
encapsulated within one short chapter, much is revealed here about the dynamics of the
van Rooyens. There is the patriarch, Elias, a builder of wood beams who is portrayed as
being overwhelmed by the responsibilities of family life. The strenuous nature of his
work has left him frequently daydreaming about hunting one of the wild elephants that
populate the forest in order to sell the precious tusks. This fantasy speaks to Elias’
reluctance to grapple with the stark facts of his life, and this stubbornness is reflected
when Lukas disappears and Elias tries to convince himself that the boy isn’t actually
missing, even though all signs point towards that reality.
In the chapters that follow, the narration jumps nine years later and switches focus to
the lives of Fiela, Selling Komoetie, and their five children. A black family, they
primarily make their living through farming and, when they're lucky, selling feathers
from their ostriches. It is slowly disclosed that the youngest son, Benjamin, is white; this
is the reason Fiela goes into a panic when census-takers arrive at their home. When the
government men make the connection between Benjamin and the lost Lukas van
Rooyen, it becomes evident that the story will center on Benjamin and the uncovering of
his true identity, as well as the relationship between the van Rooyens and the
Komoeties.
In the context of a segregated South Africa, the van Rooyens and Komoeties would be
regarded as occupying quite distinct worlds, yet author Darlene Matthee subtly
illustrates their similarities throughout these chapters. The main comparison is drawn
between the respective leaders of each household: Fiela Komoetie and Elias van Rooyen.
In both cases, we see these characters trying to nurture their families as the main
provider. For Fiela, she zealously organizes the work and assigns her children chores,
while her ill husband Selling has a more laidback attitude. Elias toils away constructing
beams, feeling at times unsupported by his wife Barta. Both Fiela and Elias have set
their eyes on a future where they will be rich and will perhaps not have to work quite as
hard. For Elias, the ivory tusks are the key; for Fiela, the key is her ostriches.

This common concern for stability and prosperity speaks to the challenging
circumstances of life in the country and to people who live deeply connected to the land.
The relationship the characters have with the elements and animals around them is
pronounced in these pages. Repeatedly, Matthee emphasizes that the lives of people in
rural South Africa are bound to the cycles of nature. For example, Fiela and her family
struggle through the drought that summer, and while trying to understand it through
religious terms, ultimately must adapt to the climate accordingly. Similarly, the fog
overwhelms the landscape and forces people to tread carefully; in the instance of Lukas’
disappearance, it makes it more difficult to search for the lost boy. Elias van Rooyen’s
unsuccessful effort to kill elephants for their tusks speaks to the dual dependence on
and exploitation of the natural world. While men may try to profit from animals, they
are no match for the sheer size and power of these wild beasts.

Author Dalene Matthee has a way of weaving her plot that retains its suspense and
mystery, declining to provide too many answers or too much characterization too soon,
thereby keeping the narration flowing in a lifelike manner. Matthee doesn’t hurry to
reveal information before it is natural to do so. For instance, Fiela’s alarm when the
census men show up is not explained right away; it is not until Benjamin appears and
we learn that he is white that we start connecting the dots as to why Fiela dreaded that
visit. Furthermore, nowhere does Matthee ever suggest one way or another that
Benjamin is actually Lukas; the reader is left to wonder whether the census men’s
accusation could be true and whether it is possible for a toddler to have wandered all
the way across a range of mountains to reach the Komoetie residence. This
mysteriousness pervades the writing and beckons us to read further in order to start
piecing together the greater picture.
Hoostukke 6-11 : Chapters 6-11
OPSOMMING EN ONTLEDING : SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
Fiela wakes in the morning; from the direction of the wind, she can tell there will be no
aloe yield. The previous day, Pollie the ostrich kicked Tollie, and Fiela is thankful that
she didn’t injure him more severely. She goes to Kicker that morning and tells him that
she will put Pollie in his enclosure; she insists that he mate with her. Selling disapproves
of this plan, thinking it is too soon. As the children and Fiela try to corner Pollie into
going with Kicker, Fiela sees that the two government men have appeared again. She
panics, thinking back to recently when Benjamin questioned her about the men and why
she was so afraid of them. He also asked her why he is white and the rest of his family is
brown. She tried to avoid this question but told him that there might be a day when
“only God will be able to help us.”

The men inform Fiela that the magistrate has demanded to see Benjamin. She tells them
that the magistrate can come here to see him, and they tell her not to give them a hard
time. The men insist that the magistrate, Mr. Goldbury, simply wants to know if
Benjamin is the boy who disappeared in the forest nine years earlier. They insist on
bringing the boy to Knysna to see him on Friday, without Fiela. Fiela is very
argumentative, resenting what they are doing. The men, angry at her attitude, accuse
her of keeping the boy out of school and church, which she denies. They leave, saying
that they will pick him up the next day, and she begins to think of what to do. She figures
that she either has to hide him in the hills or let him go to Knysna. She realizes that she
must do the latter. Quickly, she orders everyone to different tasks to prepare Benjamin
to go to town. When Dawid questions if Benjamin is the lost boy, Fiela reiterates that it’s
impossible. Fiela gives Benjamin a bath and prepares him to speak to the magistrate.
Everyone in the family is quiet and sad that evening; the next morning, Benjamin leaves
with the government men.

Benjamin travels in the horse cart with the two men. He is frightened when the cart
must be pulled down the steep incline, thinking of others who have died that way. The
men tell him to stop worrying. By noon, they are still not even halfway to Knysna yet.
The men are amused by the way he talks like a black child, calling them “master.” They
reach the Forest, where the landscape dramatically changes. Benjamin is amazed by the
number of trees and the sounds of birds. The men become serious and tell him to look
out for elephants on the path. The boy falls asleep in the cart; when he wakes up, they
have arrived at the house of the one of the men and is greeted by the man’s wife, who
stares at Benjamin curiously. He sleeps that night and wakes up the next morning
frightened. He is taken to the magistrate’s courtroom and feels extremely nervous. He
asks one of the census men if he will return home the next day and he is told that that
depends on what the magistrate decides.

Elias and Barta are making their way to the magistrate’s place in the village that same
day. It is far away, so they must wake up and start walking at four in the morning. They
are cautious of elephants as Elias is still scared of them after his incident in Stinkwood
Kloof. Since they received news of Lukas possibly being found, Barta has become very
stressed and excited, much to Elias’ annoyance. They are both extremely curious to see
if the boy is truly Lukas, as it would be a large feat for him to have made it all the way to
the Long Kloof. Barta keeps asking Elias if he believes it can truly be Lukas, and Elias
tells her she will just have to see for herself. As they walk, the jittery Barta contemplates
not going, but Elias insists she must.

While Benjamin waits for the magistrate to come in, he thinks back to the time when he
and his brother Dawid attempted to steal a wild ostrich’s egg for their mother, which is
very dangerous as ostriches are able to kill people. Fiela gave the boys lashes for doing
this but also seemed pleased and baked a cake for Benjamin’s birthday using the egg.
Suddenly, the magistrate enters. He is neither friendly nor strict; he asks Benjamin
questions about his early memories, to which Benjamin keeps repeating that he is a
Komoetie. He lines up Benjamin with other boys his age and has Barta and Elias come
in; Barta immediately picks out Benjamin from the group. The magistrate tells the boy
that he will have to go live with his real parents; Benjamin, in shock and denial, keeps
reiterating that he is Fiela’s child and that he wants to go back to her.

Back at the Komoeties', Fiela tries to focus on working, but her heart is with Benjamin.
On Saturday, she is anxious for the boy to return; however, knowing that she can’t wait
around all day for him, she orders everyone in the family to chores, including the
harvest of aloe. Selling is unwell and can’t do much. He asks Fiela if she thinks Benjamin
will return and Fiela tells him to focus on working—otherwise, the Devil will come in to
tempt them and they will lose their faith. The whole family stays up late that night
waiting for Benjamin, but he does not come, nor does he come the next day. On Monday,
Fiela announces she is going on foot alone to Knysa to get him, and she gives everyone
tasks to do while she is away.

Benjamin walks through the Forest with Elias and Barta, who say they are his parents
but seem like strangers to him. He won’t respond to any of their comments or questions
and doesn’t like being called Lukas. It is a long walk and Benjamin is extremely tired.
Once they arrive home, all of the family and friends gather around and stare at him;
Benjamin is too tired to do anything but sit there. One older woman encourages Elias
and others to have patience and sympathy for the boy, as he is confused about what is
happening. All Benjamin can think about is how he will possibly get out of the dense
forest and return to the Long Kloof.

Fiela walks through the mountains and tries to pace herself, knowing it is a long
journey. She has done this journey before, though, as a younger woman. She tries to
think about what she will say to the magistrate and how she will ask God for help. Yet
secretly, she is mad at God for not bringing Benjamin home, and, in this emotion, she
knows the Devil will try to tempt her even more. She worries that someone, perhaps the
Laghaans, told the magistrate another of her deepest secrets: that Selling committed
murder back in 1859. She reminisces about first meeting Selling. He had moved to the
Long Kloof to work for their neighbor Petrus Zondagh. Selling became interested in
Fiela; soon after they had Kittie and then Dawid. After Tollie was born, they finally got
married and received a good amount of money from Petrus.
On one occasion, Selling was supposed to slaughter a sheep for Christmas dinner but
could not locate the animal. Finally, he returned to the house seeming concerned and
told Fiela that he found two of the Laghaans skinning the sheep. The next day,
constables came to inform Fiela that Selling stabbed one of the Laghaans to death, at
which point Selling was taken away to jail. Fiela was furious that she should lose her
husband on account of a drunkard like a Laghaan. Selling was going to get sentenced to
hanging but instead got a life sentence. Fiela received news that he would be working as
a convict to construct the new road from Knysna to the Long Kloof. The road project
was initiated by a white man named Mr. Bain, but the actual path was discovered by
elephants who had migrated between the two places over the last centuries.

While Selling was hard at work up in the mountains, Fiela, with the newborn Emma,
would go to visit him and secretly bring him food. This took place for several years and
required Fiela to learn the ways of the path and how to approach the convicts without
bringing attention to herself. While he was imprisoned, Benjamin showed up at Fiela’s
door; Fiela informed Selling of the new child, although she didn’t tell him that he is
white. One day, however, Selling appeared at home and informed her that he had been
pardoned by the Prince. Although that was a relief, the extremely hard labour had
robbed Selling of his health, and he was never the same after that. He was surprised to
discover that Benjamin was white.

Analysis
As the plot continues, new complexities emerge. Benjamin, also known as Lukas, has
been placed with what is supposedly his true blood family, while Fiela, the only mother
whom he knows, is betrayed by the government men who promised that they would
return her son to her. In the climate of a segregated society where black people are seen
as a lesser race, we can see how the census men can justify their actions as the most
rational thing to do. For the government, it is an automatic response to return the boy to
his original family, and even if that family turns out not to be his actual blood relations,
it is still better in their eyes for him to be with other whites than with “Coloured"
people. For a white boy to live with blacks is regarded as highly inappropriate, and so to
take Benjamin back to the van Rooyens is conceived as restoring him to his rightful
place; this is expressed in the way the magistrate tells the boy that he will thank him
when he is older for bringing him “home.” All of this is executed with no concern for the
feelings of the Komoeties.
Yet, however the adults see their role and responsibility in this situation, what is clear is
that the 12-year-old boy is nothing but bewildered in this abrupt and drastic change of
circumstance. It is easy to be sympathetic for the Komoeties, for, despite their
demanding work routine and rudimentary way of life, they have provided a good home
for Benjamin and truly seem to love the boy as their own. Fiela—even with
determination to raise her children with a disciplined, Protestant worth ethic—cannot
be described as a cold or unaffectionate mother. It seems, in fact, that Benjamin is
almost her favourite child and her mission to locate him again derives from genuine
motherly instinct.

These chapters illuminate Fiela’s complicated character. On one hand, she is the head of
the family, completing the most gruesome chores, such as slaughtering animals, unfazed
by the task of walking through the mountain wilderness to find her son. We also learn of
the time when she covertly visited Selling while he was imprisoned, risking herself each
time to do so. Yet, on the other hand, we are shown Fiela’s deep maternal nature and
her unwavering devotion to and dependence on her family. We also see her softness of
heart in the gentle way she speaks to her ostriches, regarding them almost like
additional children.
Regarding Benjamin, we see in multiple instances the genuine love and respect he holds
for his adoptive parents, such as the way he thinks of Selling when arriving at the forest
for the first time, daydreaming about how he wants to bring a gift back for his
father. Dalene Matthee tends to alternate between different characters’ points-of-
view, and when she chooses to narrate through the eyes of Benjamin, the reader is made
to feel the frustration, confusion, and raw fear of a 12-year-old boy who is plucked out
of the only family and lifestyle he has ever consciously known. Matthee’s writing
expresses the nervousness the boy feels when he is traveling to Knysna and in the office
of the magistrate: he keeps returning to inwardly reciting the multiplication tables and
the lines his mother gave him to say; this strange scenario is nothing he has ever known
before; by focusing on these known facts, he can comfort himself to an extent.
Benjamin/Lukas comes face-to-face with the reality of race through this unlikely turn of
events. Before being examined by the census-takers and brought away from the
Komoeties, Benjamin had never fully understood race and the role it plays in society. Of
course, he could viscerally feel that he was not quite like his other siblings, even
referring to himself as his mother’s “hand-child,” yet the stark delineation between
black and white, seen as so self-evident by most adults, is not something that registers
on the radar of a young boy. The government men are shocked to hear Benjamin call
them “master” just as a black person would do; for them, racial roles are regarded as an
absolute truth that can’t be challenged. But somehow, the Komoeties have succeeded in
defying these boundaries. It is nothing less than traumatic for Benjamin to be told that
Fiela can’t possibly be his mother. He loves her, and for him, that trumps outward
distinctions in appearance. Here, we can note a theme that runs throughout the story:
the arbitrary and often harmful nature of racial, ethnic, class divisions.

The backstory provided in these chapters also helps to clarify certain points about the
characters and their tendencies. Most prominently, we learn about Selling’s time in jail
after a thoughtless moment of rage led him to murder one of the neighbours. From this,
we can better understand why Selling is in such poor health and why Fiela has had to
take charge of the household responsibilities in what is still a quite patriarchal culture.
Furthermore, it makes better sense why Fiela holds such resentment for the Laaghans;
although Selling was the perpetrator, Fiela can’t help but associate the neighbouring
family with the downfall of her own. Her fantasy of buying their land speaks to her
desire to make amends for the past and erase the painful memories held close to home.
Moreover, as part of his prison sentence, Selling helped to work on the road that was
built to connect Knysa and the Long Kloof. Thus, Selling directly contributed to the
infrastructure that allowed Benjamin, supposedly, to reach the Komoeties—the same
road that brought the government men who later took Benjamin away. With this detail,
Dalene Matthee demonstrates the poetic interconnectedness of her characters’ fates.
Hoostukke 6-11 : Chapters 6-11
OPSOMMING EN ONTLEDING : SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
Benjamin has been at the van Rooyen’s now for five days; he still hopes his mother will
come and rescue him. He is quiet and doesn’t respond to being called Lukas at first.
Slowly, though, he starts to warm up to his sister, Nina, when, one day, she convinces
him to explore the forest with her. He is hoping that she will show him the path that will
lead him out of the forest and back to the Long Kloof. When Nina confronts him with the
fact that he is Lukas and they have the same parents, he is still in denial, saying that he is
the son of Fiela Komoetie. While they are in the forest, Benjamin loses track of Nina
and searches for her. She has played a trick on him by hiding in the undergrowth and
then jumping out at him to scare him. Nina then shows Benjamin her collection of glass
bottles that she uses to make music. He tells her that he will give her his five shillings if
she shows him the path out of the forest; she agrees to do it the next day, as she wants
to buy a mouth-organ and a blanket.
Elias van Rooyen is beginning to get frustrated by the way Lukas refuses to speak
and decides that he will force the boy to help him with the beams the next day. He
believes that Lukas must be obedient and scoffs at the magistrate’s advice to be patient.
Elias can only think of how the boy can help bring in more money for the family, as his
presence is now costing them more as well. When Lukas returns from the forest that
night, Elias insists that he will have to work with him. When Nina asks her father if she
can go to the village with him soon, Elias refuses and becomes suspicious of her and
Lukas. The next morning, he forces Lukas to make wood beams with him, and the boy
seems anxious again. Elias enlists Nina to help with the beams and is pleased by the
children’s work. Their neighbour Malie comes by to talk with Elias; Elias does not like
her, but he tries to be polite since his son works with Malie’s husband. While Malie is
talking to Elias, he is distracted enough to miss Lukas and Nina running off.
Fiela Komoetie reaches Knysna on the second day in the evening. On the previous night,
she slept in a cave, where she “made peace with God.” Now arriving in the village, she is
guided by a town drunkard who tells her that she can sleep peacefully behind the
schoolhouse. He doesn’t know, however, about the two census men whom she
describes. That night, she ponders how she will possibly convince the magistrate to
return her child, but she comforts herself that the magistrate is a man of the law and
will have to do what is fair. She goes to the magistrate the next morning and initially has
trouble finding someone who can speak Dutch rather than English. Finally, she is put in
touch with a constable who tells her that Benjamin was the child of the forest woman
and that the case is closed; she is not able to talk to the magistrate. Fiela is in shock,
having expected any other outcome besides this one. She walks back to the Long Kloof,
defeated, and tells the other Komoeties the bad news.

Elias is able to find Lukas before he can get to the gravel road that leads to Knysna
through following his footprints. He beats the child in the woods, demanding that he call
him “pa” and say that he is Lukas, not Benjamin. He brings him home; Barta is distressed
that he has beaten the child, but Elias says he had no other choice. Lukas spits in Nina’s
face when they get back, as he is furious with her for betraying him by telling Elias his
whereabouts as well as stealing his five pence. In the following days, though, there
appears to be an improvement in the boy. Lukas helps Elias with the wood beams and
does a good job; Elias is hopeful that he can take over the work for him someday.
Lukas/Benjamin is miserable and can’t stop thinking about when Fiela will come for
him, wondering if perhaps she got lost. When the days turn rainy, they can’t work and
the whole family must stay indoors, which Benjamin finds dreadful. On one rainy day,
Nina escapes the house against her father’s orders; when she returns that evening, he
beats her severely and cuts her long hair off with a knife.

The Komoeties are in a deep state of mourning after Fiela returns from Knysna. For a
few days, they can’t even bear to work, but eventually, Fiela forces everyone to return to
work and not become “blind” in the sorrow. Selling is especially worried that Benjamin
will have a hard time adjusting to forest life. Fiela directs the children in building a
shelter for the ostriches, but she feels a “rebellion welling up in her” due to her grief.
Fiela sternly asks Selling whether or not he thinks it is possible for a three-year-old boy
to have made it from the forest to the Long Kloof, and Selling says no. Later, Fiela enlists
the children in trying to find the passage in the Bible where the two women fight over a
child. They can’t find it; Petrus Zondagh helps them, pointing them to Kings. Fiela
declines to tell Petrus about what happened to Benjamin, even though Selling has
encouraged her to tell the truth.
Fiela resolves to again search for Benjamin and she sets out for Knysa again, this time
with an angrier and more forthright attitude. She goes straight to the magistrate’s; when
she knocks on the door and starts forcefully talking to the man who answers, she
doesn’t realize she is talking to the magistrate himself. When he informs her of this, she
continues on, trying to make her case for seeing Benjamin again. Fiela argues that it is
highly unlikely for the boy to have made it all the way from the forest to the Long Kloof
and that perhaps the mother identified him sheerly by chance. The magistrate becomes
increasingly angry and repeatedly tells her that the case has been closed. Deafeated in
both body and spirit, Fiela returns home. Soon after, Petrus Zondagh shows up and
pushes her to speak to him, sensing that something is wrong. Against her pride, Fiela
finally admits that Benjamin has been taken. Petrus is sympathetic and tells her he will
be going to Knysna soon and will talk to the magistrate directly. As Petrus is white and a
man of status, Fiela and Selling are filled with hope again.

Elias decides that he will set up a snare-pit in order to try to trap the elephants so he can
get their tusks. He tries to keep the plan a secret so that no one else steals his idea. His
son Kristoffel comes home on Friday to inform him that a forester will come to visit on
Sunday to talk with Elias. Elias doesn’t mind this, but he orders Barta to tidy up the
house for the event. He knows the forester is sent by the magistrate and coming to talk
about Lukas. Elias decides it’s better for the boy not to be around, as he is worried he
might be in one of his moods and that will reflect badly on him. That Sunday, Elias tells
Lukas to go play in the forest with Nina. When the forester arrives, he asks about how
Lukas is adjusting. Elias tries to answer his questions but also hopes he will leave
quickly, before Lukas returns. The forester reports that, according to the magistrate,
Mrs. Komoetie is trying to track down the boy, and that Elias should inform him if she
appears. It is becoming night and the children aren’t back yet, so the forester leaves,
much to Elias’ relief. He demands that Barta cook him enough food for a week so he can
set off on his trip to trap the elephants.

The Komoeties eagerly await Petrus Zondagh's return from Knysna. The children are
under the impression that he will return with Benjamin, but Fiela knows that this is not
certain. When it takes him a week to return, they imagine all sorts of scenarios—Petrus
may have had to go to court or wait for them to fetch Benjamin from the forest. When
Petrus finally arrives back at the Long Kloof, he somberly informs the Komoeties that he
has talked with the magistrate and it is clear that Benjamin is truly the child of the forest
couple. There is nothing more he can do about it. Fiela becomes angry, and Petrus tells
her that she must accept this news. He tells her to be happy that she was able to give
Benjamin a good life and that she can’t “try and divide” and child, as she wouldn't get
half.

Analysis
The novel unfolds through two worlds: that of the Komoeties, and that of the van
Rooyens. This section documents how Benjamin, who is now Lukas, adjusts to his new
family and how Fiela endures this situation as a mother who feels that her child has
been stolen from her. Fiela is portrayed in these chapters both as a heroine and as a
tragic figure. We see her as the selflessly devoted mother who walks for days through
the mountains for the sake of a minuscule possibility of seeing her son again; she is
someone who keeps the household running despite the heaviness of sorrow she carries
in her heart. Then again, Dalene Matthee is not shy about painting her protagonist in
all of her human desperation and uncertainty. While Fiela must keep on a strong face for
her children’s sake, inside she feels ripped apart and acutely frightened not only for
Benjamin but also for the image of happiness and stability that she feels has been lost
for her family.
Fiela’s reluctance to admit to Petrus Zondagh what truly happened to Benjamin reveals
a type of pride that makes her believe she must carry the full burden of the situation on
her shoulders. Yet, of course, when she finally admits to Petrus that Benjamin has been
taken away, she finds that others are, in fact, willing to help. Her deep desire to maintain
control over her life and the circumstances around her is hinted at in her frequent
appeals to God, whom she views as a sort of omnipresent benefactor who will help her
out if she is good and disregard her anguish if she is not. In each instance where Fiela is
unsuccessful in getting closer to Benjamin, we see her surrender more and more, no
longer pleading with God but rather coming closer to an acceptance of the situation,
though the painful emotions are still there.

Again we see how Matthee creates a parallel between Fiela and Elias van Rooyen, as
Elias has similarly taken the role upon himself to be the leader and protector of the
family and panics when he struggles to embody this ideal notion of authority. He is
displeased at the notion of Nina playing in the forest rather than working, thinking that
this is a poor reflection of him as a father. The more that Lukas rebels against his
newfound setting, the more Elias tries to lay down the law through physical punishment
and controlling the boy’s every movement. And then Elias tries to present this false
image of perfection to outsiders, such as the forester, who come to inquire about Lukas.
Like we do with Fiela, we see Elias progressively break down as he fails to maintain
some leverage over his family, and we see his ultimate desperation when he again plans
to go after the elephants, which wielded disastrous results in his previous attempt. The
key difference between Elias and Fiela is that Fiela is principally motivated by genuine
love, whereas Elias is mostly motivated by power.

In the midst of this all, the focal point of the story remains on Benjamin/Lukas, who is
bewildered by his new, strange family. Beaten into submission every time he tries to
stay true to his former identity, the boy has no other choice but to conform. Elias tries to
suppress any notion of Benjamin’s past home by forcing him to call him “pa” and to stop
using the vernacular of the “colored,” yet Benjamin's former life cannot truly be
forgotten. We see through Benjamin’s internal monologue how he continues to think of
Elias and Barta as foreign, impersonal figures, referring to them as “the man” and “the
woman” and thinking of Fiela and Selling as his real mother and father. Here is one of
the essential messages of Fiela’s Child: that home is truly where the heart is, and that
beyond blood relationships and differences of race, there is a stronger bond of love that
keeps Benjamin connected to the Komoeties. Elias may partly succeed in banishing
Benjamin’s old memories, but he is unable to make him feel love for and kinship with
the van Rooyens.
What makes Matthee’s story particularly poignant is that despite the magistrate’s ruling
and Barta van Rooyen’s supposed certainty that Benjamin is her Lukas, the whole
situation remains an enigma. As Fiela repeatedly tells anyone who will listen, it is nearly
inconceivable that a three-year-old boy could make it across the treacherous mountain
path to the Long Kloof, a journey that takes Fiela two days with food packed and good
knowledge of the terrain. And this slim likelihood is challenged further when Benjamin,
trying to escape the van Rooyen house, struggles to make his way out of the forest and is
caught by Elias before he can even reach the gravel road. Fiela fiercely argues with the
magistrate on this point and suggests that Barta should name the clothes Lukas was
wearing on the day he was lost as a form of verification. The magistrate is only able to
dismiss her reasonable point because she is a colored woman and is overstepping social
boundaries. We see, however, that her argument has sparked some degree of doubt in
the official, evident in the way that he sends the forester to the van Rooyens to check on
how the boy is adjusting. In this way, suspense is being built, as it seems increasingly
likely that some sort of confrontation between van Rooyen and Komoetie camps must
eventually take place.
Stylistically, Matthee has a way of weaving her story through not only the present tense
action of the plot but also the array of flashbacks that give a sense of the past. For
example, there is the instance when Elias’ neighbor, Malie, chats to him about the time a
strange visitor came and judged the forest residents on their killing and eating of the
parrots. This small anecdote is a powerful detail that reveals much about the forest
community and how they are perceived by the outside world. There is also the moment
when Fiela remembers the story of Pace, a man who came up against the powerful force
of the church and won in court. Not only does this tell the reader more about South
African culture at that time: it also fleshes out the thought process of Fiela, who hopes
that the law will be on her side in the case of Benjamin.
Hoostukke 18-24 : Chapters 18-24
OPSOMMING EN ONTLEDING : SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
Summary
It has been 41 days since Benjamin first arrived in the forest and he has now given up
hope that Fiela will ever come to rescue him. Elias is away on his trip and Lukas and
Nina are expected to continue their work on the beams. Nina continues going to the
forest, though, knowing full well she will get beaten when her father returns. Benjamin
wonders why Fiela has not come for him, wondering whether it is because he is white.
He tries to pray but finds it difficult without the instruction of his mother. When Elias
comes home a few days later, he is unusually quiet and secretive. The next morning, he
takes Lukas and Nina into the forest, leading them to Klaas’s Kloof but not telling them
why. He orders them to start digging a giant pit and shows them the tree to climb up if
elephants are to come. For many days after, the children work on the pit, sometimes
with their father and sometimes not. They still do not know what it is for.

Nina tells Lukas that she knows a secret; he shows little interest, but she tells him
anyway. She proceeds to tell the whole story of how she tried to run away from home,
just as he did as a three-year-old. She went very far in the forest, off the known paths,
and tried to drown herself in the river but couldn't. Then, she climbed an incredibly tall
tree and sat in the top, believing she would never come down. From this vantage point,
she witnessed a herd of elephants engaging in some sort of ceremony for the birth of a
baby elephant. The children return that evening and there is a very strange feeling in
the house. Elias angrily informs Lukas that Fiela has come by to look for him and
brought some of his things including clothes and an ostrich egg. Lukas is both excited
and scared; he tries to get more information, but Elias, in a rage, shuts him up and tells
him he would have Fiela killed if he could. Later, Lukas realizes that his mother is
unlikely to return if she came with his things. The children return to working on beams
and Elias catches an elephant calf in his pit, which deeply upsets Nina.

Over time, Benjamin begins to find it easier to occupy the role of Lukas and regard the
van Rooyens as his family. Elias has been in a dark mood ever since he went to the pit to
reap his reward and instead found a herd of angry elephants waiting for him; he now
feels that he is not safe in the forest. Not feeling well, he asks Lukas and Nina to bring
the beams by the gravel road to the village on their own. As they walk there, Nina is
unusually quiet and says that she hopes her father dies. She asks Lukas to show her how
to write her name. She then reminds Lukas that this is the road that leads to the Long
Kloof and suggests that he make a run for it to finally escape. Lukas doesn’t trust her
and thinks she will try to tell on him again to Elias. They sell the beams and return
home. Elias tells them he won’t be able to go to the village to buy food the next day as
usual, saying that his legs are sore, but the children know it’s actually because he fears
the elephants will get him. Later, Nina is able to steal a mouth-organ from the village, so
she returns the money to Lukas. Lukas plans to use this knowledge of her theft as
potential blackmail in the future.

Lukas and Nina spend a beautiful Sunday in the forest where Nina plays her mouth-
organ and imitates bird calls. They return later to find the forester, Mr. Kapp, with
their father; something strange is afoot. Lukas is ordered to go read the Bible to Aunt
Gertie while Nina meets with Mr. Kapp. Lukas reads to the old woman, but when he
hears a commotion break out at the van Rooyen house, he runs back and discovers Nina
in a meltdown because her father has hired her off as a servant for a job Mr. Kapp found
for her. She will have to move to the village and work for a wealthy family, making
fourpence a week, all of which she has to give to her father. On the day she leaves, Lukas
accompanies her to the village. He tries to comfort her about her new life, feeling the
parallel to when he was comforted by the Komoetie children when he had to leave. Nina
tries to convince him to let her walk the rest of the way herself, but he doesn’t, knowing
she’ll try to run away. As he drops Nina off, Lukas considers returning to the Long Kloof
but doesn’t.
Time passes and Elias grows tired of being unable to leave home in fear of the
elephants, feeling it is “worse than prison.” Elephants have a way of never forgetting,
and because it was a calf that died, they are especially angry. Elias has been happy with
both Kristoffel and Lukas, as they are hard workers and always do a good job. The only
solution he can think of for his problem is to buy a gun to protect himself, but that
requires knowing how to write, and Elias is illiterate. He dislikes even thinking of Nina,
as he feels she has only caused him trouble; after her first week of work as a servant,
she returned home. She was fired by the British family for poor behavior, but Willem
brought her back and convinced the family to give her another chance. Again, though,
she was fired for hitting the children and stealing things; at that point, she had ruined
her reputation and could only get hired for half a shilling per week. Elias beat her after
each time she failed, but it didn't seem to change her.

It has been seven years since Benjamin left Long Kloof. Back at the Komoeties, we learn
that Dawid has died suddenly after being bitten by a button spider. Fiela is devastated:
Dawid was the child who had always comforted her, especially after Benjamin was
taken. Practically speaking, Fiela has made a lot of progress in the last years. She has
raised several ostriches and gotten a thousand pounds for them. She has bought the
Laghaans’ land and allowed them to stay in their house while tilling the property as her
own. Yet after losing children, she finds little happiness. Tollie is occupied working with
horses, of which Fiela disapproves. Emma is married to a preacher whom Fiela dislikes.
Kittie still lives at Wolwekraal and has a baby daughter, named after Fiela, born out of
wedlock with a local yard hand. Fiela still wonders if Benjamin will ever come back;
Dawid always assured her he would. After they tried to find him in the forest, nearly
getting lost in the wilderness, Fiela had given up hope. All she can do is ask God why He
has done this to her.

At the van Rooyens', Elias demands Lukas to go look for Nina in the village; she has
escaped her job again and is nowhere to be found. Lukas does not want to go to the
village and has only gone once in the last few years since being in the forest, as it
reminds him of his connection to Wolwekraal. He still has his five-shilling piece, which
is no longer money to him but rather a symbol of his old life. As Lukas is heading to the
village, he comes upon many visitors around who say there is a ghost ship. Lukas feels
no desire to go to the village and is in no rush, so he heads towards the sea. When he
gets there, he is moved by the sight of the ship, which is desolate and evokes memories
of playing with boats as a child in the Long Kloof. By the shore, Lukas talks to a sergeant
who tells him that no one knows how the ship got there. Lukas senses that the sergeant
is overwhelmed, so he offers to help him watch over the ship for the night. While the
sergeant is sleeping, Lukas walks around and takes in the landscape, which is quite
different from the forest. Feeling at peace, he spots a shooting star, but he doesn’t make
a wish.

Lukas goes to the village the next morning. There, a street-sweeper points him to the
home of Miss Weatherbury, who lives by the lagoon, where Nina is now apparently
residing. Lukas goes there and meets the old woman. She tells Lukas that Nina has been
working for her but that she is very disobedient and frequently runs off to the hills.
While Lukas waits around for Nina to return, he chats with Miss
Weatherbury about Nina; the old woman says that she is unruly but that she wishes
to give her a chance and is paying her seven shillings per week. Lukas tells her that he
might have to come by every so often to collect her money for their family, and Miss
Weatherbury tells him that Nina should be entitled to her own money. Nina is still not
back, so Lukas walks to the lagoon. He takes in the landscape of the water and cliffs and
watches a ship coming in, feeling at ease.
Back at Miss Weatherbury’s, Nina is home and panics when she sees Lukas. Lukas
immediately tells her that he wants one favor from her, which is to go back to the forest
and tell their parents that he will not be coming back. Nina agrees. The next morning, he
sets out to find work with one of the men he saw by the lagoon the day before. He feels
confident in his decision to leave behind the forest, knowing this was a chance to get
away finally. He first asks the man he saw yesterday, John Benn, but John says he
doesn’t have work for Lukas unless he knows how to row. He then goes to another man,
an oarsman named Kaliel September, and asks him if he can teach him how to row.
Kaliel says no to this but is able to give him a job helping with fishing. Kaliel can provide
Lukas food and shelter but not money. Kaliel is a fierce man who lives in a ramshackle
house where Lukas is given his own room. When Lukas spends his first night there,
there is a big storm. He thinks of the van Rooyens, still with some guilt, and considers
how he can get Kaliel to teach him how to row.
Elias van Rooyen is incredibly angry after receiving news that Lukas is not
returning. Nina came back to tell him but would not come close enough to let him beat
her. Now Elias thinks up a plan to get both of them back. He no longer feels that he is
stranded, and he enlists the help of the descendent of the Outeniqua tribe, Hans, who
suggests to Elias that, in order to go through the forest, he must cover himself with
elephant dung. This way, he will not be targeted and killed by the elephants.
Analysis
In this section, we begin to see a deep transformation taking place in all of the
characters, most prominently in Benjamin/Lukas, who has now all but resigned to his
new identity as Lukas. When the boy first arrived in the forest, he regarded the van
Rooyens as alien, but as the years have gone by, he has allowed the memories of
Wolwekraal to slowly fade into a distant past. This is most obvious in the way he now
comfortably calls Elias “pa” and refers to Fiela in one instance as “the woman who
raised me.” Interestingly, we also see how Lukas rejects the chance to run away again
even though he is given plenty of opportunities to flee to the Long Kloof while out doing
errands for his father. His hesitance to even go through the village when looking for
Nina reflects the boy’s resistance to revisiting an old stage of life that he can no longer
access; to acknowledge the happiness and feeling of family he experienced in the
Komoetie home would only exacerbate the sense of misery and imprisonment he
endures with the van Rooyens.
As the story progresses, however, there are subtle signs that Lukas has not completely
forgotten the place from where he has come. Something gets sparked in him when he
goes off on his own to the seaside and takes in the wide-open landscape that is a far cry
from the dense forest; it reminds him of the place where he grew up and the freedom he
felt there. Being by the sea also elicits memories of playing with toy boats on the river,
his favorite activity in the Long Kloof. This moment by the water and out under the stars
plants the seed for Lukas to decide a few days later that he will not return to Barnard’s
Island. At 19, Lukas is old enough to make his own decisions, and it is clear that he no
longer has any desire to be in the forest. What he does want, though, is not exactly
articulated. He is simply following a feeling, one tied to the nostalgia of his former life,
which lands him as an apprentice to a seaman by the name of Kaliel September.
Working for Kaliel is not the ultimate destination; rather, it seems more like a stepping
stone for Lukas to get somewhere better to which his heart is leading him—a place that
still remains out of sight for both him and the reader.
Freedom is a theme that is deeply explored in these chapters. Lukas has the freedom to
run away, yet for many years he chooses not to because he doesn’t know where else to
go, nor who he truly is. He has adapted to his new role as a maker of wood beams and an
honorable son to Elias, and he derives comfort and meaning from this function. Not until
glancing at the boats in the harbor does it all come back to him: the childhood joy and
wonder that have been drained from him after years of heavy work. Without this
memory and knowledge of something better, young adults like Lukas and his brothers
are content to carry out their very limited duties for the duration of their lives. Nina, on
the other hand, sacrifices everything she knows—the approval of her family, the
stability of a job—to be free. Her tendency to escape into the forest could be seen as an
avoidance of responsibility, or it could be viewed as an expression of her desire for a
better type of life, something more than the drudgery of menial labor. Nina is even
willing to suffer her father’s savage beatings if it means she can spend time in the forest,
her true home. It is no wonder, then, that Lukas is most able to relate to Nina, as they
share a common yearning for the sense of home beyond the van Rooyen house.

Nina’s deep love for and connection to nature is notably contrasted with Elias’ vision of
the forest as a place to be exploited and feared. His effort to kill an elephant in order to
sell its ivory and leave behind the grueling work of making beams backfires on him
when his trap actually takes down a calf and he is put on a sort of elephant hit list. Elias
feels he can no longer even set foot in the forest without being stalked and trampled on
by a herd. Nina, conversely, has a profound sense of wonder when it comes to the
elephants, as seen when she tells Lukas about witnessing one of their birthing rituals.
When she finds out that her father has covertly enlisted her in building the pit that kills
a baby elephant, she is angry and devastated. The reader may question why it is that the
elephants target Elias when both Nina and Lukas also helped to build the pit. Perhaps
this shows how the elephants are more aware than humans usually regard animals to
be: they can perceive the subtle motivations involved in human actions and thus
understand that the children were forced against their will to help kill an
elephant. Fiela’s Child thus conveys a vision of animals as highly intelligent and
sentient beings to be respected.
Dalene Matthee relates this story of family and origin in such a way as to keep our
perceptions loose and broad, so we never identify too heavily with just one character.
She does this mainly through her frequent shifting between different characters’
perspectives: that of Benjamin, Fiela, Elias, and Nina. In these chapters, Matthee even
has us look through the eyes of the elephants of the forest as they observe Elias van
Rooyen coming home from his expedition. The experiences of both the Komoeties and
the van Rooyens are expressed in their fullness and complexity of human emotion, and
in this way, the reader is able to have compassion even for figures like Elias, as we can
see that, alongside his cruelty and greediness, he has a deep fear of failing to provide for
his family. The narrative being told through a fluid variety of perspectives also mirrors
the lack of stable identity Lukas/Benjamin has throughout the book, especially as he
starts to distance himself from the van Rooyens and consciously question who he is.
Hoostukke 15-32 : Chapters 15-32
OPSOMMING EN ONTLEDING : SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS

Summary
Lukas continues to work for Kaliel, helping him to row John Benn and dreaming
about getting access to Benn's ship. He also helps with catching fish and building a
pigsty. Kaliel teaches Lukas many things but often gets annoyed with him for what he
perceives as a woodcutter’s ignorance. Lukas thought Nina had left Miss Weatherbury’s
to live again in the forest, but one day, Kaliel spots her by the cove. Lukas is concerned:
with all the sailors roaming around, it is not a safe place for a young woman. He goes to
search for Nina and finally finds her on the beach, wearing new clothes. He is confused
for a moment when he notices Nina’s beauty, forgetting that she is his sister. As they
talk, he can also feel Nina’s sadness, which was never acknowledged by anyone and
which she often dealt with as a child by escaping to the forest. Lukas feels ashamed to
have this strange awareness of the sibling to whom he feels closest. When Nina tells
Lukas she is again working for Miss Weatherbury, he feels relieved. That night, he tosses
and turns in his sleep, thinking that his attraction to Nina shows that it must not be
possible that he is her brother.
The next day, Lukas strikes up a conversation with John Benn, with whom there has
been an enmity with since the first day Lukas arrived at the cove. Lukas goes
throughout his day continuing to consider the question of whether Nina is his real
sister. Lukas gets the idea to ask an oarsman named Book Platsie to teach him to row
and bring him one step closer to possibly getting aboard the pilot ship. He must hide
this activity from Kaliel, however, as Kaliel would become angry at Lukas trying to take
his place. Lukas runs into Nina again that evening; she has been trying to find him to
bring him a message. She has heard from a man named Latjie who works for Master
Petrus. Latjie told her to inform Benjamin Komoetie that his brother Dawid has died.
Upon hearing this news, Lukas is brought back in time to reminisce about his former
brother.

Lukas decides to go to the Long Kloof for a week. He doesn’t know why exactly but feels
he must. He tells Nina he is going and she doesn’t seem to care; this disappoints Lukas,
who continues to have feelings for Nina. When he tells Book Platsie where he is going,
Book asks him to bring him back some ostrich feathers; Lukas agrees, thinking this will
be an incentive to get Book to teach him how to row. Before leaving, he speaks with
Nina again, who tells Lukas that she ran into Willem in the village. Willem told her that
Elias has gone out to look for Lukas again. Nina asks Lukas if he thinks the people in the
Long Kloof will remember him and seems to dread him leaving now. She believes he will
not come back, but Lukas says he will; he feels a connection to the sea, just as she does
to the forest. Lukas starts to make his way through the forest that night; when he begins
to walk towards the Long Kloof, he feels a sense of familiarity.

Fiela Komoetie is encouraging Selling to walk, as he has not wanted to get up since
the death of Dawid. She has given up hope, feeling that God has hit her family hard,
whereas Selling continues to watch the road every day for Benjamin to return. In recent
years, the Kloof has been overcome with alcoholism and prostitution, perhaps due to
the influx of money there from the selling of ostrich feathers. Tollie has succumbed to
drinking and Fiela feels she has no sons left. While Selling and Fiela are walking, they
see a man heading towards the house; they realize it is Benjamin. The Komoeties are
overjoyed and can’t believe what God has brought them. Benjamin ends up staying for
months, contributing to the land and catching everyone up on his life in the forest. Fiela,
Selling, Kittie, and even the ostriches are in higher spirits after Benjamin returns. Fiela
starts to plan how Benjamin can take over the Laghaan property.
One day, however, Benjamin and Fiela have a more serious conversation where
Benjamin again brings up whether or not she believes he could have truly walked from
the forest as a three-year-old boy. She doesn’t understand why it can’t be kept in the
past. Benjamin talks about his feelings for Nina, and Fiela then understands why she has
often noticed a sad look in her son’s eye. She believes his feelings indicate that, as she
always thought, he can’t possibly be related by blood to the van Rooyens. She tells
Benjamin that he must get closure by going to speak with Barta van
Rooyen directly. Benjamin decides to leave Wolwekraal soon after to first go to the
forest and confront the van Rooyens and then to go back to Coney Glen and be with
Nina. The Komoeties are sad to see him go but are comforted by the fact that he will
write to them and stay in touch.
When he arrives at the van Rooyens', he finds Barta looking more haggard than usual
and Elias in bed, his body severely wounded and bruised. He was attacked by elephants
four months ago and barely survived. When he sees Lukas, Elias becomes full of rage
and can only shout insults at him. The house is in bad shape and Lukas knows he must
stay around to help his parents, at least until Kristoffel comes back. As the days go by, he
senses the uneasiness of Barta and knows he must question her before he leaves. He
finally confronts her and asks if he is truly Lukas; she fearfully tells him that he is. He
leaves later that day knowing he is Lukas van Rooyen. He heads towards the sea where
he knows he can be with Nina, even if just as his sister, which is better than not at all.

Back at the sea, he is appointed by John Benn to the pilot boat because Kaliel has left.
Benn orders Book to teach Lukas to properly row. Lukas puts distance between him and
Nina because he has realized she is really his sister. She notices this and doesn’t
understand, getting angry at Lukas for his coldness. John Benn also confronts Lukas at
one point, asking him what is wrong, as his eyes “grow older every day.” Lukas says he
feels nothing inside; John Benn says that means he is dead. Lukas doesn’t see Nina for
four days and begins craving her, despite his efforts to resist these feelings. One day,
Lukas goes out in the boat with the oarsmen to stop an intruding boat. The boat crashes
into a rock and is completely wrecked. They try and fail to save all the seamen’s lives
and get back to the shore where a crowd has gathered, including Nina. Nina embraces
Lukas, and they stroke each other until she leaves. Later, he reflects on this moment,
knowing now for certain he is not Lukas van Rooyen. He decides that he must return to
the forest and confront Barta one more time.

Kaliel returns that night, sick and tired after being thrown off a ship at the Cape. Lukas
tells John Benn about this and also asks for permission to go to the forest, telling him it
is urgent. When he gets to Barnard’s Island, he finds Elias in seemingly better spirits.
The family is having dinner and welcomes him in. Barta seems nervous and almost
sickly, as if she senses what Lukas has come to ask her. Suddenly, she confesses that she
took the wrong child: Benjamin Komoetie is not Lukas van Rooyen. Barta says that she
thought she was sure at the magistrate’s, but upon getting home that day, she had had
second thoughts but never wanted to admit it to anyone. As she is speaking, Benjamin
walks out into the storm and starts to process his emotions. He feels hatred for the man
in the horse cart who brought him away from the Long Kloof. As he walks through the
forest, feeling chaotic and angry, he can only ask who he really is and what his name is.
He goes to the census man’s house in the morning, but when he is face-to-face with him,
he can’t manage to say anything and instead runs away, finding a place under a cliff to
sleep.

Fiela, Selling, and Kittie gather together to write a letter to Benjamin. They are
concerned because they have not received a letter from him for a while; in the last letter
they received from him, Benjamin told them that Barta confirmed he was her child. In
the letter, Fiela encourages him to reach out and stay hopeful even if he is down. They
don’t include anything about Tollie, who was recently sentenced to prison for five years
after stabbing someone. Meanwhile, Elias van Rooyen is in shock after Barta’s
confession and can’t believe she kept the secret for so long. Barta decides to go tell the
truth to the magistrate; Elias can only be relieved that the boy was taken from
“coloured” people, or else he and his wife could have been in big trouble.
Lukas/Benjamin spends days living in a cave where there are many old bones from
animals and cavemen of the past. He is dwelling on the idea of how one man changed
the course of his life and how one man is capable of doing a lot. This is a power different
than that of the sea or an elephant, one that can lead to either destruction or
preservation. He returns to the sea; he tells John Benn that he is back to work and that
he will now be known as Benjamin Komoetie. He will be helping out until Kaliel is well
again; then he will be returning to the Long Kloof and “his people.” Before he gets to
work, he asks to go to Miss Weatherbury’s house, implying that he is going to see Nina.

Analysis
In the final few chapters of Fiela’s Child, Dalene Matthee presents a surprising
resolution to the issue of Benjamin’s true identity. After years spent in the forest, he has
very much become Lukas van Rooyen to the best of his ability, even though there always
has persisted a lingering doubt that he truly fits into the family. But with all the hard
physical work and the constant threat of Elias’ rage, there is little room for genuine self-
reflection and questioning—not until Lukas/Benjamin decides to defy his father
spontaneously and visit the seaside rather than going directly to Knsyna to hound Nina.
There, taking in an entirely new landscape, the young man is able to have a completely
new perspective of life. Although at this point he still feels the obligation to the van
Rooyens, a seed has been planted that will gradually guide Benjamin to distance himself
from forest life and seek out the truth of who he is.
Lukas’ time by the sea is portrayed as the pivotal catalyst for him to undergo a
transformation. The symbolism of the sea in its volatility and fluidity is meant to suggest
the liminal stage of life which Benjamin occupies; he is beginning to realize that he is not
actually a van Rooyen, yet he doesn’t know what he actually is. Because the sea is so
different from both the dense Knysna Forest and the open plains of the Kloof, Lukas
finally has a space away from the influence of both of his past identities. Here, he is free
to choose who he wants to be rather than settling for the role he has been given through
family. This is not the only instance where Matthee uses landscape or climate to convey
a certain psychological or emotional state experienced by her characters: another
example is when Lukas is with Kaliel September and decides to return to the forest
to confront Barta, at which point a raging thunderstorm breaks out and mirrors his own
internal turmoil as he grapples for some sort of personal stability.
That women are likened to “the moods of the sea” in these pages is no coincidence, for
the feminine presence in Lukas’ life proves to be instrumental for him in finding the
strength and inspiration to persist through confusion. Lukas’ affectionate feelings
towards Nina, as disturbing as they are for him in the moment, prompt him to
reconsider the idea that he could be genetically related; as Fiela tells him, “blood would
have stopped blood.” This turns out to be true as Benjamin finally gets the real story out
of Barta, who admits she knew Benjamin wasn’t Lukas all along. Although a certain
amount of psychological tumult ensues from the possibility that he might be in love with
his own sister, we see that these feelings were the push required for Benjamin to come
into more clarity. Thus Nina, like the sea, doesn’t inspire Benjamin through logical
instruction as much as through her intangible beauty that stirs a certain sentiment in
his heart and draws to the surface long-suppressed questions.

The theme of fate versus freedom is emphasized in the last chapters as Benjamin,
having discovered that he is not actually Lukas, ponders the absurdity of how one
man— the white census-taker— could have so dramatically altered the course of his
life. He even tracks down this man in Knysna, but when coming face-to-face with him, he
realizes that he has nothing much to say. What is done has been done, and we see
Benjamin transform from a state of chaotic confusion and anger to one of quiet
acceptance, eventually to an ecstatic realization that he is now free—an absence of prior
identity gives him the power to define himself as he desires. His choice to return to the
Komoeties doesn’t mean that he believes he is literally one of them: rather, it signifies
that this is the place where he feels most at home, amongst the people who have always
treated him like real family, physical differences aside. Benjamin can now make a more
informed decision to live with the Komoeties and can return with greater appreciation,
for he has experienced the alternative that is a home with no love.

There are many moments of dialogue and interaction where Dalene Matthee fleshes out
her characters, presenting people who are wholly human in their eccentricities and
vulnerabilities. There is the instance when Nina nonchalantly asks Benjamin if he would
prefer to be blind or deaf, sharing her view of the matter as if it were something she
often and deeply considered. Her imagination and philosophical mind shown here
further establishes how she, although van Rooyen by blood, has very little in common
with her family. When Benjamin brings up to Fiela that he must go back to the forest
and get the truth from Barta, she is described as digging her trowel into the ground
“until she felt calmer.” This action says a lot about her nature, portraying her sense of
anxiety at the thought of Benjamin leaving again yet her simultaneous effort to channel
that nervous energy into something practical.
SIMBOLE, ALLEGORIE EN MOTIEWE:

Symbols, Allegory and Motifs

Motif: Elephants
The elephants are a motif that reminds the reader of the simultaneous danger and
beauty of the forest, and, by extension, of nature itself. The elephants are described as
violent and vengeful by the main antagonist, Elias van Rooyen, whereas Nina views
them as gentle and loving. These two contrasting views not only reinforce the
generation gap between father and daughter but also show the different attitudes that
man can adopt towards nature. One can seek to control or manipulate nature through
the use of traps (technology) or tricks (Elias' scheme), yet nature will remain out of
reach. Matthee uses the elephants to symbolize the futility of trying to conquer plant
and animal life and our need to instead learn to respect and understand it—as we see in
Nina’s intimate knowledge of the flora and fauna of the forest.

Another important characteristic of the elephants is the structure of their societies.

Elephants are ruled in the form of a matriarchal society where the main female cow is
the leader of the herd. Not only does this parallel the workings of the Komoetie family
where Fiela is the leader, it also hints at the strength present within female leaders. The
mother of the trapped calf haunts Elias until finally exacting her revenge years later.
Even before being trampled, Elias questions the elephants, wondering how on earth
“the bloody cow had known he would be coming along there that day.” Matthee’s focus
on the female elephants shows her view of feminine power as equally important to male
authority and how an overly patriarchal society, as represented by the van Rooyens, is
destined for destruction.
Symbol: Ostriches
The ostriches serve as a symbol of hope and prosperity for the Komoetie family. Using
their feathers, the family has a chance to escape poverty and own land, thereby raising
their status. However, such money is not easy to obtain as the characters suffer physical
and mental strain trying to control the often-dangerous animals. In contrast to her use
of the elephants, Matthee uses the ostriches to demonstrate an alternative image of
nature, one that proves a symbiotic relationship between man and his environment is
possible. The ostriches and their feathers do eventually help the Komoetie family
achieve prosperity and independence, but only after long years of being kicked by them
and training them to be obedient. As the years go by, the popularity of ostrich feathers
rises, and yet we see how Fiela never tries to exploit her birds for greater profit, thus
showing how animals can be used without being abused.
Motif: Boats
The ships are a motif integral to the understanding of Matthee’s message in Fiela's Child.
Many different types of boats are introduced, yet the most significant types are the
suicide ships and the more modern “coal eaters.” Suicide ships are ships that
intentionally throw themselves to the cliffs, knowing that they are unable to “win
against the coal-eaters” and thus purposely crash themselves. The suicide ships
themselves are a source of anxiety to the oarsmen, especially Kaliel. To Benjamin, they
are a symbol of a time past. When he and Nina observe one suicide ship, Nina likens it to
“an old elephant that knows his time has come and goes to the deepest gorge to wait for
the end.” The gentleness present in Nina’s words conveys the sense of inevitability, as
the suicide ships are victims of an increasingly technologically advancing time. Matthee
presents the suicide ships as victims of modernization and draws a parallel with the van
Rooyens and the other forest dwellers whose traditional lifestyle carries a high burden
compared to the existence of the upper-class villagers.

Boats also play an important role in awakening Benjamin's remembrance of his true
identity and feeling of affiliation with the Komoetie family. After disobeying Elias van
Rooyen by going to the seaside instead of Knysna, Benjamin is struck by the sight of an
abandoned ship in the harbor. By coming to the sea, he is reminded of his joyful
childhood hobby of playing with toy boats in the river at the Long Kloof, before he was
taken away. Benjamin spends considerable time living and working by the sea, where he
finally has the space to reflect on who he really is and where he considers to be home.
Symbol: The Mouth Organ
Nina’s mouth organ is another symbol in the novel. This is an instrument that is
precious to Nina, as it is able to mimic the melodies sung by her beloved birds in the
forest. The girl's obsession with the bird calls and her desire to join in their singing
exemplifies the possibility for humans to have a harmonious connection with their
environment, in contrast to the disastrous relationship Elias has with the elephants.
Nina also relates to the mouth organ as a toy, thus symbolizing Nina’s childhood
innocence. When Nina justifies her decision to remain in the village and abandon the
forest, she claims to Benjamin: “The mouth-organ is rusty and out of tune...I buried [it] –
I don’t think I’ll be going back either.” Rust and dirt are inevitable and signify the
passage of time. Thus the mouth organ’s decay parallels Nina’s fading childhood, as she
is unable to live in a time of carefree joy as before because she now worries about work
and financial stability as an adult. Nina’s burial of the mouth organ is also significant in
showing how nature, represented through the soil, has reclaimed the human tool,
hinting at the futility of man to overcome the natural forces of death and decay.
Motif: The Five Shillings
The five-shilling piece that Fiela gives Benjamin before he leaves for the forest is with
him throughout the story. Benjamin ascribes high value to this coin not only because
five shillings in that time and place is a sizable amount but also because of the
connection it has with his former family. While many of the other possessions Benjamin
has from the Komoeties are taken from him, such as the blanket and his clothes, the
five-shilling is one thing he is able to keep. His anger at Nina when he believes she has
stolen it to buy a mouth organ is because of what the coin represents to him. When it
turns out that Nina has actually not used the coin, we see how Benjamin starts to
develop a level of trust and respect for her that is absent in his relations with the other
van Rooyens. Nina, unlike the others, doesn’t view Benjamin merely as a source of profit
to exploit, but rather as another human being.

In instances, Benjamin considers spending the money on something he thinks will bring
him greater freedom, such as the rowing lessons that would give him the opportunity
for a vocation outside of the forest. But the moment never comes where he needs to
spend it; instead, he gives Fiela back the five-shilling when he finally returns to
Wolwekraal, symbolizing his loyalty to the Komoeties as his true family and place of
belonging.

Metaphors and Similes

Simile: Approaching the Magistrate Like a Snake
When Fiela goes to beg the magistrate to see Benjamin again, she keeps in mind the
accepted conduct for a black woman like herself when speaking to a white man of
power. Before she leaves for Knysna, Selling advises her to be docile in front of the
magistrate so that he will give her a chance to speak. He compares this submission to
"slithering like a snake." Fiela believes that her husband is right on some level, yet as
she approaches the village, she inwardly rebels against this guidance, feeling that she
will do whatever it takes to get her son back, even if it means upsetting a supposed
authority by "striking [at him] like a snake whose spine has been crushed."
Simile: The Sea Like a Mythical Beast
Matthee repeatedly uses figurative language in order to compare the sea to a life-giving
force, which helps to clarify Benjamin's self-identity. Benjamin has long felt trapped and
like he has no idea who he is while living with the van Rooyens, learning to accept the
life of a beam-maker though he is somewhat miserable doing so. Yet, during his first
contact with the sea, the uncertainty of who he truly is fades away. He relinquishes his
confusion at the moment when he faces the sea and feels "like he was standing in the
jaws of a mythical beast." This simile works to show the sea as an almost conscious
entity that captivates Benjamin and redirects his life almost instantaneously, prompting
him to take bold steps such as leaving the van Rooyens for good.
Metaphor: The Mountains as Divine Punishment
From the beginning of the story, the mountains that surround the Long Kloof are
associated with suffering and hardship. During the drought, Fiela reflects that “it was as
if the heat on the Kloof side of the mountains would not allow even a shred of mist to
come over and give a little relief from the heat. Why it had pleased the good Lord to put
a mountain between the Kloof and relief, God alone knew.” Thus she compares the poor
climate conditions to a punishment, or at least neglect, from God. Later, Fiela refers to
one section of the mountains called Devil's Kop, joking that "the devil himself could not
have chosen a better place to give his name to." That she has to trek through these
mountains many times in order to search for Benjamin or visit Selling while he is doing
prison time drives home their association with tough circumstances. At the same time,
her ability to cross the mountains to reach Knysna also shows the human potential to
conquer both inner and outer mountains through perseverance

Metaphor: Fiela's Worry as a Physical Burden

After the census men come and threaten to take Benjamin, Fiela spends the following
weeks and months under great anxiety, racking her mind to figure out how she can
possibly avoid her son being stolen from her. As time passes though and the men don't
return, the burden lessens. Her worry is likened to a "stone" that gets lighter and lighter.
Throughout the story, we see Fiela's tendency to carry the troubles of her entire family,
which disrupts her normal ability to work and think clearly. Of course, when the men
abruptly do come back to Wolwekraal, that stone also returns, this time as a "mountain
[she] could not move."
Simile: Benjamin's Entrapment as Being Buried Alive
After Benjamin has been at the van Rooyen's house for 41 days, he gives up on the hope
that his mother, Fiela, will ever come to rescue him. He must accept his new scenario, as
much he dislikes it, because he has no power to change it. He now is reminded of his old
childhood fear of being buried alive, describing his current sense of helplessness "as if
he was lying squeezed into a coffin and nobody could hear him knocking." He is neither
able to communicate with the Komoeties nor be understood in his emotional despair by
the van Rooyens, thus explaining his feeling of being unheard.
IRONIE: IRONY
Dramatiese Ironie: Dramatic Irony: Selling's Role in
Building the Road
As the story develops, we learn about Selling Komoetie's crime and how he was
sentenced to hard labour. For most of his years of imprisonment, Selling was working
with the other convicts to build a road through the mountains, connecting Knysna and
the Long Kloof. This is ironic because Selling participated in the construction of the very
road that would later allow for the census men to come to Wolwekraal and take
Benjamin, ruining the Komoeties' lives. However, this fact also casts doubt on the story
of Benjamin making it to Fiela's doorstep from the forest as a three-year-old, as he
supposedly arrived at the Long Kloof before the road was even finished.

Situational Irony: God and Faith

There are frequent instances in which Fiela converses with God, especially where she
pleads for Him to save her—yet He never seems to stave off the worst situations, such
as the loss of Benjamin or the death of Dawid. Despite seeing herself as a woman of deep
faith, Fiela is portrayed as slowly losing this faith, thinking to herself that “God [keeps]
putting up one wall after another between her and the child.” Although she continues to
look to the Bible for solace, inwardly she feels as if she has been abandoned. Matthee
deliberately puts Fiela and God in conflict, showing the irony between Fiela's exalted
image of God and His indifference to her suffering, perhaps subverting the reader’s
expectation of God in order to question the validity of faith and religion in a flawed
society where prejudice runs rampant. However, towards the end of the novel, this
irony eventually is resolved as Fiela finds reconciliation with her hard feelings towards
God. After Benjamin returns to the Long Koof, she declares that “God is good.” This
sentence reflects the end of her long struggle in relating to God where she realizes her
inability to fully comprehend God’s larger plan.

Situational Irony: The "Justice" System

The application of the law is a constant theme that Matthee explores
throughout Fiela’s Child, exposing to the reader the irony that the very system meant
to deliver justice actually only creates grosser injustices. The entire situation of
Benjamin being taken from the Long Kloof is revealed by the end of the novel to be
wholly erroneous and based on the misguided attempts of government officials to carry
out law and order. The magistrate claims that Benjamin is the forest woman’s child
because she was able to point him out from a line of four children, yet it turns out that
Barta was informed of whom to pick beforehand. When faced with Fiela’s questions, the
magistrate reiterates that “‘the child is back with his rightful parents.” Matthee likens
the stiffness of the magistrate’s jaw to indicate the stiffness and inflexibility of the law.
The judge’s repetition of this statement in Chapter 15 as well as use of the word
“rightful” suggest that the magistrate is more keen on administering the law as it is
rather than solving the real problems he is faced with, demonstrating how the law
ironically does more harm than good, especially towards a childlike Benjamin.

DRAMATIESE IRONIE: LUKAS SE LIEFDE VIR NINA

Dramatic Irony: Lukas' Love for Nina
As Lukas grows into a man and starts to seek out his true identity,
he grapples with the budding feelings of affection he has for Nina.
This disturbs him as he is under the impression that Nina is his sister
and knows such feelings are wrong. However, it is revealed at the
end of the story that Lukas is not actually Lukas van Rooyen, that
Nina is not actually his sister, and that his love for Nina, therefore, is
not the perverse thing he thought it was. All of Lukas' inner turmoil
in regard to this situation is vanquished when Barta owns up to the
truth of what really happened on the day he came to Knsyna.

BEELDSPRAKE: IMAGERY
The Ghost-Ship
While he is on the path towards Knysna to find Nina as his father has ordered him to do,
Lukas spontaneously goes to see the ghost-ship he hears people talking about. When he
reaches the seaside, he is struck by the sight of the abandoned ship, which Lukas sees as
being "horribly dead and desolate." This image of the destroyed ship stirs something
deep inside him, reminding him of his childhood love of toy boats in the Long Kloof and
thus symbolizing his loss of innocence since living in the forest. The ship's sails hanging
like "dirty, tattered rags" mirrors the van Rooyens' disheveled way of dressing and their
self-neglect. This moment marks when he begins to consider his identity beyond being
Lukas van Rooyen.
The Drought
There is a terrible drought during the summer in which we are first introduced to the
Komoeties. The earth is described as bare and every new day brings another
disappointment, because “the thunder-clouds that swelled out behind the mountains”
disappeared “without leaving a drop of rain in the dust.” If only the clouds would come
and bring some rain “before the ostriches had to go to pasture,” everything would be
fine. This is one of the most difficult periods for people in the Kloof, as living through the
drought means surviving the harshest of conditions. This imagery evokes a strange mix
of hopefulness and despair as Fiela tries to stay strong and tame the worries that gnaw
at her. The drought at the beginning of the story also serves as one of the omens which
foretell the tragic events to occur.
Nina
The descriptions of the characters, especially Nina, illustrate each of their unique
personalities and attitudes towards life. Nina is painted as being “thin and wispy, just
like a goat,” and constantly "climbing and jumping” in the forest without any care in the
world. The portrayal of Nina as wild and uncontrollable contrasts with the tightly
controlled manner in which Elias and Barta conduct themselves. Towards the end of the
book, there is a passage describing how Lukas sees Nina, where he notices the
"untamed" and "hidden" quality of her beauty. This unrestrained way of carrying herself
is what inspires Lukas to start seeking out his own freedom.

Fog
The presence of fog comes and goes throughout the story. It is there in the first chapter,
when Lukas is lost as a 3-year-old and the opacity of the fog creates a precarious
situation for finding a small boy. Towards the end of the book, when Lukas is working
by the sea with Kaliel, the fog appears again as a "thick grey-white cloud around
[Lukas]." The impenetrable fog mirrors Lukas' internal struggle to understand who he
really is and why he has feelings for Nina, who is supposed to be his sister. Whenever
fog imagery appears, Matthee is representing the confusion and paralysis experienced
by her characters.

LITERÊRE ELEMENTE: LITERARY ELEMENTS

GENRE : Genre
Realistic fiction, South African literature
Setting and Context
South Africa in the 19th century

Verteller en Standpunt: Narrator and Point of View

The narration is told in the third person. The point of view alternates
between mainly Fiela, Benjamin, and Elias.

TOON EN STEMMING : Tone and Mood

Serious and suspenseful
PROTAGONIS EN ANTAGONIS: Protagonist and
Antagonist
Both Fiela and Benjamin Komoetie are the protagonists of the story.
Elias van Rooyen is the antagonist. It is possible to say that bigotry is
also the conceptual antagonist.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is that of the inner turmoil in Benjamin as he
struggles to find his identity. It could also be Fiela's struggle to
relocate Benjamin and get justice.
Climax
Barta’s confession is the climax of the story. As soon as she admits that
Benjamin is not her son, he leaves the family, never to return ever
again.
Foreshadowing
Fiela speaks of omens that should have warned her about something
bad set to happen, such as her hens being killed. Her uneasiness at the
beginning of the story foreshadows the tragic events to come—
mainly, the loss Benjamin.
Understatement
Fiela often understates her own grief and sorrow after Benjamin being
taken in order to focus her mind on what she regards as her duty:
taking care of the household.

TOESPELINGS: ALLUSIONS
The novel frequently alludes to concepts and passages from the Bible,
such as the Kings verse about the women splitting a child in half. This
is mostly when Fiela is narrating, as she is a religious woman and uses
the Bible's stories to help her live and cope with the tragedies of her
life.
BEEELDSPRAKE: IMAGERY
Dalene Matthee paints a vivid picture of the South African landscape
in all its variety: the dense and alive forest, the vast stretch of the Long
Kloof, and the turbulent atmosphere of the seaside.
See the separate ClassicNote "Imagery" section for further details on
the novel's imagery.
PARADOKS: PARADOX
It is through accepting the transgression of loving the woman who is
supposed to be his sister (Nina) that Lukas/Benjamin is able to realize
that she is not truly his sister and that he is not a van Rooyen.
PARALLELISME Parallelism
The narrative structure, in which the narrative perspective frequently
bounces around between characters, parallels Benjamin's internal
struggle to determine his authentic self.

Metonimie en Sinekdogee
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Dawid’s team being referred to as having too many "hands," where
"hands" is a metonymy for "workers."
When Lukas sees his "nightshirt disappear round a bend way down
the footpath," this is a metonymy for the person wearing the shirt.
PERSONIFIKASIE: PERSONIFICATION
The elements are often described as having human traits, such as the
fire being portrayed as "glowing cheerfully."

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