Barta van Rooyen is the wife of the wood-beam maker Elias. She and Elias live with their children in the Forest. She grieves when their child Lukas disappears and seemingly perishes, but then one day, the magistrate calls her to court to see if Benjamin, a white foundling who’s been living with Fiela, a “Coloured” (multiracial) farmer, is in fact Lukas. Benjamin ends up living with the van Rooyens, and although Barta initially seems like a more sympathetic parent than the stern Elias, near the end of the novel she reveals a secret: she strongly suspected all along that Benjamin was never Lukas. She was supposed to pick “Lukas” out of a lineup of similar-looking boys, but one of the census-takers interfered in the process by telling her which boy was Benjamin. Barta’s willingness to go along with this process and unjustly take Benjamin away from Fiela could reflect Barta’s racism, but it also suggests her willingness to submit to authority. In the end, Barta partly redeems herself by telling the truth and helping Benjamin to shed his false identity as Lukas.
Barta Quotes in Fiela’s Child
The Fiela’s Child quotes below are all either spoken by Barta or refer to Barta. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
The day the child disappeared the fog came up early and by midday it seemed as if the Forest was covered in a thick white cloud.
Related Characters:
Lukas, Elias, Barta, Benjamin, The Magistrate
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5
Quotes
‘When the bigfeet are on you, you can’t choose what you let go of and what you want to keep, woman!’
Chapter 8
Quotes
‘Will I still know him?’
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13
Quotes
‘He’s the forest woman’s child.’
Related Characters:
Fiela (speaker), Benjamin, Barta, The Magistrate, Lukas
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14
Quotes
‘I’m your pa! That’s who I am! Say it! Say who I am!’ He was as tough as a piece of ironwood. ‘Say who I am!’
‘Pa.’
[…]
For every answer he gave him a lash. ‘And who are you?’
‘Benja— Lukas.’
‘Lukas who?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Lukas van Rooyen. Say it!’
‘Lukas van Rooyen.’
Related Characters:
Elias (speaker), Benjamin (speaker), Barta, Lukas, Nina, Willem, Kristoffel, Fiela, The Magistrate
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15
Quotes
‘The child is back with his rightful parents,’ he said and it seemed as if his jaw had grown stiff. ‘What he had on the day he got lost can make no difference. You can put anything on him now and swear by it in the hope that I will believe you.’
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22
Quotes
Chapter 29
Quotes
The one wearing the blue shirt.
Related Characters:
The Census-Takers (speaker), Lukas, Benjamin, Barta, Elias
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Fiela’s Child LitChart as a printable PDF.
Barta Character Timeline in Fiela’s Child
The timeline below shows where the character Barta appears in Fiela’s Child. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...gets too foggy to cut (since the wood is damp). He calls for his wife, Barta, to bring him coffee. He and Barta are one of four families with a house...
(full context)
Barta asks Elias where Lukas is, but Elias doesn’t know. Elias considers asking a neighbor’s oldest...
(full context)
That night, Barta despairs that something bad has happened to Lukas. All the people of the small settlement...
(full context)
Chapter 5
On Barnard’s Island, Elias is cutting wood beams, but the plans he’s making distract him. Barta asks him why he’s moving so slow. Elias can’t make beams as quickly as usual,...
(full context)
Elias makes an excuse to Barta so that he can go over on a five-day trip to where the elephants are,...
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...to throw down all his possessions and run for his life. He gets home to Barta and tells her about how elephants chased him, but he promises to get revenge on...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...a trial in Knysna, and the mother of the lost child from several years ago (Barta) will come to see if Benjamin is hers.
(full context)
...long on foot. Benjamin can come back on Saturday if it turns out he’s not Barta’s. The men have heard rumors that Benjamin doesn’t go to church or school, suggesting that...
(full context)
Chapter 8
Elias and Barta head from their home to the magistrate’s place in the village. Elias wanted to leave...
(full context)
...down on him, he has to admit that everyone came together to help him and Barta prepare for the journey once they learned they had to go to the magistrate. Elias...
(full context)
Chapter 10
Benjamin walks back to the Forest with Elias and Barta. The people in the courtroom told him that his name was Lukas and that he...
(full context)
Elias and Barta make it with Benjamin back to the house. Elias asks “Lukas” to greet his brother...
(full context)
Chapter 12
...stubborn. He wants to teach Benjamin how to do real work with an ax, but Barta warns him not to beat the child. Elias worries that Benjamin has spent too much...
(full context)
...thinks Malie is just trying to make him angry. Malie comments that aside from having Barta’s eyes and possibly Elias’s nose, he otherwise bears no resemblance to their other children. Elias...
(full context)
...the day, Nina comes back from the forest alone and tries to sneak in, but Barta stops her. Elias asks where “Lukas” went, and Nina says he ran away. She says...
(full context)
Chapter 13
...gets back, she informs her family that Benjamin is the child of the “forest woman” (Barta).
(full context)
Chapter 14
...say that Lukas was his name and that Elias and the others were his family. Barta was horrified when they got back and she saw that Elias made Benjamin walk close...
(full context)
Chapter 15
...the magistrate that she has a way to prove Benjamin’s parentage. They can bring in Barta and ask her what Lukas was wearing on the day he disappeared. Fiela knows exactly...
(full context)
Chapter 16
...stay until they get back. Elias talks loudly about how contented Benjamin is so that Barta will overhear him. He reassures Mr. Kapp that Benjamin never talks about his old family....
(full context)
Elias worries that Barta looks too sad and that Mr. Kapp will report that back to the magistrate. But...
(full context)
Chapter 17
...Kapp) to check on Benjamin, and all was well. Petrus now believes that Elias and Barta are Benjamin’s rightful parents. Fiela tells him that’s nonsense. Petrus says Fiela should be patient...
(full context)
Chapter 18
After 41 days with Elias and Barta, Benjamin begins to believe that Fiela is never coming for him. Elias has been away...
(full context)
Later that day, Barta comes over to Benjamin and offers him coffee, which he declines. She asks him if...
(full context)
Chapter 19
...of Willem, Nina, and Kristoffel as his siblings, although it’s harder to accept Elias and Barta as his parents.
(full context)
...seem like there waiting for him, and then they chase him. He comes back to Barta with his clothes torn. When Nina hears the news of Elias’s close call, she tells...
(full context)
Chapter 24
Elias goes to the scaffold and works to take out his frustration over losing “Lukas.” Barta had a strange feeling from the second day after Benjamin left to look for Nina....
(full context)
...the elephants, at least if the wind is on his side. Elias goes and sends Barta to get buchu and Kristoffel to get dung, saying he needs it for part of...
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Chapter 25
...the dinner table with her, hence the new clothes. Benjamin warns her that Elias and Barta had better not find out about where she’s staying, but Nina says nothing could change...
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Chapter 27
...feeling that, even after coming back to Wolwekraal, he doesn’t feel free of Elias and Barta. Fiela replies that she’s always known exactly who Benjamin was—a lost lamb whom God led...
(full context)
...advises Benjamin that only one person can stop making him feel like Lukas van Rooyen: Barta.
(full context)
Chapter 28
Benjamin sets off back toward the forest with mutton for Barta and ostrich feathers from Kicker for the sailor Book. It was difficult to Benjamin to...
(full context)
Benjamin and Barta go to see Elias, who is seriously injured from wounds he got from an elephant....
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Benjamin tells Barta he’s been back to Long Kloof. Barta seems surprised but doesn’t say anything. As Benjamin...
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...for a while and helps with the wood beams, waiting for a chance to ask Barta an important question.
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At last, Benjamin gets the opportunity to talk to Barta alone. He asks if he is truly Lukas. She seems frightened and says of course...
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Chapter 29
...died too. He knows there’s something inside him that can’t be Lukas. He wonders why Barta and the magistrate both swore he was Lukas when it wasn’t true. He doesn’t know...
(full context)
Benjamin goes back to the van Rooyen house. Elias, Barta, and Kristoffel are all sitting around having a meal. Elias looks healthier than before. Barta...
(full context)
Barta explains that when she went to the court, she had to pick “Lukas” out of...
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Chapter 31
Elias is angry at Barta for all the trouble she brought to his family. He wishes Barta would’ve continued to...
(full context)
