Fiela Character Analysis in Fiela’s Child

Fiela Komoetie is a “Coloured” (multiracial) farmer from Long Kloof on the West Cape of South Africa. She and her husband Selling have several children together: Dawid, Tollie, Emma, and Kittie. Perhaps Fiela’s strongest relationship, however, is with her white adopted son Benjamin, a foundling she rescued when Benjamin was just three years old. Fiela hides Benjamin from the world, not taking him to church despite her own deep religious faith and also keeping him out of school. She fears that some people might not accept the fact that she has a white child. Fiela’s fears come true when some government census-takers notice Benjamin and initiate a legal process that ends with a local magistrate taking Benjamin away from Fiela and placing him in the care of the white van Rooyen family, alleging that Benjamin is the van Rooyens’ lost son Lukas. Aside from her relationship with Benjamin, Fiela also has a strong relationship with the land of Wolwekraal, where she and her children harvest aloe and where she raises ostriches. Fiela demonstrates ingenuity, managing to survive and raise a family in a hot, dry climate where little can grow.

Fiela Quotes in Fiela’s Child

The Fiela’s Child quotes below are all either spoken by Fiela or refer to Fiela. 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:

Only in retrospect did Fiela take account of the omens—she did not recognize them at first. […] Omens that should have warned her, but her mind was on the ostrich and she did not heed the warnings.

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Page Number and Citation: 11

Explanation and Analysis:

‘Listen here, woman, you know as well as I do that there’s something very strange going on here. This can’t be your child but you gave out that he was yours. Where did you get the child from?’

‘He’s my hand-child.’

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Page Number and Citation: 12

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‘You’re making a mistake, Fiela, wait another week or two.’

‘No. I’ve kept them apart long enough, I had them out at pasture for weeks, I’ve put paraffin into their ears so that there wouldn’t be a single tick to worry them, I’ve let Kicker starve—I’m not waiting any longer.’

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Page Number and Citation: 50

Explanation and Analysis:

‘Is this a church?’ he asked the tall one.

‘No. It’s a courtroom. Sit there on the bench and sit still.’

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Page Number and Citation: 79

Explanation and Analysis:

‘Will I still know him?’

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Page Number and Citation: 81

Explanation and Analysis:

It was late when they got home. His mother took one look at the egg, took down the strap from behind the door and beat their backsides well for them.

The next day she baked a sugar-cake with the egg.

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Page Number and Citation: 89

Explanation and Analysis:

‘I’m going to Knysna,’ she announced.

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Page Number and Citation: 99

Explanation and Analysis:

Petrus drove the wedding-cart himself and gave them five pounds as a start. It was a lot of money. But on the other hand, Petrus had been afraid that he would lose Selling for Selling had hear from a man by the name of Barrington near the Knysna River who was looking for a good harness-maker.

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Page Number and Citation: 107

Explanation and Analysis:

‘He’s the forest woman’s child.’

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Page Number and Citation: 154

Explanation and Analysis:

‘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.’

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Page Number and Citation: 159

Explanation and Analysis:

‘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.’

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Page Number and Citation: 171

Explanation and Analysis:

A snare-pit. That was what he had to have, he sat thinking that Sunday. The sheer prospect of it brough a funny feeling to Elias’s stomach for if it worked once, it would work again if you were clever enough

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Page Number and Citation: 176

Explanation and Analysis:

In fact Petrus did not come riding up the Kloof until late on Thursday. Alone. A sugar-cake was waiting on the kitchen table.

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Page Number and Citation: 185

Explanation and Analysis:

She had to give up Benjamin to the forest people, Dawid to the grave. There was little difference in the bitterness within her. The question she put to God was the same: Why, God, why?

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Page Number and Citation: 226

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The pilot pulled the needle through the thick white cloth. Somewhere in his beard a smile seemed to be lingering. ‘Of course,’ he said.

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Page Number and Citation: 350

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Fiela Character Timeline in Fiela’s Child

The timeline below shows where the character Fiela appears in Fiela’s Child. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Fiela sees some bad omens but only recognizes them as bad in hindsight. With her husband,... (full context)

...out of pieces of wood. Just then, two men in black hats and suits approach Fiela. They look like either preachers or peddlers. Fiela is suspicious of strangers. The men explain... (full context)

Fiela worries again about Benjamin when the census-takers begin asking questions about her children. Kittie, their... (full context)

All of a sudden, while Fiela is answering questions for the census-takers, Benjamin comes back from his boats. The census-takers instantly... (full context)

The census-takers accuse Fiela of lying to them. She admits she doesn’t know when Benjamin was born but that... (full context)

Time passes. By April, Fiela begins to feel better when the census-takers don’t come back. Selling tries to reassure her... (full context)

Toward the end of April, Fiela begins to forget about the census-takers and instead begins to worry about how The ostrich... (full context)

One morning, Fiela knows based on the weather that it will be a bad day to harvest aloe.... (full context)

Selling enters the kitchen, and when he hears that Fiela wants to put Kicker and Pollie together, he says it’s a mistake not to wait... (full context)

Fiela shouts to Tollie to close the gate so that Pollie can’t escape. Fiela sees Benjamin... (full context)

Fiela protests once again that Benjamin couldn’t have walked over the mountains on his own at... (full context)

Fiela debates whether to have Benjamin go hide in the mountains or to prepare to send... (full context)

Fiela bathes Benjamin one last time. She instructs him to address the magistrate politely, not tell... (full context)

...that Dawid had lied to him and no bird was chasing them. The next day, Fiela lashed Dawid and Benjamin for being reckless, but she baked a cake, saying Benjamin’s birthday... (full context)

...time remembering when he’s scared. He asks if he can go home and says he’s Fiela Koemoetie’s child. The magistrate denies this and says that it’s good Benjamin is back among... (full context)

Meanwhile on that Friday, Fiela works on extracting aloe and worries about how Benjamin’s trial is going. She feels that... (full context)

Fiela keeps imagining she sees the horse cart coming toward her property. But then all of... (full context)

...other why “Lukas” seems so quiet. Benjamin refuses to eat any food other than what Fiela has packed in his box. (full context)

Fiela gets angry as she walks to Knysna. Still, she prefers walking to waiting around for... (full context)

In a flashback to many years ago, when Fiela is still young, people begin to talk about how Selling, the richest “Coloured” man in... (full context)

...it. That evening, Selling is out for a long time, and when he comes back, Fiela notices he has no lamb and also no knife. Fiela just kills a goose instead... (full context)

...away. Early in the new year, Selling has to face a hanging judge, all while Fiela is eight months pregnant. (full context)

...reduced to a life sentence. A few months later, after Emma is born, Petrus tells Fiela that he knows where Selling is working on a prison gang. Fiela wants to go... (full context)

Fiela knows of a hidden route, an old elephant track, that might take her to where... (full context)

Fiela climbs up a gorge to try to be closer to Selling, fearing Emma will wake... (full context)

A week later, Fiela finally manages to make contact with Selling. She smuggles him food this way for four... (full context)

With the completion of the road that Selling’s gang is working on, Petrus comes to Fiela and promises her that he’ll go check on Selling before they send him away. A... (full context)

...wearing his nightshirt like a dress and ruining it in the mud, saying his mother (Fiela) will have to clean it. Nina keeps insisting like everyone else that Benjamin is in... (full context)

Fiela reaches Knysna in the evening. The previous night, she went off to sleep by herself... (full context)

Fiela wakes up the next morning and walks around the village. Many children in the area... (full context)

Fiela tries to appear meek and not angry. The constable agrees to check with the magistrate,... (full context)

Fiela leaves the village and walks back toward Wolwekraal until nightfall. She sleeps right off the... (full context)

Fiela has been back in Wolwekraal for two days, and she’s full of sadness for everyone.... (full context)

Meanwhile, while Kicker and Pollie haven’t fought, Kicker still has no interest in the hen. Fiela plans to make the ostriches a nest anyway. Meanwhile, Fiela has been having her children... (full context)

Petrus asks Fiela if anything’s wrong with her family—he thinks Selling looks unhealthy. Fiela doesn’t want to tell... (full context)

Fiela comes back to Knysna, determined not to be meek this time and instead to hold... (full context)

Fiela tells the magistrate that she has a way to prove Benjamin’s parentage. They can bring... (full context)

Fiela goes back home to Wolwekraal. The next day, Petrus comes by and asks her again,... (full context)

Petrus wishes Fiela had told him sooner so that he could help, although he thinks it inevitable that... (full context)

Petrus advises Fiela not to do anything more on her own so that he himself has a chance... (full context)

At Wolwekraal, the ostrich Kicker has red shins, meaning he is preparing to mate. Fiela rearranges the property to give the ostriches more privacy. Petrus has been away for a... (full context)

...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 and wait for Benjamin to... (full context)

After 41 days with Elias and Barta, Benjamin begins to believe that Fiela is never coming for him. Elias has been away for several days, but Nina has... (full context)

One evening, when Nina and Benjamin come back to the house, Elias informs Benjamin that Fiela stopped by to drop off his possessions. Benjamin has lots of questions and figures out... (full context)

...what would happen if he tried to go back to Long Kloof. He fears that Fiela and the others have forgotten him, then he suddenly hears the crack of a whip... (full context)

On April 2, 1881, Fiela buries Dawid at Wolwekraal. Petrus comes up to make a speech at the funeral—Dawid was... (full context)

Dawid loved the land while he was alive. Fiela’s other children have done their own things, with Kittie marrying a preacher, and Emma having... (full context)

Dawid used to believe Benjamin would come back one day, even when Fiela herself had doubts. At Dawid’s funeral, Fiela thinks back to the time when Fiela and... (full context)

...Nina. He wonders if it’s truly possible that he’s her brother or if maybe he’s Fiela’s child after all. The next morning, a ship comes into the fog. Benjamin talks about... (full context)

It’s a long journey for Benjamin back to Long Kloof. He remembers being Fiela’s hand-child and wonders if he’s actually 20 years old, as Lukas would be. Before Benjamin... (full context)

Fiela tries to get Selling to walk, since his doctors have recommended regular exercise. Selling hasn’t... (full context)

Fiela is determined not to sell her property. After Dawid’s death, she has to hire two... (full context)

As Fiela helps Selling walk, Selling asks about a man he sees in the distance. All of... (full context)

Fiela can’t afford to kill a fatted calf or to celebrate Benjamin’s return, but everyone is... (full context)

...of Benjamin’s return spreads in the Kloof, Petrus and many others come by to visit. Fiela tells Selling that Benjamin has left the Forest for good, but Selling warns that there’s... (full context)

Eventually Benjamin builds a real boat from wood. Fiela is worried about him using it, but Selling encourages him, giving him rowing tips based... (full context)

Eventually, Benjamin admits to Fiela that he’s troubled that he still can’t shake the feeling that, even after coming back... (full context)

Fiela wants to put her land in Benjamin’s name so he can inherit it, but Benjamin... (full context)

Benjamin then confesses to Fiela that he’s somehow in love with his “sister” Nina, though she doesn’t know about his... (full context)

...from Kicker for the sailor Book. It was difficult to Benjamin to leave Wolwekraal, but Fiela understood. Benjamin makes it to Barnard’s Island and finds that things are unusually quiet around... (full context)

Fiela asks Kittie to help her write a letter to Benjamin. She writes that he should... (full context)

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Fiela Character Analysis

Fiela Quotes in Fiela’s Child

Fiela Character Timeline in Fiela’s Child

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