Petrus is one of the most influential white residents of the town near where Fiela, Selling, and their children live. Petrus is one of the more sympathetic white authority figures in the novel, providing money to Fiela and Selling to help them get married and start their own life. Nevertheless, even from the start Petrus has conflicted motives: part of the reason why Petrus helps Selling get married is because he doesn’t want Selling to move on to another town and take a new job. Similarly, Petrus seems to genuinely want to help Fiela attempt to reclaim her adopted white son Benjamin, but after meeting with the (white) magistrate, he accepts the magistrate’s judgment that Benjamin is not Fiela’s and fails to see the flaws in the magistrate’s process. Petrus represents how in a racist society, even seemingly well-intentioned members of the dominant class can cause harm to marginalized people, either through naivety or through an unwillingness to question the injustice around them.
Petrus Quotes in Fiela’s Child
The Fiela’s Child quotes below are all either spoken by Petrus or refer to Petrus. 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:
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Chapter 11
Quotes
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.
Related Characters:
Petrus, Selling, Fiela, Kies Laghaan
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17
Quotes
In fact Petrus did not come riding up the Kloof until late on Thursday. Alone. A sugar-cake was waiting on the kitchen table.
Related Characters:
Petrus, Fiela, Selling, Benjamin, The Magistrate
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Fiela’s Child LitChart as a printable PDF.
Petrus Character Timeline in Fiela’s Child
The timeline below shows where the character Petrus appears in Fiela’s Child. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 11
...a couple of Selling’s children before they’re married. Selling works for a white harness-maker named Petrus who wants to keep Selling around as a worker, so he himself helps arrange for...
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One Christmas Eve, Selling helps lock up Petrus’s property while he and his family are away. But a sheep that Petrus had gifted...
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...his lamb and claiming it was one of his own. Kies died that night. With Petrus out of town, there’s no one to stop the constables from leading Selling away. Early...
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Petrus returns and hears about Selling’s murder charge. He uses his influence to get Selling’s hanging...
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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...
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Chapter 15
...look through the Bible to find a specific passage. Eventually, she asks for help from Petrus, who informs her that the passages she’s thinking about is the Judgement of Solomon in...
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Petrus asks Fiela if anything’s wrong with her family—he thinks Selling looks unhealthy. Fiela doesn’t want...
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Fiela goes back home to Wolwekraal. The next day, Petrus comes by and asks her again, this time in front of Selling, if anything is...
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Petrus wishes Fiela had told him sooner so that he could help, although he thinks it...
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Petrus advises Fiela not to do anything more on her own so that he himself has...
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Chapter 17
...he is preparing to mate. Fiela rearranges the property to give the ostriches more privacy. Petrus has been away for a few days, delayed by rain, and no one knows for...
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Petrus says he spent a long time talking with the magistrate and believes that the magistrate...
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Chapter 25
...gets there, he finds Nina, who has a message for him. Apparently, a man from Petrus was looking for “Benjamin Komoetie” to tell him that his brother Dawid has died. The...
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Chapter 27
As news of Benjamin’s return spreads in the Kloof, Petrus and many others come by to visit. Fiela tells Selling that Benjamin has left the...
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