The census-takers are a pair of men in black hats and suits who forever change the lives of two families when they decide that the white Benjamin is not the rightfully adopted son of the “Coloured” (multiracial) farmers Fiela and Selling but in fact the long-lost son Lukas of Elias and Barta van Rooyen , an Afrikaner family. The census-takers appear polite on the surface, assuring Fiela that they will make promptly return Benjamin if it turns out he isn’t Barta’s son. This all ends up being a lie, however, when one of the census-takers specifically intervenes in the magistrate’s trial to ensure that Benjamin ends up going to live with the white van Rooyens. The census-takers represent institutional racism, showing how people can use the justice system to carry out acts of discrimination and injustice.
The Census-Takers Quotes in Fiela’s Child
The Fiela’s Child quotes below are all either spoken by The Census-Takers or refer to The Census-Takers. 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 3
Quotes
‘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.’
Related Characters:
The Census-Takers (speaker), Fiela (speaker), Benjamin, Lukas, The Magistrate
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7
Quotes
‘Is this a church?’ he asked the tall one.
‘No. It’s a courtroom. Sit there on the bench and sit still.’
Related Characters:
Benjamin (speaker), The Census-Takers (speaker), The Magistrate, Fiela
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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.
The Census-Takers Character Timeline in Fiela’s Child
The timeline below shows where the character The Census-Takers appears in Fiela’s Child. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...like either preachers or peddlers. Fiela is suspicious of strangers. The men explain that they’re census-takers there from the government. Fiela hopes that Benjamin goes far away with the boats so...
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Fiela worries again about Benjamin when the census-takers begin asking questions about her children. Kittie, their first child was born in 1856, then...
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All of a sudden, while Fiela is answering questions for the census-takers, Benjamin comes back from his boats. The census-takers instantly notice that unlike the rest of...
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The census-takers accuse Fiela of lying to them. She admits she doesn’t know when Benjamin was born...
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Chapter 4
Time passes. By April, Fiela begins to feel better when the census-takers don’t come back. Selling tries to reassure her the men are gone for good. The...
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Toward the end of April, Fiela begins to forget about the census-takers and instead begins to worry about how The ostrich Kicker doesn’t seem interested in mating...
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Chapter 6
...everyone is in the middle of putting the ostriches together, a horse-cart carrying the two census-takers appears heading toward the property.
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...Fiela sees Benjamin and knows that he has some idea what’s going on—he asked about census-takers one day when he and Fiela were out harvesting aloe. Now, he holds out a...
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...Benjamin couldn’t have walked over the mountains on his own at three years old. The census-takers say the court case will clear everything up. They need to take Benjamin themselves in...
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...Fiela assures him he won’t. The next morning, everyone gets up and has breakfast. The census-takers come back with their horse cart and take Benjamin away.
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Chapter 7
Benjamin shivers as the census-takers take him in the horse cart through the mountains. When the one man asks if...
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Benjamin tells the census-takers he wants to go home, but they say they want no more trouble from him...
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More time passes, and one of the census-takers says they’re finally more than halfway to Knysna and will reach the Forest in about...
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...to the Forest, Benjamin finds it beautiful and is excited that elephants live there. The census-takers say he should always keep an eye out for elephants while in the Forest. Benjamin...
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...the forest village, he thinks all the white people there look strange and poor. The census-takers bring Benjamin to the magistrate’s place, which seems to be a big school full of...
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Eventually, the census-takers bring Benjamin to a large room full of wooden benches. He asks if it’s a...
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Chapter 15
...not to be too proud, and Selling joins in. At last, Fiela admits that the census-takers took Benjamin away.
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Chapter 29
...a lineup of five children, but before she walked into the room, one of the census-takers whispered to her “the one wearing the blue shirt.” Benjamin was the only one wearing...
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Benjamin feels a storm inside him. He decides he needs to see the census-taker who determined his fate. He goes to the magistrate’s office and finds the man, who...
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