Consequality In Fiela's Child

From the time European settlers came to South Africa, it has been racially unequal. Although the country has 19.5 millions blacks and only 4 million whites (History of Apartheid in South Africa), it is ruled and controlled by whites. Dalene Matthee saw this inequality in her life growing up during the apartheid. She challenges this in her novel, Fiela’s Child, through the characterization of Elias and Fiela, developing them as embodiments of the white and black communities of South Africa. Throughout the novel, Elias is represented as an overall bad person. Elias’ character is extremely ignorant and selfish. When dealing with the disappearance of Lukas, Elias just repeats that he 's not truly missing. “How often must I tell you?” (Matthee …show more content…
Her character is helping and caring. When Fiela sees people in need, she helps right away. “She heard the children struggling… and grabbed a branch to go and help them” (15). She doesn 't close her children out or deny the problem. She faces it head on and helps them. Mathee develops Fiela’s character as caring when she is taking care of her ostriches. She makes sure that there is enough food, that they are together at the right time. She doesn’t only treat them as her livestock. She treats them as an extension of her family. Fiela’s helpful and caring personality develops her as a personification of the black community in South Africa. The development of Elias and Fiela’s characters challenges racial …show more content…
This develops her as a strong, confident woman. She didn’t let what other people said to her stop her from being who she was. The people who most often disrespected her were the city men. Not only was she a woman, but she was also black. That was seen as the lowest of lows. As the two men from Knysna came to the Komoetie’s to inquire about Benjamin, Fiela treated them with the utmost respect. She addressed them as “master” (24). She answered all their questions and treated them as she would anyone. Although she treated them with respect, they treated her as scum. When asking about Benjamin they said “I just want to ask him something woman” (25). The man not only uses a harsh tone with her but he addresses her as woman. If Fiela was white, he would have said ma’am as they do in the city. Since Fiela is a working black woman in the Kloof, he treats her like nothing. Not only the men who came to her house disrespected her, but a woman and boy in the city treated her in the same manner. As Fiela came into town, she greeted a woman with a polite gesture. “Evening” (143) was all she said. When Fiela asked for help she denied it. When Fiela continued on to find where she was going a boy came up to her. “Is auntie looking for someone” (144), he asked. “Auntie is in a bad mood” (145), is what he responds with after she calls him out for calling her “auntie”. Not only does he call her auntie, which was a derogatory term for black