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Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fiela’s Child, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race and Identity
Parenting
Justice
Humanity vs. Nature
Summary
Analysis
One morning, Fiela knows based on the weather that it will be a bad day to harvest aloe. Recently, the ostrich Pollie kicked Fiela’s son Tollie, leaving only a minor injury, although Fiela has heard of children suffering worse injuries from ostrich kicks. Fiela keeps Tollie inside that day. Since they can’t harvest aloe, Fiela tells Benjamin that after he sweeps up the yard and hen-coop, he can play in the river. She tells Kittie and Emma that today is the day she’s putting Kicker and Pollie together in the hopes of breeding them.
Like Elias’s encounter with the elephants, Tollie’s injury from the ostriches shows the power of nature. When Fiela tells Benjamin that he can play in the river but only after sweeping up the yard, she simultaneously asserts and gives up her authority, using that authority to instill a sense of responsibility in Benjamin but also allowing him some freedom to do what he wants.
Themes
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 another week or two. But Fiela insists on going ahead with it. Although she is determined, she does fear that if Pollie and Kicker fight, it could wreck their feathers, which are valuable. Just as everyone is in the middle of putting the ostriches together, a horse-cart carrying the two census-takers appears heading toward the property.
Fiela’s choice about whether to attempt to breed the ostriches sooner or later reflects the harsh environment of Long Kloof, where even a week or two could make the difference between suffering and survival. The horse-cart arrives right as Fiela is making her decision about the ostriches, perhaps hinting that she might not have as much time left with Benjamin as she thought.
Themes
Fiela shouts to Tollie to close the gate so that Pollie can’t escape. 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 thorn branch to keep them from taking him away. The census-takers greet Fiela and say that the new magistrate has sent them. There will be a trial in Knysna, and the mother of the lost child from several years ago (Barta) will come to see if Benjamin is hers.
Benjamin’s use of the thorn branch to try to keep the census-takers away shows how he has internalized the lessons Fiela has taught him (since she taught him how to guide the ostriches with thorn branches). It also represents how powerless Benjamin and Fiela are against the larger authority that the census-takers (and their boss, the magistrate) represent.
Themes
Fiela protests once again that 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 their cart because the trial will take place on Friday, and it would take too 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 Fiela is trying to hide him. At last, the census-takers say they’ll be there the next day to pick up Benjamin—and if he’s not ready, the constable is likely to come and just take Benjamin without asking.
The census-takers try to calm Fiela by appealing to law and order. While they claim that the magistrate will make a fair judgment, such claims make no difference if the laws or their enforcement of them (or both) are racist, stacking the odds against a Coloured woman like Benjamin. Even though Benjamin himself is white, he may still face the consequences of this racist legal system, suggesting that racism affects everyone, not just its intended victims.
Themes
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Fiela debates whether to have Benjamin go hide in the mountains or to prepare to send him to Knysna for a trial. She worries a tiger might kill Benjamin if he’s left alone in the mountains. She decides she has to send him to Knysna, so she tells him about the trial but promises that he’ll be back on Saturday. Fiela sends Dawid out to get Benjamin some new shirts. As they prepare that evening for Benjamin to go, the two ostriches just stand around.
Fiela’s debate over what to do with Benjamin is like a higher-stakes version of her decision about the ostriches. Unlike in that case, however, now Fiela decides against the riskier option. This suggests that unlike Elias, Fiela understands that trying to exert control could cause more harm.
Themes
Fiela bathes Benjamin one last time. She instructs him to address the magistrate politely, not tell lies and not mention that Selling has been in jail before. She says he might need to show the magistrate how he can read and write. Benjamin asks if he’ll also need to show his multiplication tables, but 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.
Fiela’s decision to go along with the magistrate and the census-takers suggests not that she is giving up on Benjamin but that she recognizes how much more powerful the magistrate is than her. While Fiela is willing to take risks, she knows that things don’t go well when a Coloured person tries to challenge the magistrate’s authority.
Themes
