Previous
Selling
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:
).
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:
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.
Get the entire Fiela’s Child LitChart as a printable PDF.
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:
).
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:
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.
