Fiela’s Child- Dalene Matthee Comparisons Essay

Throughout this thought-provoking novel, Matthee shows us how the environment where mint be brought up, plays a strong part in who they become. She compares and contrasts the bright, open chimneysweeper of the Long Kloof with the unforgivingness of the timbre, as well as the inhabitants of these areas.The novel tells us the story of a son who struggles to understand who he is and where he belongs. This boy is Benjamin Komoetie.Despite spending his younger years in the safekeeping of Fiela Komoetie, a black woman, interference by white wad upturns his vitality and sends Benjamin into the tone to live with woodcutters. This transfer is confusing for a twelve-year-old, and blush the insistence of his parvenu white family that he has returned home, can non quell his longing for the Kloof and his family there.Matthee oftentimes uses nature to describe events in the story and also connects shades of dark and light to the places. The plenty of the Forest are almost backwards i n their ways they have little or no education and their homes are ramshackle huts. However, some of the Forest dwellers are aware of their insignificance to the village people and other outsiders. During a conversation between Elias van Rooyen (Benjamins new father) and Malie (one of Benjamins aunts), Malie says Im almost forty Elias, and Ive been outside this Forest only twice in my life, and that was just as far as the village.-I say again, if we should all die from a plague this very day, a few(prenominal) would notice. (pg.135-136)The Forest affects its community in many a(prenominal) ways it is the life and death of the woodcutters and families. Yet, being from the Long Kloof, Benjamin (now called Lukas) struggles to sidestep from a feeling of confinement. The colossal trees that tower all around and cube out the sun seem to imprison him further. This reservoir is just laterward he reaches his new home, complicated in the bush They were somewhere deep within the Forest, it was dark and he was very scared for he did not know how he would ever get out of there again. It was worry when you crawled into the crevices after rock rabbits to get at them with a stick and it got so narrow around you that you started sweating with fear. (pg.101)This claustrophobia is very difficult to cope with after the hot, white light Long Kloof. Even the plants are different and Matthee emphasises how funny the cool greenery is compared to low yellow scrubland across the veldt.The Forest people are uneducated and rely upon each other for many things. This is shown when the avant-garde Rooyen family has to borrow scissors to cut Ninas (Benjamins sister) hair. The family has very few possessions and when Fiela sends Benjamin his personal effects from the Long Kloof, they are immediately snapped up by his new people. I think that the constant shade and shadow. combine with always being confined to the Forest makes the inhabitants wary of the outside serviceman and almos t wild in their ways.The Long Kloof id hugely different from the Forest and the Komoetie household is independent from the rest of the local landowners. These differences influence those who live in whichever community and Benjamin becomes aware of this. One of the moments where we see how he recalls his cause life is a Sunday in the Forest On Sundays he longed for the openness of the Kloof, or anywhere where he could have looked into the distance the Forest was so dense, the forest people never saw far plainly they did not miss the open country for the Forest was their home. (pg. 210)Every reference to the surroundings that Matthee gives us, relates to the way the different people live their lives. This is an interesting tie-up for the relationships within each community and as Benjamin interacts with either family, we are shown very different attitudes and characters.