Fiela's Child (Fiela se Kind)

Fiela is Benjamin’s mother, although the truth of this is questionable for most of the novel. She takes in Benjamin when she finds him on her doorstep, a selfless act that she must know comes with potential complications given that he is a white child. When the magistrate takes the boy away from her, she knows that it is a mistake. Even though she is eventually forced to relinquish him to the courts, she never stops believing that he is hers. She is a symbol of what it truly means to be a mother to a child. Fiela is also a symbol of defiance to the white racism of South Africa, as she is unafraid to stand up to the authorities who took her child from her. 

Selling is Fiela’s husband, a complicated man in failing health who committed a murder in the past. He supports Fiela however he can, but he is unable to act as much more than a voice of reason and conscience. At no point does he seem like a stronger character than his wife. 

Barta’s child was lost in a river and died. She took Benjamin, who they called Lukas, as her own. For more than 20 years, she keeps the secret of the child’s identity, even perjuring herself in court while claiming that Benjamin is hers. She does her best to be a mother to the child. However, Barta typically wilts in the face of her husband’s anger and will, letting him run their house and treat their children how he sees fit.

Elias is Barta’s husband, a bitter beam-maker who dreams of riches. He is never demonstratively affectionate to his family. Rather, he sees his sons as laborers who can increase his ability to earn, and his daughter Nina as a nuisance and troublemaker. Unsatisfied with his ability to earn enough money through woodwork, he develops a scheme to trap elephants in order to harvest their tusks for the ivory. After, he believes that all of the elephants have placed a curse on him, and he is afraid to leave his home most of the time. In the end, he is trampled by an elephant and reduced to a shell of his former self.

Nina is Elias and Barta’s daughter, and serves as the embodiment of the forest people. She loves nothing more than to be wandering in the trees, and hates nothing more than to be in a regimented domestic life, serving the whims of others. She shares an uneasy bond with Benjamin, who understands her better than her parents. As adults, Benjamin falls in love with her, a situation made difficult by the fact that they are unsure if they are related by blood.