Benjamin faces many problems throughout the novel, Fiela’s Child, but the biggest one is figuring out who he is. With the combination of terrible people and events in his life Benjamin starts to change from the person he was at the beginning of the novel. In the novel, Dalene Matthee develops Benjamin’s internal turmoil of self-identity by presenting external conflicts in his new family and environment, which Benjamin has to adapt to survive, which causes Benjamin to question whether he is a Komoetie or a Van Rooyen.
Throughout the novel, Benjamin is constantly bombarded with terrible events and harassment by the people that forced him away from his home, and in an attempt to survive he adapts to their ways. One of the biggest obstacles Benjamin …show more content…
While adapting to his new family allowed Benjamin to avoid conflict inside the family, it also changed him. As he began to change, Benjamin himself started to doubt his origins, “He was like a snake… He had creep out of Benjamin Komoetie’s skin and become Lukas” (Matthee 205). From this quote the reader can conclude that by this point of the story Benjamin was facing his inner demons and fears of not knowing who he is. And from the tone of this quote the reader can also conclude that Benjamin is clearly distraught with the idea of not knowing who he is. The reader can see this in full affect when Benjamin decides to leave his life behind, “Go home and tell pa I’m not coming back I’m finished with the forest’” (Matthee 251). This shows that Benjamin was running away from his past because he no longer knows who he is. By running away Benjamin was able to avoid the question of his real identity and is also able to create a new identity for himself as a seaman. By assimilating to the Van Rooyen’s family the question becomes even harder for Benjamin to answer, especially because Benjamin feels like he has a responsibility to his