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Fiela's Child Quotes

Decent Essays

In Matthee’s novel, Fiela’s Child, the main character, Lukas/Benjamin, battles back and forth with his identity, however the author is able to establish the idea that one’s personal identity can be established through the environment that one grows up with rather than what skin color one has, and because of Matthee’s use of personification, symbols, and imagery, she is able to set forth this idea in the near end of the novel. In Matthee’s novel, the idea of identity coming through the environment is able to present itself because of the personification that Matthee implements in her novel. While Lukas is on his way to find Nina due to his father’s orders, Lukas decided to stop on his journey to find Nina and instead went to see the ship that …show more content…

In this quote, which personified the ship, we can see that Lukas is lost and is still wandering about looking for his true identity, and because Lukas compares himself to the boat saying that both did not belong where they were in their current lives, we are able to see that Lukas is not comfortable with who is. By comparing himself to the ship that is lost and wandering about, we are able to see the inner turmoil that Lukas is still facing, and the reader is able to establish a sense of unconformity with the current person that Lukas is since he does not appear to be content and claims that he is “lost.” Furthermore, in that same location, we see Lukas talking to John Benn and suddenly, “stopped and stood with his back to the cold, wet cliffs - it was like standing in the jaws of a mythical beast,” (Matthee, 247). When Lukas uses this personification, he gives the ocean and the vastness of it life and excitement that he never used to describe the forest, rather he always used a monotone voice whenever he talked about the forest, which is where we saw him mold into Lukas, who appeared sad and showed very little interest in life. However, with this quote, Lukas admires the presence of the ocean and gives it life by comparing it to a “mythical beast.” So,

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