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Apartheid
A racial categorization under apartheid that is equivalent to mixed-race. Under apartheid, Coloured people were often given more privileges and slightly superior status compared to black South Africans, but both groups were given vastly inferior conditions to white South Africans. This difference in status turned the two groups against one another, a dynamic that is explored in Boesman and Lena. Boesman and Lena are both Coloured, while the old man is black and of Xhosa descent, which is why they often use derogatory slurs to describe him and treat him as having a lower status than themselves.
Coloured Quotes in Boesman and Lena
The Boesman and Lena quotes below are all either spoken by Coloured or refer to Coloured. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act One
Quotes
A Coloured man—Boesman—walks on. Heavily burdened. On his back an old mattress and blanket, a blackened paraffin tin, an apple box…these contain a few simple cooking utensils, items of clothing etc., etc.
[…]
After a few seconds a Coloured woman—Lena—appears. She is similarly burdened—no mattress though—and carries her load on her head.
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Act Two
Quotes
BOESMAN: […] That’s all it is, tonight or any other night. Two dead Hotnots living together.
And you want him to look? To see? He must close his eyes. That’s what I’ll say for you in the kaffertaal.
Musa khangela! Don’t look! That’s what you must tell him. Musa khangela!
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Get the entire Boesman and Lena LitChart as a printable PDF.
Coloured Term Timeline in Boesman and Lena
The timeline below shows where the term Coloured appears in Boesman and Lena. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act One
Boesman, a Coloured man, enters the empty stage. He is overburdened with old household items (a mattress, an...
(full context)
...pondok (shanty) and thanking him when he had done so. At the same time, the Coloured people were running around trying to save their things. Boesman had laughed at them all.
(full context)
