Boesman and Lena

by

Athol Fugard

Themes and Colors
Oppression, Freedom, and Self-Worth Theme Icon
Violence, Cruelty, and Power Theme Icon
Racism and Status Theme Icon
Connection vs. Isolation Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Boesman and Lena, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Violence, Cruelty, and Power Theme Icon

Although Boesman and Lena, the titular main characters of the play, are a couple, Fugard makes it immediately clear that the characters have become largely devoid of affection for each other. As they feel powerless to fight their arduous circumstances in apartheid-era South Africa, they bicker, taunt, and abuse each other, as well as the old man who wanders into their camp in the middle of the night. Over the course of the play, the dynamics shift between them in terms of who has the upper hand. Thus, Fugard depicts cruelty and violent abuse as tools for the characters to feel powerful and have a degree of control over their lives.

Initially, Boesman has the upper hand, which he adopts by beating and berating Lena. Fugard quickly establishes this the norm for how Boesman treats Lena, even from the characters’ entrance: Boesman walks in front of Lena, ignoring her pleas to stop because she is exhausted, and refuses to tell her where they are walking. He also delivers constant threats of beatings and other aggressive language. That morning, when Boesman and Lena were forced to evacuate their pondok, Boesman dropped three empty bottles (which they would have exchanged for money) and blamed Lena, beating her and leaving countless bruises on her body. It quickly becomes clear that this is a pattern of Boesman’s. When Lena sees the old man wandering in the dark, she invites him over, which angers Boesman and he moves violently towards her as she cowers. Later, when Lena tries to open a bottle of wine without Boesman’s permission, he grabs a stick and moves to beat her with it. Lena hides behind the old man, yelling “Watch! He’s going to kill me.” Lena ultimately understands where this violence comes from, as she remarks towards the end of the play, “When Boesman doesn’t understand something, he hits it.” This is representative of the apartheid system as a whole. When Boesman feels powerless and struggles to understand why his life is so miserable, he gets angry and reacts with violence. The violence is a way of allowing Boesman to feel like he has control—both over Lena, and over his life.

Physical violence is not the only way that Boesman gains power over Lena—he is also manipulative and cruel to her, making her question her reality over and over again. At the beginning of the play, Boesman refuses to even talk to Lena. She prattles on with no response from him. She begs him to talk to her, saying, “Don’t be like that tonight, man. This is a lonely place. Just us two. Talk to me […] I’ll go mad.” He is purposefully driving her to feel like she is losing her mind as another means of manipulation. Boesman again makes Lena feel that she is going insane when she tries to reconstruct the paths they have taken and the order of the various towns they have visited. Boesman purposefully makes her misremember the order that she comes up with to completely unmoor her from her past journey. He laughs at her, performing vulgar pantomimes of her confusion. Laughter is a key part of Boesman’s manipulation, as he laughs not out of joy, but in order to torment Lena. This violence and cruelty culminates when Boesman reveals to Lena that he, in fact broke the empty bottles, not Lena—and he had beaten her for it. Thus, he claims power over her not only through physical violence, but also in completely reshaping her reality and changing her memory of various events.

Although Boesman has the upper hand throughout most of the book, in the end, Lena flips the dynamic on him by manipulating Boesman’s sense of reality. After the old man dies (peacefully) in their camp, Lena convinces Boesman that the white men will come to lock Boesman up for the old man’s death. Fugard writes, “Boesman moves uncertainly towards the body, unable to ignore the possibility with which she is tormenting him.” Her ideas have become just as insidious as his. Lena also then convinces Boesman that the old man is not, in fact, dead, causing him to beat the dead body and make it look even more like Boesman originally killed him. When Boesman frantically packs their things, trying to get away from the body, Lena laughs at him—again, flipping their dynamic and fulfilling the idea that she has taken the power over him.

By the conclusion of the play, Boesman and Lena settle on a plane of equality. They stop laughing at each other, and Boesman seems unable to beat Lena. He confesses the true path that they took to get to Swartkops, giving her some peace of mind. Lena also instructs Boesman to begin their journey away from Swartkops, “but not so fast,” demonstrating that she now has some control over their pace. As the play ends, Boesman and Lena walk together into the darkness, in contrast to the way they walked in. Ultimately, the characters understand that their powerlessness cannot be remedied by violence and cruelty towards each other: it is an arbitrary power that actually gains them nothing but additional hardship at each other’s hands.

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Violence, Cruelty, and Power ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Violence, Cruelty, and Power appears in each act of Boesman and Lena. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Violence, Cruelty, and Power Quotes in Boesman and Lena

Below you will find the important quotes in Boesman and Lena related to the theme of Violence, Cruelty, and Power.
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.

Related Characters: Boesman, Lena
Page Number: 143
Explanation and Analysis:

LENA: Wasn’t it after Redhouse? Out last time here. Remember, that boer chased us off his land. Then we came here. Is that right?
[Boesman ignores her.]
Then we went to Korsten.
BOESMAN: After here we went to Korsten?
LENA: Ja. [Boesman laughs at her derisively.] How was it then? [Pause.] You won’t tell me.

Related Characters: Boesman (speaker), Lena (speaker), Old Man
Page Number: 150-151
Explanation and Analysis:

BOESMAN: Yessus, Lena! You’re lost.
LENA: Do you really know, Boesman? Where and how?
BOESMAN: Yes!
LENA: Tell me.
[He laughs.]
Help me, Boesman!
BOESMAN. What? Find yourself?
[Boesman launches into a grotesque pantomime of a search. Lena watches him with hatred.]
[Calling.] Lena! Lena!

Related Characters: Boesman (speaker), Lena (speaker)
Page Number: 156
Explanation and Analysis:

BOESMAN: Forget it. Now is the only time in your life.
LENA: No! ‘Now.’ What’s that? I wasn’t born today. I want my life. Where’s it?

Related Characters: Boesman (speaker), Lena (speaker)
Related Symbols: Pondok
Page Number: 158
Explanation and Analysis:

LENA: […] Look, Outa. I want you to look.
[Showing him the bruises on her arms and face.]
No, not that one. That’s a old one. This one. And here. Just because I dropped the sack with the empties. I would have been dead if they hadn’t laughed. When other people laugh he gets ashamed.

Related Characters: Lena (speaker), Boesman, Old Man
Page Number: 164
Explanation and Analysis:
Act Two Quotes

LENA: […] Why must you hurt me so much? What have I really done? Why didn’t you hit yourself this morning? You broke the bottles. Or the whiteman that kicked us out? Why did you hit me?

Related Characters: Lena (speaker), Boesman
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:

BOESMAN: Well, I’m just warning you, you better have answers ready. Dead man! There’s going to be questions.
LENA: About him? About rubbish? […] Hot stuff, hey. ‘What’s his name?’ ‘Where’s he come from?’
BOESMAN: Never saw him before in my life!
LENA: ‘Who did it?’
BOESMAN: [sharply] Did what? He died by himself.
LENA: Too bad you can’t tell them, Outa.
BOESMAN: I did nothing.
LENA: Why don’t they ask some questions when we’re alive?

Related Characters: Boesman (speaker), Lena (speaker), Old Man
Page Number: 191
Explanation and Analysis:

LENA: […] That’s the worst. When you didn’t do it. Like the hiding you gave me for dropping the empties. Now you’ll know what it feels like. You were clever to tell me. It hurt more than your fists. You know where you feel that one? Inside. Where your fists can’t reach. A bruise there!

Related Characters: Lena (speaker), Boesman, Old Man
Page Number: 193-194
Explanation and Analysis:

LENA [pause….she is loaded]: Is that the way it was? How I got here?
BOESMAN: Yes.
LENA: Truly?
BOESMAN: Yes.
[Pause.]
LENA: It doesn’t explain anything.
BOESMAN: I know.
LENA: Anyway, somebody saw a little bit. Dog and a dead man.

Related Characters: Boesman (speaker), Lena (speaker), Old Man
Related Symbols: Dog
Page Number: 196-197
Explanation and Analysis: