Boesman and Lena: Analysis of Major Characters
"Boesman and Lena" is a play that explores the complex dynamics between its two main characters, Boesman and Lena, a mixed-race couple in their fifties, as they navigate the harsh realities of their life in apartheid-era South Africa. Boesman embodies a cynical acceptance of their bleak existence, shaped by a history of dispossession and a belief that questioning their circumstances is futile. His hardened demeanor creates tension with Lena, who is characterized by her compulsion to ask why their lives are so desolate and her desire to reflect on their past experiences. Lena's yearning for companionship and understanding contrasts sharply with Boesman's focus on survival in the present, highlighting the emotional rift between them.
The introduction of Old African, an elderly man representing decay and loneliness, further complicates their interactions. While Lena sees Old African as a potential connection to humanity, Boesman views him as an unwelcome intruder. This conflict between the characters not only deepens the exploration of their individual struggles but also serves as a microcosm of broader societal issues related to race, identity, and the human need for connection. Overall, "Boesman and Lena" examines themes of despair, disillusionment, and the yearning for understanding in an oppressive context.
Boesman and Lena: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Athol Fugard
First published: 1969
Genre: Play
Locale: South Africa
Plot: Protest
Time: The late 1960's
Boesman, a “colored” (mixed-race) South African in his fifties. He and his wife, Lena, wander along the mudflats of a South African river after being driven away from their home by white authorities as part of a slum clearance. Boesman's personality is shown in how he reacts to this situation: He accepts his and Lena's bleak life with a hardened demeanor. That this dispossession is the latest in a series of such incidents in Boesman and Lena's lives helps to explain Boesman's cynical personality. His manner is exemplified by his refusal to stop and ponder why he and Lena—or, in fact, South Africa's nonwhites as a group—suffer such a grim fate as his and Lena's. Boesman believes that asking such questions of existence is futile. He believes that it is sufficient to know only the surface of life, merely to endure what life deals, and not to question or complain. For these reasons, Boesman is in conflict with Lena, and that conflict constitutes the major tension of the play. Boesman's rationale for his feelings that he and Lena must concentrate solely on the present and not probe into the reasons for the hardships of their existence is that life is solely the present and that the past—or how he and Lena got to the present—is irrelevant. These beliefs are central to Boesman's and the play's development. The height of both the play's and Boesman's development comes when he reveals why he holds the beliefs he does about his and Lena's condition. He reveals that a main component of his personality is his disillusionment with the powerless life he has led, believing that his and Lena's lives themselves—and not merely their situation—are futile and meaningless. Thus, the plot of the play hinges on Boesman's reactions to and interpretation of his and Lena's plight and how the two of them clash on these issues.
Lena, Boesman's wife, a mixed-race woman in her fifties. A major aspect of her personality is her compulsion to ask why their situation is as bleak as it is. One of the major aspects of Lena's outlook on life is her belief in questioning: She clearly believes that for life to be worth living, one must examine it. Lena, for example, unlike Boesman, wants to delve into the past, to retrace their steps so she can know how the two of them arrived at their present situation. Another main component of Lena's personality, unlike Boesman's, is that Lena regrets their lack of companionship, in terms of their relationships both with each other and with the outside world.
Old African, a man of an unspecified age who is, according to the author, the quintessence of old age and decay. He meets Boesman and Lena on the mudflats. His presence is important in showing the futility of Lena's desire for communication with others (he speaks only Xhosa, which Lena does not understand) and in making clear the frustrating nature of humanity's desire to overcome loneliness, for he also wishes to communicate with Lena about his exhaustion, the fact that he is lost, and his own impending death. The appearance of Old African heightens the conflict between Boesman and Lena. To Lena, the man is a possible link to humanity; to Boesman, he is merely an anonymous and intrusive old black man. The Old African, therefore, serves two purposes: to show Lena's need for human companionship and to develop the tension and contrast between Boesman and Lena.