A Lesson from Aloes | Essays and Criticism

  • The Importance of Language in A Lesson from Aloes

    Perkins is a professor of twentieth-century American and British literature and film. In the following essay, she considers the importance of language in the play.

  • Athol Fugard Overview

    In the following essay, the critic gives an overview of (Harold) Athol Fugard’s work.

  • Fugard and his Characters

    In the following excerpt, Weales points out that Fugard writes about what he knows. As a South African, glimpses of Fugard can be found in his character Piet in A Lesson from Aloes and the characters in the play “are necessarily South African.”

  • The Afrikaner Characters in A Lesson from Aloes

    In the following excerpt, Durbach explores the Afrikaner characters in A Lesson from Aloes who want to “create a world of sustaining order” amid the chaos in South Africa in the 1960s, like the “miraculous” aloe plant which springs forth from seemingly deficient and hostile land.