Cry The Beloved Country And Siddhartha Comparison

At first glance, Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha and Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country seem like two entirely different novels with hardly anything in common. However, when the reader takes a closer look at both stories, he will find two similarities between the novels, both of which relate to truth. Firstly, although the process is different, both stories convey the theme that truth is essential to the cessation of suffering. Secondly, although the specific details are not the same, both stories also reveal that the road to finding truth is long, hard, and difficult, but ultimately rewarding. In both Siddhartha and Cry the Beloved Country, truth, in one way or another, helps to end suffering and is difficult to achieve. In both Siddhartha
In Siddhartha, Siddhartha goes through several phases in his path to truth and nirvana. He jumps from the extreme asceticism of being a Samana, to the materialistic splendor of city life, and back again in search of truth. Clearly, this path took several years, and an individual without Siddhartha’s perseverance or willpower would have most likely given up. Only when Siddhartha realizes that “When someone is searching...He is then unable to find anything or let any thought enter his mind because he thinks of nothing but the object of his search (130)”, does Siddhartha find truth. This meant that Siddhartha had to soak up every bit of wisdom and knowledge he could in his path to finding truth, becoming a finder rather than a seeker. However, Siddhartha’s effort was one he undertook, for the most part, alone. The guidance of Vasuveda certainly helped, but Siddhartha spent most of his search alone, and he alone reaped the rewards of his finding of truth. In contrast, realizing truth in Cry the Beloved Country is a collective effort which ultimately rewards the collective as a whole. The realization of truth faces much resistance from privileged white men in positions of power, who oppose educating natives on the basis that “more schooling simply means cleverer criminals” (107). For every Stephen Kumalo, James Jarvis, or Arthur Jarvis, there are more powerful, pro-Apartheid white men. On top of this, the pro-Native movement is led by corrupt individuals like John Kumalo, who is “corrupted by his possessions, and he fears their loss, and the loss of the power he already has” (221). With opposition of this magnitude, the realization of truth cannot be an individual effort. It instead takes the effort and complete integrity of an entire community, as the efforts of just a single individual