The Theme of Reuniting Nation in ¡°Cry, the Beloved Country¡±

When the western powers moved forward to South Africa, they cast a forceful impact on South Africa¡¯s tribal system, and caused the tribal system to disintegrate. The tribal system relied on the family as the basic unit for survival. The mass exodus of young people left their agricultural communities and immigrating to Johannesburg to seek low paid jobs, likes miners, etc. These people pulled their family apart, forgot their customs and never came back to their home. When families were broken, the tribal system broke as well. In 1948, the Nationalist Party won the election and created the system of strict racial segregation known as apartheid. Under this oppression, many natives resorted to a life of crime in order to try and improve their social position. Some white people thought apartheid was not a long-term solution for natives¡¯ problem. So, they stood out and helped the black people to solve their problems. In the novel, ¡°Cry, The Beloved Country,¡± Alan Paton showed the way those white and black people struggled for justice, and their dreams of reuniting families and their nation by comparing the stories of Kumalo and Jarvis. Kumalo was a poor black priest whose sorrows and family tragedies symbolized the suffering natives in South Africa, and Jarvis was a conservative rich landowner who symbolized those rich white people that had sympathy to the blacks and hoped to improve things in South Africa. Paton portrayed a picture of human relationships that showed how pain, suffering and love can bring people together to improve the natives¡¯ lives, to regain their social equality and to reunite their broken families and their nation. First of all, Kumalo and Jarvis both suffered the loss of their sons. Kumalo went all the way from Ixopo to Johannesburg to look for his separated relatives in order to bring them back to recreate the tribal system. When Kumalo finally saw his son, Absalom, in prison, he found out his son was guilty of murdering a renowned white man. The person his son murdered, Arthur Jarvis, was a devotee to finding a solution to the natives¡¯ problems. At the end, Absalom was executed because of the crime. This horrible incident shattered Kumalo¡¯s dream of reuniting the family. Also, Jarvis went all the way from Ixopo to Johannesburg to join his son¡¯s funeral. The horrible tragedy tied the two fathers together, forced them to confront the reality and reassessed their social values. Secondary, Kumalo and Jarvis found strength from this terrible journey and changed their social values. Originally, Kmalo clung to his old ways, and simply tried to bring his family together once more and recreate the tribal system. As he traveled to Johannesburg and witnessed the destruction of the tribal system, he realized it was impossible, for he lost all three members of his family who could not make the transition back to the way things were. Msimangu inspired Kumalo to confront the problems of this society. For example, Msimangu told Kumalo that the real problem was not what the white man had done to the natives, but the fact that the natives had not been able to recover. Msimangu believed that the answer lied not in rebuilding the tribe, but in deciding what to do now that the tribe was gone (55-56). Also, Msimangu¡¯s sermon at Ezenzeleni healed Kumalo¡¯s broken heart. For instance, he said: ¡°¡­And I will bring the blind by a way they knew not, I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight. These things I will do unto them and not forsake them...¡± Kumalo understood that Msimangu had spoken to him and let him know that we were not forsaken (123). Kumalo then realized that human beings existed not in isolation but were connected. And that helped him to understand that love and compassion could wipe out pain and suffering. Likewise, Jarvis was inspired by his son¡¯s work to bring justice to all the people. Before his son¡¯s death, he had never thought much about the natives¡¯ problems. For example, in Arthur¡¯s ¡°Private Essay on the Evolution of a South African,¡± he said: ¡°I am born on a farm, bring up by honorable parents, given all that a child can need or desire. They are upright and kind and law-abiding; they teach me my prayers and take me regularly to church; they have no trouble with servants and my father is never short of labor. From them I learn all that a child should learn of honor and charity and generosity. But of South Africa I learn nothing at all (207).¡± After studying his son¡¯s books and writings, Jarvis underwent an ¡°education of the heart¡±. He found strength in his son¡¯s work and no longer felt anguished over his son¡¯s death. For example, when Jarvis left the house by the back door, he turned and walked towards the front door. He was not afraid of the passage and the stain on the floor; he was not going that way any more, that was all (209). It seemed that he was now walking a new path in his life which his son found but couldn¡¯t finish. Third, Kumalo and Jarvis found hope in the younger generation, and they saw a brighter future. Kumalo returned home with a new family that consisted of his sister¡¯s son and his son¡¯s pregnant wife. They were the new hope for the future. Kumalo was going to make sure that they did not follow the path of their parents. He was going to do his best to help solve the problems they faced and not just blamed everything on the whites. For example, Kumalo confronted the chief to do something constructive to solve the drought problem and requested teaching people in school how to care for the land (265-267). Kumalo moved from concern for his family to the larger concern for the progress of South Africa. In the same way, Jarvis poured his heart into helping the natives. One example, at the station Jarvis gave John Harrison an envelope and said, ¡° Open it when I am gone.¡± So, when the train had gone, young Harrison opened it, ¡°For your club,¡± it said, ¡° Do all the things you and Arthur wanted to do if you like to call it the ¡®Arthur Jarvis Club¡¯, I¡¯ll be pleased. But that is not a condition.¡± Young Harrison turned it over to look at the check underneath. ¡°One thousand pounds,¡± he said. Helen of Troy, one thousand pounds (p.247)! What made Jarvis great was that he didn¡¯t let pain and sorrow blind his eyes. His generous heart asked him to forgive his son¡¯s killer, and to carry on his son¡¯s unfinished work. Kumalo and Jarvis created hope for the future. They had not allowed their own hate and fear to generate more hate and fear. At last, goodness was an impetus that tied these two mourning fathers together to improve village lives. Goodness was at least a partial solution to the problems in South Africa. For example, Kumalo¡¯s goodness showed on the first accidental encounter by Kumalo and Jarvis. Kumalo was astonished and trembling fiercely, so that he could not stand up successfully. He was deeply in remorse for his son¡¯s crime. When he told Jarvis that his son killed Jarvis¡¯s son, his eye had been downcast and tears dropped on the floor (211). Similarly, Jarvis¡¯s goodness was reflected when he stood on the paved stone to wait for Kumalo¡¯s recovery. It was not easy for a white man to be kept waiting, but Jarvis waited, for the old man was obviously ill and weak (211). In addition, when Jarvis knew the reason why Kumalo was afraid of him, he was silent and walked into the trees of the garden. And then he came back, saying, ¡°I have heard you. I understand what I did not understand. There is no anger in me (214).¡± In fact, he observed that Kumalo was torn apart by what had happened. So, he tried to make Kumalo feel less afraid of him. Furthermore, Kumalo was kindly concerned about the children¡¯s health in Ndotsheni. For example, Kumalo met a small white boy who was Jarvis¡¯s grandson on a hot day and let him come into church for a rest. When Jarvis¡¯s grandson asked for ice-cold milk to drink, Kumalo said, ¡° there is no milk in Ndotsheni.¡± He gave some water to the small boy. And he told the small boy that because the people were poor, their children were dying. The doctor suggested the child must have milk, but their parents were unable to do that (270-271). Similarly, Jarvis responded to Kumalo¡¯s concern immediately and without questioning. For instance, after the small boy went home and told his grandfather the trouble of Kuluse¡¯s small children, Jarvis donated milk from his estate to help those starving children (271). It was the reciprocal kindness between Kumalo and Jarvis that caused the bond between them to work together to develop the village. Kumalo and Jarvis lifted up their heart from the pain of losing family members. They realized that they could not immerse themselves with pain and they must take up the responsibility to help reunite their families and nation. They used their love and generosity to improve native life and to change those people around them. They had a common goal to bring black people and white people together, and treated people with different skin colors equally under a common law. From this book, I have learned that peace, progress and human rights ¨C these three goals are insolubly linked together. It is impossible to achieve one of these goals if the other two are ignored. As members of society, we may not be able to do a lot to help our society, but as Kumalo and Jarvis did, we should always try our best.
Works Cited
Paton, Alan. Cry, The Beloved Country. 1948. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, Simon & Schuster, 1987.

Cited: Paton, Alan. Cry, The Beloved Country. 1948. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, Simon & Schuster, 1987.