Africa. Although the government has intervened to protect the people‚ some of these effects are still present in our societies. The setting begins in a small village in South Africa where Reverend Stephen Kumalo receives a letter asking him to go to Johannesburg to help his ill sister. Kumalo gets together all their savings and takes a train hoping to find not only his sister but also his son who left and never returned. In the city he finds the pastor who sent this letter who welcomes him and helps
Premium Capitalism Africa Industrial Revolution
the good friends? These are the ones Kumalo kept. He made it clear what kind of friends he chose when he was speaking to Absalom‚ “You mean they were the kind of friends that a good man could choose‚ upright‚ hard-working‚ obeying the law?” Msimangu was exactly this kind of friend. Instead of just looking out for himself‚ he often put Kumalo’s well-being before his own. This man truly cared about others‚ a rare and wonderful quality. As if being there for Kumalo and helping him deal with Absalom’s
Premium Friendship Interpersonal relationship Love
Cry‚ the Beloved Country and Injustice‚ Fear‚ and Family Nothing is ever perfect. All systems have their flaws. Sometimes more flaws than any good. That was the way it was in South Africa during the apartheid‚ people had to break away from the family and their tradition just to get food and a little money. The corrupt government spread ideas of inequality and injustice‚ forcing people to live in fear of their lives. In his protest novel‚ Cry‚ the Beloved Country‚ Alan Paton uses the interaction
Premium South Africa
moral reconciliation. Stephan Kumalo is often displayed as the protagonist of the book‚ even though Paton emphasizes racial differences by using the points of view of many different individuals. Throughout his journey to find his son‚ Absalom‚ Kumalo is seemingly fighting an inner battle. Kumalo can be seen slowly diminishing‚ mentally and emotionally‚ as the outcome keeps taking turns for the worse. The first time where Kumalo weakens‚ is when he receives the letter from Msimangu
Premium Poetry Romanticism John Keats
Although Alan Paton’s novel‚ Cry‚ the Beloved Country‚ is centered around the apartheid in South Africa‚ he explores forgiveness and the choice to cast someone aside. Paton’s two main characters‚ James Jarvis‚ a white farmer‚ and Reverend Stephen Kumalo‚ a black pastor‚ search to forgive throughout the novel. These men chose to welcome the ability to forgive and be forgiven in their lives. Many people don’t realize that forgiveness is a choice - it is an integral part of our lives - perhaps even
Premium Forgiveness
In Cry‚ the Beloved Country by Alan Paton‚ he shows us a final moment when Kumalo goes to the top of a mountain overlooking East Griqualand. He then repents his sins‚ gives thanks for those who helped him‚ conducts a personal communion‚ then mourns the hanging of his son as the sun rises. Contrast and diction used by the author evoke an elegiac sentiment in the reader‚ and‚ moreover‚ creates an auspicious atmosphere. This passage acts as closure for the death of Absalom and‚ accordingly‚ the strife
Premium
South Africa. It alludes to and sometimes even blatantly states the conditions necessary for the end of apartheid and the beginning of peace. South Africa in the 1940’s was in trouble. Kumalo‚ a priest‚ was able to see through the prejudices of the world and assess the situation. When inconvenient to involve Kumalo in the investigation‚ the depth of South Africa’s disparity was illustrated directly through the stories of horrifying happenings in character’s conversations. Finally‚ we see that Msimangu
Free South Africa White people Black people
gone and the Earth will turn against the people. In the novel‚ Cry‚ the Beloved Country‚ the reader can see that the land is going to be an essential part. Paton uses the country to represent many of the happenings that contribute to the journey of Kumalo. Paton describes the land as sacred. The belief of the people is that the land will always support them and in return the land is something that they can exist on only if it is looked after and cared for. In the very first chapter Paton writes
Premium Weather Soil South Africa
the novel‚ Cry the Beloved County‚ allusions to the Bible are very apparent and hold high significance in the story. The character Absalom shows tremendous similarities to the Biblical Absalom and almost seem to be made out of the same mold. Steven Kumalo from the novel and the simple man Job from the bible
Premium Literature Bible Fiction
to the plot because Kumalo has many family members that he needs to forgive before he can leave Ndotsheni to go and help them in Johannesburg. When Kumalo’s wife questions him about his well-being he replies angrily‚ “Hurting myself? Hurting myself? I do not hurt myself‚ it is they who are hurting me. My own son‚ my own sister‚ my own brother. They go away and do not write anymore. Perhaps it does not seem to them that we suffer. Perhaps they do not care for it.”(39) Here Kumalo comes to the realization
Premium Repentance Forgiveness