preview

Alan Patton's Cry The Beloved Country

Decent Essays
Open Document

Cry, the Beloved Country, written by Alan Patton, is the compelling story of how man-made evils in the city of Johannesburg affect the lives of each member of the Kumalo family. Stephen Kumalo, an old priest of Ndotsheni, finds himself distraught over his distant relationships with his sister, brother and son. To fix this, he travels to Johannesburg in hopes to restore the connection he has between his family. However he is shocked to witness the evils in which they have all partaken in. His brother, a politician and carpenter, has left the Church; and his once decent sister has become a prostitute and an alcoholic. However this is the least to his worries for he learns of his son, a once honest and decent man, is involved in the murder …show more content…

John Kumalo’s approach to bring racial equality back to the people of South Africa was to balance the economic equality between the blacks and the whites. During this time, many of the black people worked the rigorous mines of South Africa by constantly digging for gold. It was Kumalo’s idea to “get a share in it. For it is the gold of the whole people, the white and the black and the colored and the Indian” (218). This was his approach to the solution of racial injustice; he wanted his people to receive the same wage of the whites so that they could be considered equal men to each other. However Msimangu did not approach the problem of racial inequality in terms of economics like Kumalo. Rather, he approached racial equality through the spiritual sense of seeing a human being as another equal human being. He believed in cooperation between the whites and the blacks so that either of them would care for each other in a time of need. This was made clear through Stephan Kumalo when he was interpreting the meaning behind Msimangu’s speak. “For while I wonder what we live and struggle and die, for while I wonder what keeps us living an struggling, men are sent to minister to the blind, white men are ministering to the black blind” (123). Both the white and blacks must minister to each other and to care for each …show more content…

Kumalo wanted to achieve economic equality for the blacks; however he also did this to achieve power for himself as well. “The industry is powerless without our labour. Let us cease to work and this industry will die. And I say it is better to cease to work than to work for such wages”(219) By not working, Kumalo wants to start a revolt against the government in hopes to retain power in the form of dictatorship. However Patton makes it clear that this type of belief would not succeed because of the immediate result from the revolt. “The police were called in to drive the black miners into the mine. There was fighting and three of the black miners were killed. But all is quiet they report all is quiet” (223) The revolt was quickly taken care of, implying the fact that this type of solution would not be

Get Access