Analysis Of Alan Paton's Cry, The Beloved Country

South Africa was plagued with problems of poverty, apartheid, and crime. Kumalo realizes that in order to find some solution people must forgive each other for what has already happened and make a joint effort to provide a new life to the country. Mourning about the past helps nobody, it's a better future that peoples should strive for. James Jarvis's son had been murdered by Absalom. Still, he forgave Kumalo and worked to improve the dismal life of the black people in his valley.

| Relevant Biographical Information About the Author: * White * Born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in 1903 * Father was Scottish and mother was South African of English heritage * Worked at a reformatory with black youths

     Despite his situation, Stephen is able to separate the good from the bad and his experiences benefit him greatly. In the

Nelson Mandela, an anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist who focused on dismantling racism, once said, “It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it,” (“AZ Quotes”). In Tears of a Tiger, Sharon M. Draper uses the epistolary novel style of writing to present problems teenagers face. In the novel Andy, the protagonist, is unable to forgive himself after his drinking-and-driving accident kills his friend, Rob. Through this tale of teenage tragedy, the author conveys some themes about death, depression, guilt/blame, and racism. The characters have to learn to not only deal with these situations thrown at them, but also to live through them as well. Draper uses symbols to represent and show the life problems teenagers face on a daily base.

Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel written by Alan Paton; the novel is filled with biblical allusions referring to II Samuel. Cry, the Beloved Country was first published in 1948 and stands as the single most important novel in twentieth-century South African literature. Cry, the Beloved Country; a work of blazing artistry, is the intensely moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, and how they were set against the background of a land and a people divided by racial injustice. Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man. The author, Alan Paton parallels II Samuel and Cry, the Beloved Country which heightens the understanding of the novel.

Racial Tension in Cry the Beloved Country is expressed in the book by the restrictions of different races and their beliefs. The book shows potential for healing from forgiveness between the opposing races.

The sign of a great book is that it consumes you and can generate a wealth of emotions, from despair to hope, to joy. In it, we find a tale that mirrors real life in such a way that we are shockingly alerted by the normalcy reflected in the words. The contrast of the lives of “upper” and “lower” class white southerners exposes the realism of the views of society. The similarities and the contrasts in the different races and genders in the book make you feel their pain, sorrow, joy and struggles regardless of their race but you also get an ending that is true to life and gives a shot at redemption and forgiveness without unnecessary farce. A perfect example of a story about many angles of suffering, whether one is white or black, tugs at

Coming into Johannesburg in 1948, he was not prepared for what was to be in store for him: theft, prostitution, murder, premarital pregnancy, and betrayal. Kumalo must come across each of these and attempt to fix

In the Novel “Cry the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton, two fathers are trying to put the pieces of there families back together while also keeping themselves together. They each go through a variety of struggles, with one learning his sister is a prostitute and his son is a murder while the other deals with his sons death and tries to move passed it. Throughout the novel, racial tension is a theme frequently seen from the beginning of the book til the very end. Paton uses the setting of South Africa to underscore racial tension associated with the apartheid movement to illustrate these themes. The concept of racism is prevalent during the story as it is used by the government to caused both blacks and whites to fear each other which eventually tears apart Kumalo’s family.

The time of the 1940’s in South Africa was defined by racial oppression of the native inhabitants of the country by the Dutch Boers, also known as the Afrikaners. These people were the demographic minority yet also the political majority. They executed almost complete control over the lives of the natives through asinine rules and harsh punishments. The highly esteemed novel Cry, the Beloved Country tells a story of Stephen Kumalo, a black priest dealing with the struggles of living in the South Africa during this time. His son killed a white man and on the day his son is to be hanged for this crime, Kumalo climbs a mountain in order to reflect on the current situation both in his family and in his country. In chapter 36 of Cry, the

Stephen is able to complete the redemption cycle when he sins, exhibits his flaws, against his sister Gertrude because of his strong connection with Christ and his willingness to seek help from God. Stephen is hurt by his sister's action and proceeds to let his anger out at her when he confronts her: “you have shamed us…a liquor seller, a prostitute, with a child…how could you do this to us?”(Paton 61). When encountering his sister cry from his actions he immediately finds himself ashamed and repents. Stephen turns to God and prays for him and Gertrude, “God forgives us...Who am I not to forgive? Let us pray” (Paton 61). The first quote displays Stephen's anger towards the situation and the way he takes out of his sister and her issues. The characteristics

English Essay In the novel, Cry, The Beloved Country, the protagonist Reverend Stephen Kumalo, who lives in a small valley in South Africa, must decide whether to find his family in Johannesburg. In the second chapter of the book, a lot of his personality is revealed, from when a small child opens the door to give him a letter, to when he decides he must leave to meet his family again. In order to develop the character of Stephen Kumalo, Paton uses simile, imagery, repetition and metaphor to explain his interactions with people, and how he reacts under certain conditions.

Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, is the timeless novel about South Africa in the 1940’s. As powerful white men use the land for their own benefit, the tribal system of the African natives is broken down and replaced by poverty, homelessness, fear, and violence. A black priest, Stephen Kumalo, ventures to the great city of Johannesburg in search of his lost sister and son. His journey demonstrates the unhealthy lifestyle and mutinous atmosphere of the black people; yet he is the beholder of forgiveness, love, hope, and the restoration of a country overwhelmed with problems.

     Mandela really seems to believe that if the youth of the nation don’t realize their power, ground will ever be made in the unification of the whites and Afrikaners. The grandson is learning to speak Zulu, so as to unite the two worlds, which are thus intertwined. Nelson Mandela states in one of his many speeches, “I pay tribute to the endless heroism of youth, you, the young lions. You, the young lions, have energized our entire struggle.”(Mandela 1996) In the court where Absalom is sentenced, the one to help Kumalo is the young white man from the reformatory, breaking the racial divide,

In her poem, “For all voices, for all victims,” Antjie Krog makes use of the metaphors in lines four through eleven to bring life to the redeemed South Africa in a post-apartheid time: