Apartheid and The Future of South Africa in Cry, The Beloved Country

Agitation and turmoil of whites and blacks filled South Africa. A major theme that Alan Paton develops throughout the novel, Cry, the Beloved Country is the importance of acting with kindness. The author promotes the idea that kindness is a part of the solution to the problems in South Africa. Being able to be kind helps people understand one another which can help bring reform and hope to the small community of Ndotcheni. Alan Paton through the novel teaches the idea of love thy brother as yourself, as Christ did, in order to help the White and Blacks of South African Society to overcome their fear and misunderstanding of each other.

During the period of Apartheid in South Africa between 1948 and 1994 the reactions of the South African citizens towards the legal separation of races varied depending on race, ideals and time period. After gold and diamonds were fud inSouthAfrica both the dutch and British wanted the land to themselves, leading to the Boer War from which the Dutch farmers emerged victorious. Following the Boer War and the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the Dutch Boers gained control over the majority of the land in the previously British Cape Colony along with the settlements they had already built, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Blacks in South Africa made up about eighty percent of the population but only lived on ten percent of

The South African Apartheid, instituted in 1948 by the country’s Afrikaner National Party, was legalized segregation on the basis of race, and is a system comparable to the segregation of African Americans in the United States. Non-whites - including blacks, Indians, and people of color in general- were prohibited from engaging in any activities specific to whites and prohibited from engaging in interracial marriages, receiving higher education, and obtaining certain jobs. The National Party’s classification of “race” was loosely based on physical appearance and lineage. White individuals were superficially defined as being “obviously white'' on the basis of their “habits, education and speech as well as deportment and demeanor”; an

The use of the term global apartheid has been on the rise when referring to the existing social, political and economic inequality on the global scale. It is based on the merging of concepts and practices from South-African apartheid alongside globalization. In this paper, we will consider the appropriateness of such term and whether it truly encompasses all aspects of global inequality. We will consider South-African apartheid along with its associated focus on race as well as globalization along with its associated focus on class and nationality. We will examine how these concepts encompass the statist, racialised, classist new world order.

Mr. Jarvis’s thoughts about the natives of South Africa that are incorrect. Ironically, his son, Arthur Jarvis’ thoughts pushed him to analyze things and change some of the ways he lived. Because Mr. Jarvis’s did not contain much knowledge on the everyday life of the natives, his outlook on them became negative. Mr. Jarvis’s negative outlook on the natives consists of his belief that the natives were, “ignorant, and knew nothing

The avowal that the apartheid ‘vision for democracy’ necessitated state terror and repression is evident when examining the South African apartheid system between 1960 -1994. The system of apartheid spiked significant internal resistance, hence, the ideology for apartheid stems from the creation of a white state surrounded by economically interdependent and politically dependent black states, which required state terror and repression to ensure mounting resistance and international condemnation did not abolish the apartheid system. The government responded to a series of popular uprisings and protests with police brutality, which increased support for armed resistance. Detentions were set without trial, torture, censorship and the outlawing of political oppositional organizations such as The African National Congress, the Black Conscious Movement, the Azanian Peoples Organisation, The Pan Africanist Congress and the United Democratic Front, were all a result of the apartheid government due to political resistance.

Education proves to be a major factor in this transition, as the newly educated class demands higher standards of living and white-collar jobs. Falola is able to give a face to the topics and issues that we have been discussing in class. Little details such as how imported foods change the taste buds of students and "prepare them for a future that would enslave them in the global economy" (Falola 145). As a student who has eaten cafeteria food for many, many years this is a concept that I can identify with and allows me to see the subtle ways in which the Western world has tainted traditional African culture. Another major event, Pasitor's attempt to free Jakobu, leads the reader step by step through the escalating corruption of the government and demonstrates how it directly affects the lives of the citizens. However, while the reader can imagine what it looked like to live in Africa during these times of change and hardship, the memoir does not give any indication of what it felt like. The lack of emotional connections in the text was disappointing and it made it harder to connect on a personal level with Falola's experiences. In this regard, the book failed to live up to my expectations.

Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton is a stunning and all too accurate depiction of apartheid in South Africa. Even though the novel centers on John Kumalo and his struggling family, it subtly shows the social going ons of South Africa supposedly in 1948, when the book was written. Strong examples of this come across in the choral chapters of the novel. These chapters give voice to the people of South Africa. Chapter nine shows the struggles of being black during apartheid, chapter 12 shows the white citizens racism and fear, and chapter 23 shows the goals of social movements. The choral chapter that shows the issues that existed in South Africa most effectively was chapter nine. It not only shows the economic and housing struggles of the black population, but it also shows the conditions in the shanty towns, and the treatment of the black population by the white minority with power.

Throughout the novel Cry, the Beloved Country, one of the major themes is the contrast between hope and fear, light and dark. Author Alan Paton juxtaposes theses contrasting ideas by using literary devices, such as vivid imagery and rich dialogue. Personification, similes, repetition, diction, symbolism, antitheses, dramatic irony, and allusions also supply the varying moods of the novel and distinguish the “light” of hope from the “darkness” of fear. This story, set in South Africa, is about how two fathers, Jarvis and Kumalo, and how their lives intertwine. It is also about how fear and hope are inseparable parts of life. Kumalo is a black minister in a small, poor town. Jarvis is a richer, white man that lives on the hill above

One portion of the article focuses on the university experience of Nyiko Lebogang Shikwambane in connection to racial differences and proves quite powerful in the effect it has on those reading it, as Serino’s mood often makes the audience empathize with the oppression blacks suffer under in South Africa. For example, the way in

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

Have you ever wondered how it would feel to be considered inferior because of your race? The people of South Africa had to endure racial inferiority during the era of apartheid. The apartheid laws the government of South Africa made led to an unequal lifestyle for the blacks and produced opposition.

History is subjective because it is a subject that is based on a person’s knowledge and opinions. While some events have obvious causes, other events must be analyzed to find their true impetus. One complicated era from history that has a debatable cause is Apartheid. While some historians cite complex causes for Apartheid, most people in the general public simply believe racism was the root of the institution. While racism did factor into later practices of Apartheid, racism was merely a byproduct of the social and cultural effects of the institution. When evidence is examined, the real cause of Apartheid becomes obvious. This era of South African history was not simply based on social practices such as racism; Apartheid was rooted

In this thesis the writer “J.Matisonn” writes about how the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) not only addressed issues of crimes against humanity that also affected the Human rights of people but the other thing the TRC did well if anything according to this article it that it also addressed those people , organizations and even institutions who used media and propaganda in order to not only further the cause of the Apartheid government but to hurt so many families and relatives in the process.

opinion of how the country works as he grew up, and when he was 16 the