Changing Society In Alan Paton's Cry, The Beloved Country

As a result of racial segregation in both the United States and South Africa, the coloured people’s resistance escalated. In truth, this time of division strengthened nationalism – their weapon that “[transformed their] common suffering into hope for the future” (Mandela, Notes to the Future 2012, 84). Moreover, the American Jim Crow Laws and South African apartheid led to discrimination, activism, reform and most importantly reconciliation.

In the 1930’s it was rare for a black South African to attend college. But Mandela not only attended, he graduated, got a degree from law school, and set up a practice in Johannesburg which he hoped could support his small family. Yet apartheid was always a humiliation to him. When the Afrikaner, or Dutch South African, Nationalists came to power in the 1948 election, the segregation habits of the past three hundred years became law. Hoping for a brighter future, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) and became its first Youth Leader.

“Being Country” by Bobby Anne Mason is a recollection of childhood memories that are told by a young girl who wants something more out of her life. Throughout her story she mentions how she does not want to stay living the way her family does. She disagrees with the way her mother and grandmother have lived considering she hated depending on life of farming. She repeatedly expressed how much she thought her life at home was plain in comparison to the ways of the town people. Bobby was often immersed by the way she thought the people in town would live; how even the food and writing in the stores were fancy and tastier than the food from home. This essay reminded me of how society infers affairs of people they do not

Henry David Thoreau once said “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads,” in his novel Walden, which accurately reflects mankind’s relationship to the natural world around us. Frequently, the landscape dictates the well-being of the people who live there. In Alan Paton’s work Cry, the Beloved Country, he starts the book by describing the South African people’s bond to the landscape. Employing contrasting imagery and diction, powerful symbolism, and fluctuating uses of parallelism, Paton demonstrates how the land needs to be healthy in order for the people who live there to thrive, and harm to the earth is mirrored by the deterioration of community.

People who are willing to challenge society for their rights and accept any resulting consequences will more often than not, cause a change in

Have you ever wondered how some people enact change? Mother Jones protested for child labor laws. Melba integrated a white high school in order to get rid of racism. Nelson Mandela joined South Africa’s congress to help racism. They all persevered to enact change, but they took different approaches for their problems.

In this black man's country, white man's law had broken the tribe, divided the people and corrupted the youth. How could these wounds of hatred be healed, when would the youth realize the immorality of their actions, and when would South Africans achieve unity. Father Vincent said "Fear is a journey, a terrible journey, but sorrow is at least an

“She came here to look for her husband who was recruited for the mines… She lives in Claremont, not far from here. It is one of the worst places in Johannesburg… … that is her work, she makes and sells it… These women sleep with any man for their price… She has been in prison, more than once.” (53)

There comes a time, in most citizens’ lives when they must stand against their government to produce change. Change can only be acquired if people take the necessary actions for it to take place. Nelson Mandela was a historical revolutionist who helped his people in Africa, to revolt against the government, in order to bring about change. As a result, he was sentenced to prison for 27 years for trying to overthrow the government. Many revolutionist, such as Arundhati Roy and Martin Luther King Jr., explain in their essays how the role of the citizen is to stand against injustice, and how the government labels them as anti-national because of it.

First, in “Cry, the Beloved Country”, racism is seen in many different ways, but one example is through political power. The white community is the leading group in South Africa’s government, so they have the ability to write laws and marginalize the black community. Because of this, blacks are treated unfairly, forced to follow unjust laws, and targeted by police. This all started when the white men colonized the country and took over without regards to the black’s way of life. “It suited the white man to break the tribe, [Msimangu] continues gravely. But it has not suited him

Nelson Mandela was the man who abolished Apartheid, freeing South Africa from the binds of racial segregation forever. However, it was not an easy road and Mandela needed patience, strength of character, focus, passion, understanding, perseverance, and most importantly, forgiveness, to achieve this. For more than forty years, black South Africans were subject to the harsh racial segregation of the Apartheid system; despite making up over 70% of South Africa’s population, they had little to no rights.

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

Imagine being systematically oppressed from the moment you exited the womb. All your civil rights, based on the amount of melanin in your skin. Drinking from the wrong water fountain, could even get you thrown into jail. Coincidently; this was the life, of black South Africans from the moment of Dutch colonization in 1652, to the first true democratic election in 1994. Apartheid, meaning “separateness” in Afrikaans; was legal segregation enforced by The National Party (NP) from 1948 to 1994. It legally imposed preexisting policies of racial discrimination on the Majority of the South African population. The entire basis of the racist policies, was the darker your complexion the less legal rights you had. Presumably this injustice, could have continued much longer if it weren’t for all involved in the fight against the NP, however the man who arguably contributed the most, was Nelson Mandela. He ended an apartheid, with both his philanthropy and political prowess. He united a nation that used to be segregated; which seemed a daunting task at the time, but through the sweat and bloodshed he achieved the impossible. This alone exhibited his heroic characteristics, but to be more precise: both his actions and inactions lead to his success. Furthermore, Mandela was both a strong leader and forgiving at the same-time. Being in the forefront of the abolishment movement, was an extremely risky move during the apartheid. He risked his life for what he believed in, and this personal

was the husband of Gertrude, who in turn, went to look for him and found other men

Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, takes place in1946 near the small rural town of Ixopo in the smaller village of Ndotsheni. The main character is Stephen Kumalo, a native priest who sets out on a mission to find his family. He receives a letter from a fellow priest, Msimangu, telling him his younger sister is ill. Kumalo decides he must go to Johannesburg to help his sister. He also hopes to find his only son and see if his brother is well because they too have gone away to Johannesburg. He arrives and with his new friend, Msimangu, searches for his sister and his son. He finds his sister and decides to take her and her son with him to Ndotsheni. He then speaks to his