Cry, The Beloved Country By Allan Paton

In the novel, Cry, the Beloved Country, Reverend Stephen Kumalo and his people deal with social and political hardships in South Africa in the 1940s. The novel begins with the accidental murder of James Jarvis’s son, Arthur Jarvis. It is revealed that Stephen Kumalo’s son was the one who killed him while trying to steal from his home. When he sees Arthur, who he thought was not home, he gets frightened and shoots and kills him. Throughout the novel Alan Patton talks about Kumalo’s son as someone who went down the wrong path. He never says he is a genuinely bad person. He tries to make the reader feel bad for him rather than hate him, even though he killed a man while raiding his home.

What Is This Thing Called Family is written by Lee Herrick, who was born in South Korea, adopted at eleven months, and raised in California (Herrick). This article states author’s perspective on the notion of family, based on his own experience. Herrick used to be laughed at because of his race when young. For the reason that certain Americans look down on Asian, little Herrick felt difficult to get on well with some local kids, even could not understand why these peers treated him like this. Herrick’s sister always acted as a “defender” and “protector”, she came to Herrick and intervened the conflicts between them, according to the author. One day, an incident happened, Herrick was attacked by his “flat face”, which was so hurtful and made little Herrick cried heavily on the long walk home after the bus dropped him off(Herrick). Herrick’ mother noticed that Herrick had cried when he walked in the front door. Mom comforted little Herrick carefully and gave him much power to face these difficult times in the future. In the process of growing up, Herrick gradually realized how much support had his mother and father gave him.

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.

In Danielle Allen’s essay, Our Declaration, she argues that all people should understand and recognize that the Declaration gives all people in the United States the undeniable freedom to self-govern. One person has the power to change the government; although this is not specifically stated, the freedom to self-govern implies every voice matters. She guides the reader to this idea by using simple and easy to follow examples to show the reader that they have the power to invoke a change the government. Allen also uses credible sources in order to give her reasoning credibility as well as using arguments that elicit an emotional connection.

“Being Country” just those two words together come with many discussions, but the book brings another discussion. This book “Being Country” by Bobbie Ann Mason honestly had me thinking and wondering if everybody’s perspective about changes in life is the same. The main outlooks I took from this book was; When your surroundings have changed your identity will also, Sometimes a reflection of the past can help your future, and whoever you are going to be will not change.

A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash definitely fits the category of “grit lit.” It is a novel about the Hall’s, a family who is wracked with grief, anxiety, and guilt after the ‘mysterious’ death of one of their sons, Christopher or Stump. The story encompasses more than just the story of the family though as it is told from the perspective of Adelaide Lyle, an old wise woman from the town, Jess Hall the youngest son of the family, and Clem Barefield, the sheriff of Marshall who also had heartache of his own that is intertwined with this families story in more ways than one. The novel incorporates most if not all of the features that is “grit lit” including: an element of crime, a focus on the bleakness of life, lyrical language, and a central character who wishes to escape their environment or get peace inside it.

This book was about a lower class that wanted a new way of living, a fair way that but only for those who were worthy. Never Fall Down gives an inside look into the twisted and gory genocide that affected and ended many lives. This book can make anyone squirm and understand the affects a traumatizing event can have on just one human

The story by Abani is set in an African background. It may be unfair to render the people as backward automatically, but their decision to act arbitrarily and against the wishes of the elders speaks of weakness regarding civility. Like the villagers in Jackson’s story, the bloodthirsty mob carries out an illogical and crude act with no regard for the life of the man they perceive to be a thief in the hope that the children will learn a valuable lesson.

One cannot run from hardships, for they occur every day, appear suddenly, and can quickly consume hope. Instead one must face these difficulties and overcome them. However, to rise above obstacles alone would only cause further misery and despair. The struggler’s family should rally behind him to comfort and assist him in his time of need. In Cry, the Beloved Country, a 1948 contemporary novel, Alan Paton uses parallelism to emphasize the importance of family because when individuals encounter hardships they need support from others to help them.

The title is Native Son is significant because it represents the realistic racial relations from the 1940s. Native Son is a symbol of how each race was impacted by racism. Richard Wright mad Bigger Thomas the first character in any African-American work to represent the unheard voices of those blacks who were defecated and forced into neo-slavery. Bigger was the victim and the whites were the criminals. Native Son is important because it tells all of how slavery negatively impacted both whites and blacks when it started and throughout its modernizations. Whites had to deal with many of the same things as blacks, which was getting killed by the enemy or even being raped by the opposite race. White people were just as scared of black people as black people were scared of them. Native Son is one of the first eye openers as to what really happened to our economy as we let slavery progress. Why didn’t we fight until the end from the beginning, we all knew that the results would end the same? In Native Son, the whites are in the wrong because they intimidated Bigger and his family as if they were the Klu Klux Klan. This novel is the tunnel that will lead you to the truth about what really goes on when racial events occurred in the 1940s.

In her book, “Strangers in their Own Land,” Arlie Hochschild, who is a liberal, attempts to escape from her bubble on the west side of the nation in order climb the “Empathy Wall” and understand the reasoning behind the most right wing, conservative members of the Tea Party. To get the best understanding of their motives, Hochschild traveled to the heart of the Tea in rural parts of southern Louisiana, like Sulphur, where the population is filled with white, badly educated, blue collar American citizens.

As most Christians believe, God surrounds them all their life and guides them daily. Reverend Kumalo in Cry, The Beloved Country experiences many hardships and periods of confusion; yet, God manifests himself in these situations by challenging him to stay faithful. As a religious leader in his town, Kumalo feels the need to exhibit his strong faith and embody the life of a Christian. As he encounters problem after problem, Kumalo begins to feel doubt and uncertainty about God’s presence. The whole novel focuses on evil and corruption in South Africa including the obtrusive segregation in the country. Many of the characters experience loss of faith and times where God is absent. Although Reverend Kumalo, is tested by his doubts, his character portrays the value of hope through his powerful Christian faith.

Finding Hope in Despair Frederick Douglass, the father of the Civil Rights movement, once proclaimed, “The white man’s happiness cannot be purchased by the black man’s misery.” Douglass, a former slave and human rights leader, realized the happiness of a white man was not found in persecuting black men Alan Paton’s bestselling novel, Cry, the Beloved Country, occurs during the apartheid and portrays the impartial and segregated treatment of black men Published in 1948, Paton reveals the story of the famous Zulu pastor, Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, as they face racial injustice within their own land. They live in the Ndotsheni village of eastern South Africa where they are persecuted under the white man’s laws. Paton employs this special

The novel opens with Gangu's arrival at the tea-estate with a thought in his mind that 'life is the journey'. However, for Gangu 'the journey' is not a bed of roses. It is a have-not’s journey of life bond to many miseries and tears. Gangu, a Punjabi farmer have-not goes to Assam to work as a labourer. His wife, Sajni, his son and his daughter, Leila too join him. The white officer, Reggie Hunt is fascinated by Leila's blooming Punjabi beauty. He clutches her to molest. On being protested, Hunt shoots Leila’s father to death. This incident shows that the have-nots cannot even protest and face threats from all around. They are denied of not only legitimate wages but also moral dues they deserve as human beings. Even judiciary mocks at have-nots’ helplessness. The jury acquits Hunt whose sexual assault is the cause of Leila’s death and destruction of the whole family.

Why is vanilla ice cream with chocolate powder better than chocolate ice cream with crushed Oreo? Is it because of the combine, which makes one better than the other, or is because of you own habits, because you have been eating the vanilla ice cream with chocolate powder since you can remember. It is perhaps about the individual personality. If you are a person who likes it the way it always have been or if you are a person who live by the idea: “new is always better”, you might like old ritual like others. An example on this situation is the essay ‘My little bit of country’ by Susan Cheever, which was published in 2012 in the anthology ‘Central Park’. It is an essay about her life and how she grew up in New York near Central Park and how