Cry, The Beloved Country

His sister had become a prostitute. He got her new clothes and talked her into coming back to the country with him, but of course she ran off before they went back home and left Kumalo with her son who he decided to raise as one of his own. While in the city, Kumalo heard of tragic news of three boys breaking into the home of political activist for equal rights, Arthur Jarvis, and murdering him in his own home. Kumalo prayed it wasn’t his son who he still had not found, but after following his sons footsteps realized the cops had gotten to him first and that it was his son who killed a man. Kumalo goes to visit his son in prison and ask him why he has done the things he has and why he had gone down such a terrible path. He can barely answer and has no clue why he did what he did. His actions were merely a result of peer pressure, another social issue, which ultimately resulted in his

After Okwonko realized how his clan would be ruled over the white men, he committed suicide. Kumalo’s last hope was to save his son Absalom from being persecuted after his daughter ran away, but there was no more hope. The personalities of Okwonko and Kumalo had shaped the path they take to their final endings. Since Okwonko always strived to be the very best he can, it was a total let down when he saw how his clan no longer looked up to him. From Kumalo’s calm and adaptable personality, his children were already soaked into the society of Johannesburg and can no longer get out of it. Okwonko had just given up and ended his life with his clan being controlled by the white men. Kumalo had lost his son and daughter, but went home to renew his tribe and to start a new life. Both Okwonko and Kumalo had tried their best to preserve their culture, but there are some things that they just can’t fight against. They both had to face a difficult

Okonkwo’s adherence to a tradition of cruelty that harms large groups of minorities leads to a pronounced division once Western missionaries establish their church: a church which allows for aspects of life that tribal law did not. His adherence to traditional law and inability to compromise — rigidity in a culture of flexibility — alienates family members, members of his community, and furthers an internal pressure which ultimately helps the pressures of colonialism. Okonkwo’s inflexible interpretation of tribal law, borne of a need to escape his father’s seemingly feminine weakness, leads to morally bankrupt decisions. Unable to settle on a compromise between law and morality, he murders Ikemefuna: although correct in the eyes of law, the action lacks morals, is purely driven by a need for social power and fear of seeming weak. Such personal conflict culminates in intense inner pressure on both Okonkwo’s part and on the part of the community as a whole, leading to a collapse of long standing unity when faced with the external pressure of missionaries, providing a “way out”. This culminates in a scene in which tribal leaders call for an attack on colonialist forces, including other tribal members which have joined the

First, Kino’s call to adventure with Coyotito being savagely stung by a scorpion and Kino having to find money for the doctor to pay for Coyotito’s medical treatment, second,Kino’s allies that will be by his side no matter what and lastly the examples of how Kino is truly a tragic hero. In John Steinbeck's novella, The Pearl the text gives many hints and clues that the novel follows the pattern of a Hero's Journey. This essay will cover the 3 main aspects of Kino's Journey which eventually leads to his ultimate sacrifice. My claim is significant and relevant to The Pearl because without the three main aspects to Kino’s Journey, the novel would not be the award winning, captivating book that it

Secondly, the choices and consequences made by the characters demonstrate that a book is meaningful when there is a journey of love, truth, or power. For example, the men from Abame chose to kill the white man on the horse who arrived in their village. This proved foolish as a few weeks later the village was decimated by whoever the white man had been associated with. Uchendu reflects on this by saying, “Never kill a man who says nothing.” He also emphasizes his point with the story of Mother Kite. The choices and consequences made by the men from Abame progresses the plot. In effect, it also progresses the quest for truth and power because the deaths of these men made the impending threat of European settlement real. Another example is when Okonkwo killed one of the court messengers. In doing this, he strove to regain power that the tribe had lost. Okonkwo desired to root out Christianity for the betterment of the tribe, but already so many tribesmen had been converted. Prior to this occurrence the speaker at the meeting explicated, “Men shoot without missing their mark and I have learned to fly

This story maintained a constant theme of conflict. Nwoye, lives in perpetual fear of his father. Okonkwo constantly chastises his son and finds a fault with everything he

Things Fall Apart tells the story of Okonkwo, a tribal African yam farmer, through trials and tribulations that change both him and his tribe. The Umuofia clan values traits such as strength, confidence, crop success, and honor. Okonkwo exemplifies everything that the clan wants in a man, and he was well aware of it. He thrives on being the antithesis of the image of his father, Unoka, who was viewed as considerably more feminine and generally a failure because of his failed harvests and love of the flute. Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, is also considerably more feminine, and therefore lesser, in the eyes of his father. Okonkwo compensated for the failure in his blood line by putting on a front of hyper-masculine fervor; something that leads him down many troublesome roads. While Things Fall Apart is a tale of many things, Okonkwo’s struggle with femininity causes many of the major conflicts the story. Okonkwo’s learned opposition to feminine traits causes him to project machismo in order to cover up for the underlying feminine qualities that he has and is fearful of.

Ryan Klemann AP Literature and Composition Mrs. Mills Chapter 5 – Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion: As Kumalo arrives in Johannesburg, he dines with Msimangu and other priests, which include blacks and whites. The priests at the mission sit together forgetting about color, signifying that the two races can be together in agreement, and they welcome Kumalo’s story with interest. Kumalo talks about his village and describes how people will leave Ixopo and create a sense of “brokenness” in the tribe, which are all falling to ruin. One priest wished to hear more, but got up and left to attend other affairs, symbolizing an end of a relationship.

A lack of a positive mindset interferes with a person’s ability to move on from a traumatic experience. In Achebe’s novel, the protagonist Okonkwo faces many trials and tribulations as he tries to deal with Christian missionaries overtaking his village, Umuofia. Okonkwo is seen as a wealthy and famous leader amongst his clan. He is most known for his success in wrestling and his titles as a leader. Okonkwo is adored by many but is short-fused and has a terrible temper. During his life, he takes in a boy by the name of Ikemefuna from a neighboring village, Mbaino, after the boy is given up to Okonkwo’s

Paton’s main character Stephen Kumalo is a Reverend working in a local church. Upon hearing the news that his sister, Gertrude is very ill. He uses the money he and his wife were saving for saving for his missing sons university money to fund his travel fees to Johannesburg. Kumalo decides he wants to try his hardest to get his family, his “tribe” back together.

The author shows a continuous moral in the story. The author suggests that greed in the root of evil. The author states , “For Kino was a well- liked man; it would be a shame if the pearl destroyed him.” This phrase also foreshadows future events and conflicts in the story.

It has been said that the land is itself another character in Paton's novel, Cry, the Beloved Country. What role does the landscape play in the novel? What does the valley surrounding Ndotsheni represent?

Okonkwo’s participation in the slaying of his adopted son, Ikemefuna is a pivotal moment in Things Fall Apart. It is a moment of horror that cannot please Ani, the great earth goddess, the center of community, the ultimate judge of morality for the clan. It is a moment that changes the course of events, a moment eerily paralleled in the death of Ezeudu’s son. It is a moment that ultimately causes Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye’s to abandon his ancestors and become a Christian. It is a moment when the center of community life, the need to honor blood ties and the need to respect the earth goddess, can no longer hold. It is a moment when things fall apart.

The use of Biblical allusions and references is evident in Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country. Against the backdrop of South Africa's racial and cultural problems, massive enforced segregation, similarly enforced economic inequality, Alan Paton uses these references as way to preserve his faith for the struggling country. By incorporating Biblical references into his novel, one can see that Alan Paton is a religious man and feels that faith will give hope to his beloved country. Throughout the entire novel, Alan Paton continuously uses references to the bible and while some are not very apparent, most of them are considerable evident. Four apparent references that he uses are seen in Stephen Kumalo's character, Absalom's decisions to

     Kino overall symbolizes clearly good and innocent. Kino is thought of as 'a wise, primitive man' who is hungry for fortune because of the great pearl, which he discovers and later in the story he becomes 'an angry, frightened, but resolute man, determined to keep what he has earned'. He is a young diver who lives in a small village on the coastline of