Theme Of Corruption In Cry The Beloved Country

He seeks to imply that judgement of a person should be based more on the content

One citizen in particular that thrives due to the corrupt system is Asha Waghekar. Asha comes from a childhood of rural poverty, and when she sees the opportunity to become part of the middle class, she takes it. However, this route is not the most noble of routes. She turns to political corruption in order to come out on top, and hopefully someday become Slumlord. Asha starts down her path of corruption, when she decides to start helping her neighbors solve their problems. She believes that “when she ha[s] real control over the slum, she could create problems in order to fix them … she’d learned [this] by studying the Corporator” (20). Asha’s way of thinking allows her to not only overcome the corruption in Annawadi, but become entrenched in it. She sees the good in this, because it allows her to skip all of the usual steps to make money. She is also able to reason it to herself, she states “[h]ow can anyone say I am doing wrong when the big people did all the papers—when the big people say that it’s right?” (228). Some people are able to reason corruption, in order to allow them to feel okay with it and Asha is one of those people. Fortunately for Asha, she is able to become one of the most powerful people in Annawadi. Therefore, Asha is able to use corruption to allow her to get ahead and take advantage of powerless individuals. Corruption is able to improve the lives of the

There is a line of thinking out there that would lead a person to believe that everything is always as it appears – everything is on a nice straight plane. Look at the surface of the ocean, and all that needs to be seen is seen. This admittedly shallow line of thinking can lead to multitudes of problems, especially in the case of this class when looking at something like literature. That especially rings true when observing a novel like Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Parton, where a deeper meaning seethes out of every word in what originally looks to be a straightforward tale. This is particularly true in the all-important intercalary chapters of the book, as they provide a break from the main plot and an aside into something different

Cry, the Beloved Country In a country torn by segregation and hatred, one man seeks to rebuild his family and his tribe. Cry, the beloved country is a tale of forgiveness, generosity, and endurance. In the story, the main protagonist is helped by a number of characters. A South African man Stephen Kumalo loses his young son, but is still determined to improve the life of his people.

| 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

Someone who is abusing the power that is given to him or her defines corruption, however, the word in its self is more than a simple idea; it is an intricate network. Since people’s views about ethical and moral behavior affect the way corruption is examined, the word has a slightly different meaning to each person. Additionally, misconduct across various societies is viewed differently due to social and cultural borders. The criminal justice system has had many instances where corruption had affected the outcome of a case and has inserted itself into the legal process.

Luke 6:35 declares, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and evil” (English Standard Version).Christians should strive to treat others in this way always. Unfortunately, society fails to follow this verse in the present times as well as the past. Not only does racism and prejudice occur in the United States, but South Africa as well. Alan Paton illustrated the unjust in the novel Cry the Beloved Country. James Jarvis is a white, wealthy, Christian farmer that lives on a hill above Ndotsheni, a town where native South Africans reside and are impoverished. Jarvis’s outlook on the natives became negative. Many events occur, and Jarvis experiences a change within himself and starts loving the natives how the Bible says Christians should. Mr. Jarvis sinned against the natives for majority of his life by judging them. It takes a moment of realization to push him to come to a different outlook on those around him.

Katherine Boo’s novel, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, depicts the view of corruption among Westerners and Indians elite differently than corruption among the poor. Corruption, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people”. The poor regarded corruption as a vehicle to escape and rise above their impoverished conditions. The other classes saw corruption as a hindrance to the development and ambitions of India. Slum residents dreamed of escaping poverty and moving up in class.

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

The ambition for power can seem to be true perfection, but one should be careful what they wish for because that power might be exactly what causes their downfall. Corruption is defined by dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power; corruption exists in both literature and the real world. In Nicholas Nickleby, Nickleby’s corrupt uncle, Ralph Nickleby threatens to sabotage his deceased brother's family when they seek his help. Ralph Nickleby, who refuses to defend his niece, Kate, from the advances of menacing suitor Sir Mulberry Hawk. Corruption is not only seen literature but our society as well. In South Africa, the white government unjustly used their power to commit terrible acts of oppression to blacks post-apartheid. Power leads

"I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight. These things I will do unto them and not forsake them” Isaiah 42:16. God promises to be there for His people as long as one believes in Him. The Kumalo family lives in a poor colored city in South Africa where they are constantly surrounded by the brokenness of the world. Knowing God will not forsake them helps one with building a strong connection with him. It is through this faith that Stephen, a priest, and devoted father, is able to find hope in the dark world he faces. Throughout the book Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton the flawed main character, Stephen Kumalo is able to go through the redemption cycle because of his relationship with God.

Living in constant fear with his family and siblings in South Africa since young, he has grown comfortable in his own setting and his house without education. Mathabane’s parents hide from the police if they do not have their pass book and is force to do labor work for months. Without food supply, he and siblings suffers without food and plays in the yard each day, occasionally finding food with their mother. “Each day we spent without food drove us closer and closer to starvation” (Mathabane, 37). He lives in the neighborhood with rascal boys that have a bad influence on him. “Since staying at home meant hunger and chores, I began attaching myself to gangs of five-, six- and seven-year-old neighborhood boys who daily roamed the filthy streets of Alexandra in search of food and adventure” (Mathabane, 53). His mother realizes that he needs schooling so that he does not choose the same lifestyle of his parent. “I want you to go to school, because I believe that an education is the key you need to open up a new world and a new life for yourself, a world and life different from that of either your father’s or mine” (Mathabane, 133). Excelling through education will give them knowledge and know more about the world.

Reverend Stephen Kumalo, the protagonist of Alan Paton’s novel Cry, the Beloved Country, lives in the countryside of Ndotsheni. The countryside is in drought, over-farmed, and the land is dying. Despite all this, it is still representative of home and peace to the characters in the novel. It is the home of traditions and old trivial rules. However, a consistent theme it brings is young people leaving for the city, and therefore bringing new messages to South Africa as a whole. The novel presents a struggle between nature, man, and industrialization, thus causing conflict between what the countryside represents and what the city represents. The countryside acts in direct opposition to the industrialized Johannesburg and stands for idyllic

Corruption comes primarily in two forms evil and political in most cases when discussing a government or person. Corruption in the government is typically due to money and the desires of the people who or person who creates the government system. Corruption is viewed as evil because a person with bad intentions or personal interest that only benefits him or she is considered corrupt. In the Man of the People, Chief Nanga is considered corrupt in many ways, but in the African society, he was not considered corrupt as the book may allude to. The people of the African society were accustomed to such behavior and treatment. Ultimately the concepts of corruption are viewed differently depending on what that society may view as corrupt and what is the norm.

The author uses the word forlorn, used on page 35 of the book “Cry, the Beloved Country” in the sentence “About you there is grass and bracken and you may hear the forlorn crying of the Titihoya, one of the birds of the veld. Below you is the valley of the Umzimkulu”, instead of the word sorrowful even though both mean unhappy because forlorn gives more of negative connotation and better describes the setting. This is appropriate in this context because the village of Umzimkulu is put in a state of abandonment and social instability. Residents are part of a conglomerate which pertains to abuse and racial discrimination. This word effectively shows the message of prejudice shown by Paton.