Cry. The Beloved Country Essay, Research Paper

“Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the

inheritor of it all. Let him not love the earth to deeply. Let him not

be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give to

much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of

all if he lives too much. Yes cry, cry, the beloved country” “Cry The

Beloved Country” by Alan Paton. “Cry The Beloved Country” was a

magnificent work of art and my words alone would do it an injustice.

Its pages echo with the dirge of a battered country that has suffered

far to much for far to long.

The book takes you to South Africa, where the land itself is the

essence of a man. It as if the mountains, soaring high above the

clouds, are the high moments in life, and the valleys are those low

and suffering times. Next, you will take a journey to a place called

Johannesburg. While reading the pages, begin to envision Johannesburg

being a polluted, very unkind, and rushed city. The setting is more of

a emotional setting than a physical setting. As I stated it takes

place in South Africa, 1946. This is a time where racial

discrimination is at an all time high. The black community of this

land is trying to break free from the white people, but having little

success. It is this so called racism that is essential to the setting

of the story. Without it, the book would not have as much of an impact

as it does.

The story begins, as many great stories have begun, with a

solitary man taking a long and dangerous journey to a distant land.

The man is an Anglican Zulu priest, Rev. Stephen Kumalo, and the

journey is to the white-ran Johannesburg in 1946. Like a weary prophet

taking a biblical sojourn to Sodom, Kumalo is seeking out lost members

of his family who have left the townships for the lights of the big

city. He is looking for his sister Gertrude, who has become a

prostitute: and mostly, his son Absalom, who has disappeared into the

darkness as surely as the original Absalom of the Old Testament was

lost to King David. Once he arrives, the nave Kumalo is immediately

robbed, and it isnt until he finds the enigmatic but helpful Father

Msimangu that he is able to begin his search, a search that will

change his life forever.

He finds his sister, who is not expecting his arrivial, so, he

tells her that she and her child will go back with him. Next he wanted

to find his son, but he had no idea where to start, so Kumalo had

told Msimangu that his brother lives in Johannesburg. Msimangu

immediately knows who he is, for Kumalo’s brother was a big time

politician who has no need for the church. After talking to his

brother Kumalo learns the location of his sons girlfriend, and goes to

meet her. Upon arriving he finds that his son has gotten this girl

pregnant and has left her. The girl knew where he was supposed to be

going. Doing a little digging Kumalo finds his son has killed a man.

Ironically, Arthur Jarvis, killed by Absalom, had dedicated his life

to fighting apartheid.

Upon finding this Kumalo searches out for James Jarvis, white

wealthy land-owner, father of Arthur, to apologize and give him money

for his sons wrong doing. Jarvis then comes to a realization and

decides to build Kumalo a church because he now understands what

Kumalos people were going through.

Rev. Stephen Kumalo was a man of great moral value. He was very

firm in his beliefs, yet very nave when it came to the “real world.”

Kumalo could not imagine why his son did what he did nor did he want

to except the fact that it was solely his sons fault for killing a

man. The same goes for his sister, the prostitute, he thought that

she did what she did because she enjoyed it, but in all actuality she

was a prostitute so her son could have a better life. Kumalo was a

very emotional man, who dealt with his problem to the best of his

knowledge. At the beginning you can tell he is a very caring

individual for he allowed a child to eat at his home when she had

nothing to eat at hers. Kumalo was a main element in the plot. The

reason he was so important, through out all the trials that he faced

he never once buckled and he never once question why it was him and

not someone else.

Mr. James Jarvis was a to-proud land owner that suffered not only

for the loss of his son, but also the belated realization that his son

spent all of his time fighting against everything his he stood for. He

was a raciest man, and had no compassion for the black, until the end.

Surprisingly he was very much like Kumalo. They both had strong

beliefs, were set in their ways, and neither one understood their

sons. Jarvis was a key element in the plot because he was almost

exactly alike Kumalo.

Kumalo and Jarvis both changed tremendously in this story. They

both came to a realization of the world around them. It was ironic

that at the very end of the story, when Kumalo went to the mountain to

pray for his son (who was being executed that day), that Jarvis said

that he too would think about Absalom, and that he would build a new

church for Kumalo. It was like the realization that Doug had in

“Dandelion Wine” but much more complex.

I stated at the beginning that my words alone would do an

injustice on this book. I firmly believe that because this book was a

life experience, that it is to complex and to profound to put into

words. It was a great book, Paton took a tragedy and made it into a

lesson on life that every individual can relate to. I like the

perspective he took on it, it was as if you became the character

and you felt the same emotions thathe does. I also like how he divided

the book into two different books. That event gave the reader a

feeling a segregation which was what the black people felt in that day

and age.

The only thing that I did not like about the book was some of his

wording was a little confusing and I had to read it several times.

Also he was a complex writer. I thought that sometimes he took the

“round about way” of getting to his point.

I think that the theme that Paton was trying to get people to see

to forgive people for something they have no control over. He shows

this when Kumalo goes to Jarvis house to apologize for what his son

did. Also, he shows the theme when Jarvis tells Kumalo that he will

build him a church. When he decides to build the church it is his way

of apologizing to all the black people for his wrong doing.

This books power comes not from explosions of raw anger or

unexpected plot twists, but from the tragic simplicity of its tale.