Stephen Kumalo Essay, Research Paper

Stephen Kumalo

Stephen Kumalo, who was an Anglican preacher with great moral

value. He was very firm in his beliefs, yet very nave when it came to

the “real world.” Many people who knew Kumalo would call him

?Umfundisi?, which is a title and used with respect. 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. Kumalo could not imagine why his son did what he did nor did he

want to except the fact that it was solely his son?s 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. He also responded immediately to the letter which

he had received from a fellow preacher in Johannesburg. He sacrificed all

the money which he and his wife had been saving for months, in order to go

and search for his sister and his son. Kumalo had faced many obstacles

through out his journey to bring his family back to live in their village.

When he went through these obstacles, he never slowed down or stopped to

search for his family members. Therefore, Kumalo was a main element in

the plot. The reason he was so important is because 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.