Cry The Beloved Country Essay

Cry, the Beloved Country Essay

Post World War II South Africa was a country torn by inequality, greed, and conflict between the two cultures of Europeans and Native Africans. In his novel Cry, the Beloved Country, the author, Alan Paton, proposes the only way to mend the tear in South Africa is for the two conflicting cultures to abandon their fears of each other. They must also learn to understand the one another and reconcile their differences to bring the possibility of positive change. This argument is presented throughout the novel with the interactions between the two main characters, Stephen Kumalo and James Jarvis. Paton’s first main character, Stephen Kumalo is a Zulu priest typifies the true African man: humble, respectful,

In this chapter, Jarvis and Kumalo put down their cultural differences and the tragedy of their sons and ultimately learn to understand each other. The way this occurs is the foundation of which Paton builds his thesis. The chapter begins by finding Jarvis standing on the top of a small flight of stairs and Kumalo “standing on the paved stone at the foot of the three stone steps that led up to the kitchen.” (p. 211) This shows a clear visualization of the differences between the two cultures; Jarvis, representing the whites, standing superior to Kumalo representing the Natives. The differences do not stand for long, though. Kumalo had fallen down at the bottom step, and Jarvis moves quickly to the bottom step along with Kumalo to assist him back to his feet. (p. 211) This change of their positioning is symbolic of the reconciling of differences between them, and ending the gap between their standing in South African society. Kumalo and Jarvis are now, both literally and figuratively, on the same level. For Kumalo to recover and stand back up, however, he had to leave behind his traditions (represented by the hat and cane) and himself make a sacrifice, mirroring Jarvis’s sacrifice of his position in society (represented by his higher step). In order for the cultures and the men to reconcile their differences, both cultures and men had to give up something dear and make sacrifices, but once Kumalo