Inequality In Alan Paton's Cry, The Beloved Country

The idea that all men are created equal was ignored in South Africa as the country experienced a gruesome period of apartheid from 1948 to 1991. The novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton was published in 1948, the same year apartheid was adopted as the official system. The release of the novel caused outrage across the world, and was banned in South Africa. The context of the novel’s production and reception plays a large role in the understanding of the novel. The message that Paton tried to deliver in Cry, the Beloved Country was that only when people accept or love each other as fellow human beings will there be peace, progress and beauty, particularly in South Africa. Race inequality can still be seen today as many of the African-Americans

The black male has a broader range of experiences on oppression than the white male because of the segregation of race in South Africa in 1948. The blacks suffered discrimination and treated as though they did not deserve to live. The whites lived lavishly and were respected in the community. “Don’t you think that more schooling simply means cleverer criminals?” (p. 69) This quote suggests that if a black male is given the same opportunity as a white male, the black male would turn out to be a man who will use his ability for the worse. As seen through this quote the whites have an inherent belief that the blacks are lower-ranking people and therefore will generalize and assume that all black South Africans are the inferior group of people. The major difference in the two different races is that the whites are considered as legitimate members of society whereas the blacks are treated as marginalized members of society. As a result, it instills fear into the minds of the blacks in South Africa: “The sun pours down on the earth, on the lovely land that man cannot enjoy. He knows only the fear of his heart.” (p.67) The blacks are afraid because they know the do not have legitimate access. Therefore, they feel compelled to commit illegal acts to gain access to simple resources such as the use of