Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, describes the system of racial inequality that existed in the country of South Africa in the 1940s. South Africa is well known for its use of apartheid which is the formal segregation of racial groups within a country causing them to be treated differently in all aspects of life. The novel is actually set during the time leading up to the institution of apartheid in South Africa. The main characters are from different racial groups. As the story shifts between the two men, Stephen Kumalo and Arthur Jarvis, it becomes clear that although they are from opposing cultures, they share similar emotional struggles and loss. I chose to read Cry, the Beloved Country because the novel shows that people can change the way they feel and act towards each other even though it may be because of an experience of great tragedy. The novel is a depiction of a clash between two distinct cultures – African tribes versus Dutch/English descendents– based on racial stratification, resulting in a theme of inequality and injustice.
Stephen Kumalo is the elderly priest and member of a Zulu tribe in the small village of Ndotsheni. He is a kind man who understands the suffering of his people due to poverty, poor agricultural conditions, and the loss of its young people to the allure of the city of Johannesburg. He leaves his home to go to this city to help his sister and to try and find his son, Absalom. He encounters a variety of hardships which culminate in the discovery that his son is guilty of murdering a white man. James Jarvis is a white landowner who lives near Kumalo’s church and tribe. He is wealthy and holds the belief that he is entitled to the riches of the country and believes in the inferiority of the native people. Unbeknown to him, his son has become an activist for racial justice and reform as a way to stop the escalating crime and violence by young black men. It is his son who is unintentionally murdered by Kumalo’s son. The tragedy causes both men to rethink their own lives and to find a way to work together in order to save the beloved valley where they both live.
The most significant cultural and social fact that results in persistent inequality and injustice is race. Skin color was the main physical difference between the African tribes who originally occupied the area and the white, European settlers who arrived in the mid 1600s. This was the main factor used as justification for differential treatment, prejudice, and discrimination. For example, when Kumalo set out on his journey to Johannesburg by train, he was required to ride in the cars designated for “non-Europeans” because of his race. Within the city there are separate areas for whites and blacks to live. Blacks are forced to live in shantytown areas such as Claremont, which was referred to as “the garbage-heap of the proud city.” (Paton 58). Also, in the courtroom where Kumalo’s son Absalom was tried there were separate areas for blacks and whites to sit. The manner in which whites and blacks interacted with each other also shows prejudice. This can be seen when Kumalo goes to a home to ask about the daughter of friend and is met face to face with the father of the man his son killed. The book describes the manner in which Jarvis reacted to Kumalo’s near fainting stating, “Jarvis would have helped him, but such a thing is not so lightly done” (Paton 211). The statement illustrates the tense relationship between blacks and whites at the time and how this type of racial reaction had become a part of their culture.
Injustice is also illustrated by the breakdown of the tribal family structure caused in part by the effects of the physical environment in which they are forced to live. There is very little land available for the tribes to use because white farmers have seized control of the areas that were once fertile. For many years tribes have resorted to subsistence strategies in order to survive. Drought and poor agricultural techniques have caused tribal land areas to be unproductive. They have not changed in response to these challenges and continue to farm using soil destroying techniques and overgrazing. The men of this Zulu tribe also follow the custom of
lobola, which is a type of bridewealth transaction where the man pays for his wife in cattle causing them to keep too many cattle, which gives the grass no chance to recover. This practice is difficult for me to understand given the need to preserve the land for the cultivation of food to eat. There are very few opportunities to keep the young people tied to the tribe. As a result, young black men and women have left their homelands and moved to the city seeking work. There are very few places for them to live and those who do have small homes are overflowing with people: “The house is not broken, but it is overflowing. Ten people in two rooms, and only one door for the entrance, and people to walk over you when you go to sleep.” (Paton 84).
Injustice and inequality as causes of tribal family breakdown can also be seen in the requirement of mine workers to leave their families and live in compounds set up by the mine owners. The white mine owners had a policy of keeping their labor force poor and uneducated. Jarvis’ son wrote about this breakdown and how the white people of the region allowed it to happen because the tribal ways interfered with what they believed was the growth of their country. He believed the pattern of discrimination and prejudice had caused the tribes to deteriorate both physically and morally. Most of the young people who left the tribe and travelled to the city eventually fall victim to crime as a way to survive, producing prostitutes, murderers, and drunks. It is the writings left by his son that are central to the novel and show that the vicious cycle of inequality and injustice must be broken before healing and progress can be made. His death is all the more tragic because he is a leader in the reform movement and was actually in the middle of writing an essay that implored his fellow white South Africans to do something, “Our civilization has therefore an inescapable duty to set up another system of order and tradition and convention,” (Paton 179). He was writing the essay when he was killed by Kumalo’s son.
In conclusion, Cry, the Beloved Country describes a country that is suffering in an endless cycle of inequality and injustice based on race. The physical and cultural differences between the African tribes and the Dutch/English descendents had evolved over time into a discriminatory society living in fear of each other. The result was the institution of apartheid which allowed one group of people to live in marked disparity to the other. Unfortunately the voice of reason and reform shown by the writings of the character Arthur Jarvis were not heeded until well into the 1990s when apartheid was officially dismantled. It was interesting to me that he wrote, “We set aside one-tenth of the land for four-fifths of the people” (Paton 179). It seems strange to me that it took so long to change the way people felt about each other. The racial stratification and the conflict it caused between these two groups of people in South Africa almost destroyed the country. The novel has made me appreciate the country and time period in which I live. Although we still have some problems that are associated with race, they are nothing compared to those in South Africa.
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