The
Theme of Cry, The Beloved Country
Cry,
The Beloved Country is a book written by Alan Paton which
is set in Apartheid South Africa. The book is told from the prospective of
Stephen Kumalo a preacher whose son murdered, on accident, an activist for the
equality of everyone in South Africa. Thus to the point, the theme of the novel
is that racial inequality is a viscous cycle that only cause of many negative
things. Throughout the novel the main character’s life is affected by the
racial tensions of the Europeans and the Natives. In fact, Kumalo’s journey not
only showcases the poor conditions Native South African’s where made to live,
but it also showcases the root of native crime, and demonstrates the growing angst between the
two aforementioned groups.
It is clear from the
start of the book that Kumalo is not overwhelmed with wealth which, is not an
uncommon thing in his setting. This is seen in the first chapter which
contrasts the high land and low land. The high land which the White Europeans
live is described and as having “rich and matted grass” and being “well kept”;
however the low land which Kumalo and the other Natives live is described as
“red and bare” and as having “too many cows that feed upon the grass”. The stark contrast between the two dwellings
clearly shows which of the two groups has the short end of the stick. The
author did a great a job getting the point across that the equality……well there
is no equality. The whites get the first pick and the natives get the
leftovers.
I guess some of the
natives got sick of leftovers because in the book there is a rise of native
crime. This is seen in chapter five when the preachers discuss the newspaper
specifically the article “Couple Robbed and Beaten in Lonely House. Four Natives Arrested.” This foreshadowing of events alludes
to the natives’ desperateness and displays the measures they have to resort to
in order to survive. This in-world reference also, as I said earlier, is also a
foreshadowing of his son’s crime of breaking and entering and murder of Arthur
Jarvis the activist who, as irony would have it, was writing a book entitled The Truth about Native Crime which as
revealed by Paton metaphorically is desperation.
As you can imagine, the
Europeans didn’t like that crime was on the rise especially since the natives
where the one committing them. In fact, Mismangu says things where getting so
bad that the “the white people from Norwood, Orange Grove, and Highlands” got
so tired of it they started “a great petition” to demolish Alexandria a well-known
stomping ground of prostitution, crime, and bootlegging. The author was
creative when finding an “avatar” for the White Europeans’ voice; he used Mismangu
an elderly Native priest to express the pure disdain of Native Crime. By doing
this, Paton not only reveals that the Native community knows the Europeans intentions,
but puts forth the point that even though the whites are the ones that
originally “broke the tribe” and caused the ghetto to arise and fester with
crime they only want to preserve their peace and will once again steal away the
homes, no matter how impoverished and crime ridden, of the natives.
The main theme of Cry, The Beloved Country is that racial prejudice,
inequality, and hate is a viscous cycle. The oppressed lose their rights, the
oppressed fight back, and the oppressors fight back harder. Alan Paton knew
this and he knew the one cure to the problem. Through Mismangu Paton says this,
“I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men,
desiring neither power or money, but desiring only the good of their country, come
together to work for it.”
By: Bryce Mitchell
Word Count: 639
