Inevitability of Change Revealed in Cry, the Beloved Country
Things grow old and die. Change is inevitable: a candle will eventually burn out, trees will fall to the ground, and mountains will crumble to the sea. This inescapable process is clearly illustrated by the character Stephen Kumalo in the book Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton. The Kumalo seen in the beginning of the book is a completely different person from what he is in the end. He is initially very kind and caring, but by the end of the book, he is a far less naïve person, one who is able to lie even to his own brother. The events that transpire and the changes they cause in the protagonist, Stephen Kumalo, clearly show that Cry, the Beloved Country is a book concerned with the effect external events can have on a man caught in the middle of them.
The book begins in a small South African village called Ndotsheni, where Kumalo is the pastor of the only church. Like all pastors, Kumalo is a kind, religious, tolerant, and caring man. In chapter 2, very early on, Kumalo is demonstrably very conscious of other people’s feelings, as is shown by what he says to his wife:
I am sorry I hurt you, he said. I shall go and pray in the church. (p. 10)
When he gets into an argument with his wife and unintentionally hurts her feelings, he is quick to apologize and, as an attempt to make up for what he has done, goes into the church and presumably begs the Lord for forgiveness. Only a man with true compassion and love would go to such great lengths to make up for a wrong.
In chapter 4 of Cry, the Beloved Country, Kumalo makes a journey ...
... middle of paper ...
...g of the book.
Kumalo never would have considered, even for a moment, lying or hurting anyone or anything before he came to Johannesburg. During his stay there, he is transformed from a gentle minister to a deceiving, insecure, hateful, frightened man. The reasons for this change are not because of him, but because of things that happened to him and around him, and were completely out of his control. Had his sister not been in need of help, he surely would never have gone to Johannesburg, but he could not hope to have prevented his sister’s illness when he knew nothing of it until it had already happened. The subsequent events cause changes in Kumalo that he could not have foreseen or prevented, nor could anyone else in his position. Change, welcome or not, will come to everyone and everything
Whenever I go out to eat, I always comb through the menu for specific words: shark, snake, grizzly, etc. It 's not that I don 't like more standard dishes. I love a good steak as much as the next guy, but that sort of thing just doesn 't excite me anymore. If I’m going to commit murder by eating meat, as the animal rights people say, I want my murder to count. I hunger for danger foods. By my definition, a danger food is any animal that can take me in a fair fight. The way I see it, if it could have killed me when it was alive, I get to eat it once it 's dead. In fact, it 's my civic duty to do so. For example, a shark could rip me apart with its rows of razor sharp teeth. Thus, I get to turn it into poop. The circle of life continues. A cow,
In Alan Paton's novel Cry, the Beloved Country two characters, Absalom's girl and Gertrude, show the how society in Johannesburg is as a whole. Absalom's girl symbolizes how girls her age are mothers and have even become divorced several times before. On the other hand Gertrude, Kumalo's sister, illustrates the qualities of a young woman who becomes corrupt from Johannesburg's filthy system of stealing, lying, and prostitution. Both of them show the ways of Johannesburg as a whole.
The setting begins in a small village in South Africa where Reverend Stephen Kumalo receives a letter asking him to go to Johannesburg to help his ill sister. Kumalo gets together all their savings and takes a train hoping to find not only his sister but also his son who left and never returned. In the city he finds the pastor who sent this letter who welcomes him and helps him find his sister. To his surprise, his sister was not ill but instead she had become a prostitute and was selling liquor. After persuading her to come back to the village with her son, she helps him find their brother, John.
Cry, the Beloved Country is not another novel of common strife between man and his fellow. It is an entirely higher sense of what "brother against brother" is. Seemingly harmless characters like Stephen Kumalo and James Jarvis reveal the bigger picture of racism around the entire country. The effect of extreme poverty, the responsibility of the whites, made this story possible. The solution to the problem is portrayed through Absalom, his crime, and Arthur Jarvis. "'Bexxuse the white man has power, we too want power,' he said. 'But when a black man gets power, when he gets money, he is a great man if he is not corrupted [Paton 70].'" John Kumalo's words were rebuke against the white nation. The blacks had the same vices and values as the whites, yet the whites were more dominant. Why should it be that way? This story is the protest against that white domination.
Fear and Redemption in Cry the Beloved Country & nbsp; Fear grips all black societies and is widespread not only among black people but also white people. An unborn child will inherit this fear and will be deprived of loving and relishing his country because the greater he loves his country, the greater will be his pain. Paton shows us this throughout this book, but at the same time he also offers deliverance from this pain. This, I believe, is the greater purpose of this book. & nbsp; When Stephen goes to Johannesburg, he has a childlike fear for "the great city" Johannesburg. Khumalo's fears about his family are exactly the same as every other black person in South Africa.
His neighbors also have a strange game they play that’s called Interstellar Pig. Their neighbors are about in their mid-twenties there is one girl, Zena, and two boys, Joe and Manny. Barney is rummaging threw the neighbors house when they leave to try and find out why they are so interested in the house and why they just stopped and was like in a trance when they saw the markings on the window.
In the case study it stated that "Jamal felt inadequate because he could not overcome his fear that others would humiliate him if he spoke". From that statement, one could gather that a lot of the self-doubt that Jamal experiences is from his own negative, illogical and/or self-destructive beliefs, in which the Cognitive Behavior Theory
Cry, the Beloved Country is such a controversial novel that people tend to forget the true meaning and message being presented. Paton’s aim in writing the novel was to present and create awareness of the ongoing conflict within South Africa through his unbiased and objective view. The importance of the story lies within the title, which sheds light on South Africa’s slowly crumbling society and land, for it is the citizens and the land itself which are “crying” for their beloved country as it collapses under the pressures of racism, broken tribes and native exploitation.
Hope is the strong feeling of desire for something good to happen. Hope is a driving force in the progression of life. The idea of hope is powerful because it can lead to patience, courage, and happiness. Hope is an important concept in Cry, the Beloved Country. Hope is what the main character Stephen Kumalo must use to keep fighting for his beliefs, for his son, and for his tribe. The power of hope is one of the only things that people had to overcome apartheid in South Africa. If hope were not present, Stephen Kumalo may have gave up on restoring himself, his son, and his tribe. Hope is the concept that helps Stephen Kumalo and other characters develop during the span of the novel. Hope is found in the characters, the tribe, and the land.
In Cry, the beloved country, Alan Paton tells the story of his journey across Africa, his experiences with the colonized Africa, and the destruction of the beautiful, pre-colonialism native land of Africa. Heart of Darkness also tells the story of a man and his experiences with colonialism, but a man who comes from a different time period and a very different background than Alan Paton’s Stephen Kumalo. Although, both Joseph Conrad and Alan Paton portray the colonized areas as very negative, death filled, and sinful places, it is when one analyzes the descriptions of the native lands of Africa that the authors reasons for their disapproval of colonialism are truly revealed. When comparing the writing styles of Alan Paton and Joseph Conrad, their descriptions of the land and the people in both works reveal their different attitudes and views towards colonialism. While Paton and Conrad ultimately oppose colonialism, Paton is concerned with the disappearance of African tribal tradition, whereas Conrad is concerned with the perceived corruption of the white colonists.
There are several different ways that pneumonia is classified such as hospital acquired pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and community acquired pneumonia. Hospital acquired pneumonia, HAP, is an infection that was not present at the time of admission but develops 48 hours or more afterwards. Some of the most common bacteria in this class are Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aure...
The United States government has a plethora of responsibilities- however, being a teenage girl’s moral compass is simply not one of them. Everywhere one may go, we find discouragement against unprotected sex and encouragement to practice abstinence. Nevertheless, teenagers continue to be sexually active. Teenage boys are receiving contraception at the drop of a hat in response to this, yet conversely, there is little in place to stop girls from reaping the inevitable consequences of unsafe sex. Moreover, it is very rarely even necessary for teenage girls to undergo a medical exam before going on birth control pills- so why is it that these pills are unavailable to teenage girls over the counter?
Cry, the Beloved Country is a moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom. They live in an Africa torn apart by racial tensions and hate. It is based on a work of love and hope, courage, and endurance, and deals with the dignity of man. The author lived and died (1992) in South Africa and was one of the greatest writers of that country. His other works include Too Late the Phalarope, Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful, and Tales from a Troubled Land.
Every society has segregations: segregations according to race, according to wealth, according to level of education, and others. Alan Paton in Cry, The Beloved Country uses tone to highlight the racial segregation in South Africa. Racial segregation leads to social inequality.
Narcissistic personality disorder is condition where an affected person has a superiority complex, or elevated feeling of self worth. These people do not experience much empathy for others, and often suffer problems in social situations such as work, or relationships. In contrast to the grandiosity they may present, under the surface these individuals have very a fragile self confidence and are easily hurt by criticism.