The Metaphor Of The Land In Toni Morrison's Cry

In this portion of the book, the most prominent metaphor of the land is how it is becoming more and more eroded because the natives are leaving the countryside for the more prosperous land, Johannesburg. The land is being expressed as the tradition of the natives. It is being tarnished (as the land is) as the people leave their homes for a place that provide the illusion of something safer and better. The narrator exemplifies this when saying, “And they say it is danger to cross the street, yet one must needs cross it” (Pg. 42). The black people of the countryside lived in peace before anyone “crossed the street” and left home for the Johannesburg. The “street” serves as the dividing factor between the countryside and Johannesburg, the blacks and the whites. The more people who cross the street, the less remain to tend the land and withhold the tradition of the tribe. It is depicted once more when the narrator says, “Keep it, guard it, care for it, for

211). The meeting of Kumalo and Jarvis is the introduction to the change between the whites and blacks, and the land. By describing Kumalo’s clothing using green and brown, Paton illustrates the comparison between the tribe and the land. The battered state of Kumalo’s clothes represents the depleted land of the black people. Earlier on in book one, Jarvis explains, “I tell you there wouldn’t be any South Africa at all if it weren’t for the mines” (pg. 184). Jarvis explains that the mines are the only things keeping South Africa running and the blacks are the people running the mines. The black labor supports the whole lifestyle of the whites. The gold found in the mines is used to better the land for the white people, to build houses, buildings, etc.; while the blacks break their backs doing all this work and don’t get anything for