ESA Cry Summary

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ESA Cry Analysis Stephen Kumalo originally sets out to seek his sister and help her, yet gets taken on an incredible journey in search of his son, Absalom. Along the way we meet another man, James Jarvis, who lives a contradicting life that of Stephen Kumalo. Although Stephen and James come from different backgrounds and locations in South Africa, there are comparable details of their existence. Stephen Kumalo and James Jarvis are two different men living two completely different lives, with some notable parallels. Both men are brought into this story because of their sons relation with one another. Their sons, Absalom Kumalo and Arthur Jarvis's both leave their parents and set out to live in Johannesburg. However, both fathers are upset …show more content…

Stephen Kumalo is a highly respected colored pastor who is well liked among his people, and once seeing his clerical collar, they make way for him (43). The Kumalo family does not have much money and have very little appliances and furniture in their household. It seems that money is a stressor for the parents yet it is not talked about much between them or in the book. James Jarvis lives an alternate life in which he is a rich farmer, “he could look around on the green rich hills that he had inherited from his father, and down on the rich valley where he lived and farmed,” (163). Since the great land was passed to James, obviously he would want to keep a family tradition and pass the land on to his son, yet he knows it's not what Arthur desires. James Jarvis and Stephen Kumalo are different not only in occupation but by color as well. Being different skin tones may not seem like an important difference, but at the time it definitely was. The two men were raised in different parts of South Africa and, due to their skin tones, were treated differently and raised their sons unlike each other. In fact, Jarvis is very disappointed in himself for reading that his son is upset that his parents did not teach him much of South Africa while he was growing up

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