History Of Aparthied as It Refers To Cry the Beloved Country

Hope. It is the one thing that people have survived on for centuries. Without hope, the African Americans of the early 1800’s would have just succumbed to the will of the slave owners. This is why Mandela is considered such a great leader. Nelson Mandela’s message through his speeches was one of hope, which is the only thing the people of Ndotshemi have to thrive on (Chokshi). Alan Paton, the author of Cry the Beloved Country, also believed in hope bringing together the land of South Africa. There are many similarities between the novel and the real life occurrences of the South African Apartheid. In the book or in the real life Apartheid, someone came into the scene that was willing to help by assuming a leadership role, whether it is Nelson Mandela or an agricultural spectator, the one that appears at the end of the novel. Also, In one of Mandela’s speeches, he believes the youth really are the fighting force. Considering they hold their own future in their hands, James Jarvis’ grandson, the boy that appears at the end of the novel that seems to have put all past biases behind him, seems to be someone who at one time could lead a racial revolution, uniting the tribes of South Africa with its white counterparts. Another thing, in another of Mandela’s speeches, he so eloquently writes “This is our national soul, our compact with one another as citizens, underpinned by our highest aspirations and our deepest apprehensions. Our pledge is to again shall the laws of our land rend our people apart or legalize their oppression and repression. Together, we shall march, hand-in-hand, to a brighter future.”(Mandela 1993).

This matches the book dramatically with the end of the novel being a new sunrise, symbolizing a new rebirth.

In both circumstances, some one has came in as an unlikely leader and lead the group into a new way of life. Mandela assumed leadership by being a humble, modest man who the people could respect and admire. He also never let his own success come before his leadership role to his country (Dugard). One of the reasons he was such a leader was because he never held himself to a higher status then any of his loyal followers who believed in him so dearly. In his speeches he commended everyone else, before giving himself one ounce of praise (South Africa Index). The novel also had a savior of sorts, in the form of the agricultural spectator, who ...

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...can not just be something that is said or promised, it must be acted upon with good intentions. Without the action, the words are meaningless and hold no real value but a shallow lie.

Without hope, the people of Ndotshemi, as well as the people of South Africa, would be spiritless and would have no drive to rebuild. Nelson Mandela, as in the real Apartheid, and new ways of efficient manual labor, as in the novel Cry the Beloved Country, have given them a reason to try. In one of Mandela’s speeches, he so eloquently writes:

This is our national soul, our compact with one another as citizens, underpinned by our highest aspirations and our deepest apprehensions. Our pledge is to never and never again shall the laws of our land rend our people apart or legalize their oppression and repression. Together, we shall march, hand-in-hand, to a brighter future.(Mandela 1990)

Today the South Africans have more than hope on their side. They also have many a people helping them through their hard times, and many nations providing their support. But without hope, it is to be said that they couldn’t have gotten where they are now and been half as successful.