Parallelism In Cry The Beloved Country By Alan Paton

1038 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The nature of identity in literature

Many boundaries present themselves in everyday life. Perhaps one of the largest boundaries that lead to conflict is race. The mere color of a person’s skin can isolate an individual from the rest of the world. In the 20th century contemporary novel, Cry the Beloved Country, Alan Paton uses parallelism to show how the boundaries of racism present themselves in the lives of the South Africans and how the differences in people make for a split society. The separation of people by one’s race causes boundaries to exist. In Johannesburg, Kumalo seems like an outsider within many areas of the city due to the color of his skin. The society of South Africa creates dissimilar points of view of a black man’s court case: “It is true that the victim was …show more content…

Msingo conveys a message to Kumalo about his own thoughts of men and power: “I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men, desiring neither power nor money, but desiring only the good of their country, come together to work for it” (Paton 71). Paton portrays that although the people disagree and segregate themselves, hope may to find a way if everyone cooperates. Paton’s use of opposite ideas, which combine, convey the message of how society dies unless everyone of all races works together to revive the peace. No good shall come towards the people unless categorizing individuals changes for the good of the country. If the citizens fail, all discord breaks loose. No one person is responsible for the tangled mess. To explain to Kumalo that both races show as “ignorant,” The young man says, “And we were ignorant also. It is all these things together that have made this valley desolate” (Paton 302). Paton’s use of parallelism explains that even though it seems as though the white men are responsible, it is the fault of everyone of all races. Life is a scale and unless the people balance their opposite views, the world lacerates. One group may not blame the other for the arguments , which lie between everyone from everywhere. It is just that the places in which black populations outweigh others where the affects of the dysfunction of the people appear.

Show More
Related

  • Racial Microaggressions and Injustice: A Review of Rankine's Citizen

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ranikine’s addresses the light upon the failed judicial systems, micro aggressions, pain and agony faced by the black people, white privilege, and all the racial and institutional discrimination as well as the police brutality and injustice against the blacks; The book exposes that, even after the abolition of slavery, how the racism still existed and felt by the colored community in the form of recently emerged ‘Micro aggressions in this modern world’. Claudia Rankine’s Citizen explores the daily life situations between blacks and whites and reveals how little offensive denigrating conversations in the form of micro-aggressions were intentionally conveyed to the black people by the whites and how these racial comments fuel the frustrations and anger among the blacks. She gathered the various incidents, where the black people suffered this pain. This shows the white’s extraordinary powers to oppress the black community and the failure of the legal system Rankine also shares the horrible tragedy of Hurricane Katrina experienced by the black community, where they struggled for their survival before and post the hurricane catastrophes.

    Read More

  • Jasper Jones Quotes

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel ‘Jasper Jones’ and the film ‘Jindabyne’ both use the representation of characters and their relationships to challenge the treatment of individuals with regards to race, class and gender. The historical contexts surrounding these two texts sets the basis for the stratification and racial discrimination present. The lack of dignity that is depicted between the relationships formed between characters displays the regard in which communities treat each other. ‘Jasper Jones’ and ‘Jindabyne’ are comparable texts as it is clear that the gap between these communities has reduced since the time period of ‘Jasper Jones’ when compared to ‘Jindabyne’, however, it is identified that this gap still exists.

    Read More

  • Gregory Howard Williams' Life on the Color Line

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Life on the Color Line is a powerful tale of a young man's struggle to reach adulthood, written by Gregory Howard Williams - one that emphasizes, by daily grapples with personal turmoil, the absurdity of race as a social invention. Williams describes in heart wrenching detail the privations he and his brother endured when they were forced to remove themselves from a life of White privilege in Virginia to one where survival in Muncie, Indiana meant learning quickly the cold hard facts of being Black in skin that appeared to be White.      This powerful memoir is a testament to the potential love and determination that can be exhibited despite being on the cusp of a nation's racial conflicts and confusions, one that lifts a young person above crushing social limitations and turns oppression into opportunity.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes "Theme for English B" and Gerald Graff’s "Hidden Intellectualism"

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...of social construction and really are about some negative sides of the human experience. Whether black or white, lower-class or upper-class, separation exists. It’s evident by these authors own experiences, no matter what method they use to convey it, whether that method be intellectual or emotional. Social separation, no matter what the cause, can be very damaging, and is felt by all kinds of people. Not just the black or the white, or the intellectuals or the “hoods.”

    Read More

  • A Savage Legacy Summary

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this program, it centers on a pattern of segregation and genocide evident in King Leopold’s Belgian Congo rampages, the terrorism of Jim Crow, South Africa apartheid rule, and less recognizable examples that persist in today’s global community. Slavery caused Blacks to suffer, and allowed

    Read More

  • Battle Royal, by Ralph Ellison

    1887 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1940‘s racial segregation gripped southern American life. The notion of separating blacks from whites created immense tension. Separate water fountains, bathrooms, restaurants, etc. were variables that helped keep races apart. “Jim Crow” laws in the south were intended to prevent blacks from voting. These laws, combined with the segregated educational system, instilled the sense that blacks were “separate” but not equal (174). Many people of color weren‘t able to survive through this time period because of the actions of whites. One individual who overcame the relentless struggles was Ralph Ellison. Ellison, a famous author, depicted racial segregation in the 1940’s through a fictional short story entitled “Battle Royal.” Battle Royal symbolized the actions of what “other” people became accustomed to. Blacks were thought to be socially inferior and live in the shadows of whites. The idea which Ellison uses to paint “Battle Royal” consists of that when one sex or race treats another as an object or animal, both become dehumanized (174). Ellison’s use of hidden meanings conveys his theme more effectively.

    Read More

  • Between The World And Me By Ta-Nehisi Coates

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    Internal conflict caused by culture is a concept that Edward Hall explores in his book “Beyond Culture”. In this examination of intercultural interactions, Hall argues that people are born into the cultural prison of one’s primary culture. He then goes on to claim that from people can only be free of this prison and experiencing being lost in another (Hall). For Coates, this cultural prison is the permeating fear resulting from the blackness of his body. His internal conflict is therefore created when seeing the world of white, suburban culture. Because this world of pot-roasts and ice cream Sundays seems impossibly distant from the world of fear for his black body, Coates comes to feel the contrast of cultures. He tells his son, “I knew my portion of the American galaxy, where bodies were enslaved by tenacious gravity, was black and that the other, liberated portion was not” (21). As a result of the shocking divide, Coates comprehends the burden of his race. Coates therefore feels “a cosmic injustice, a profound cruelty, which infused an biding, irrepressible desire to unshackle my body and achieve the velocity of escape (21). The quality of life between the culture belonging to Coates’s skin in contrast to the culture of suburban America creates for Coates a sense of otherness between himself and the rest of the world. Disillusioned, Coates avidly pursues answers to this divide. Coates thereby embarks on a quest to satiate this internal conflict of cultures, beginning his journey towards

    Read More

  • Kaffir Boy Analysis

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although the struggle for equal rights, food, welfare and survival were all central themes in both narratives, through this essay one could see how similar but at the same time distinctive the injustices for race relations were in South Africa’s apartheid regime and in the Jim Crow South’s segregation era were. The value for education, the struggle to survive and racism were all dominant faces that Anne Moody and Mark Mathabane faced on a day to day basis while growing up that shaped they their incredible lives with.

    Read More

  • Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Comparison of Paton's Cry, The Beloved Country and Conrad's Heart of Darkness

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee

    1836 Words  | 4 Pages

    J. M. Coetzee' novel, "Disgrace," takes place in post-apartheid South Africa. The times swing chaotically in the great upheaval as South Africa's political power arm swings from a white ruling minority, to black majority rule. The power shift is anything but smooth; victims become victors and, likewise, oppressors become the oppressed.

    Read More

  • Cry , the Beloved Country: Post-Colonial Literary Theory

    569 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bibliography w/4 sources          Cry , the Beloved Country by Alan Paton is a perfect example of post-colonial literature. South Africa is a colonized country, which is, in many ways, still living under oppression. Though no longer living under apartheid, the indigenous Africans are treated as a minority, as they were when Paton wrote the book. This novel provides the political view of the author in both subtle and evident ways. Looking at the skeleton of the novel, it is extremely evident that relationship of the colonized vs. colonizers, in this case the blacks vs. the whites, rules the plot. Every character’s race is provided and has association with his/her place in life. A black man kills a white man, therefore that black man must die. A black umfundisi lives in a valley of desolation, while a white farmer dwells above on a rich plot of land. White men are even taken to court for the simple gesture of giving a black man a ride. This is not a subtle point, the reader is immediately stricken by the diversities in the lives of the South Africans.

    Read More

  • Transculturation

    1474 Words  | 3 Pages

    "A Far Cry From Africa" is the story of a man half African and half English, who is witnessing the death and destruction of his homeland resulting from the English colonization of South Africa. In his description he does not, however, favor one side over the other, but focuses rather on the injustices of both cultures. At the end of the po...

    Read More

  • The Young Man's Predicaments in The Bridegroom

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    The young man’s predicaments all revolve around his need to satisfy those that will judge him and he becomes trapped between the apartheid rule and humanity’s desire for equality and respect towards others. This is purely a personal issue that can be resolved solely by him, but should take into the consideration of those involved. We see glimpses of this coming through the young man, but being raised in an era of apartheid it overpowers his common understanding of respect.

    Read More

  • The Dilemma Of A Ghost By Ama Ata Aidoo

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the story, the writer uses the different lives of an African family and their union with an African American to show the cultural rift that occurs. Their daily lives show how people of different cultures strive to live together under the same roof. The clash of cultures is portrayed in the way they react to each other in the different circumstances.

    Read More

More about Parallelism In Cry The Beloved Country By Alan Paton

Open Document