Presentation on "The Twelve"

click here to view my Presentation on "The Twelve

Cry, the Beloved Country

"Who knows for what we live, and struggle, and die?” “Wise men write many books, in words to hard to understand but this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all our stuggle, is beyond all human wisdom.”

There are three different themes in this novel, Cry, The Beloved Country like Reconciliation between father and son, The Barbarous Chain of Inequality, and Corruption in Christianity. They all are prominent themes at this point of the novel.

The Reconciliation between father and son is an awesome theme to begin wth. In Cry, The Beloved Country it begins as a search of a father for his son in a town where no one returns. For Kumalo, the search is a physical search. He takes money from his savings and he takes time from his life to search for his son Absalom in Johannesburg. Most of Kumalo’s stops yields to the craziest indications to where Absalom has been. These indications show a blueprint of what Absalom has become since he has moved to Johannesburg. As Kumalo goes from door to door searching for his son he finds out that his son has alternated from factory worker to a burglar, then from a shinning young man to a killer. When Kumalo is finally reunited with his son, they are basically strangers. On the other hand the trial and the bad things going on bring them closer together like father and son should be.

The Barbarous Chain of Inequality is also a prominent theme in Cry, The Beloved Country. As Kumalo searches for his son Johannesburg has been going through a colossal phase of inequality. The blacks in South Africa are not allowed to own land, their crops on their land is taxed greatly. Johannesburg has lead Gertrude and Absalom into the wrong direction, since this has happened they both turn to the life of delinquency. In need of money the blacks begin to rob the white people’s homes, “couple robbed and beaten in lonely house, four native arrested.” When the blacks act in such a way the whites need to help the blacks fade away. As a result to this the blacks find themselves exposed to more injustice. The blacks and whites say their actions are only cause of the violence’s that has begun to occur. There is no understanding from the blacks or whites so inequality and injustice will never end.

The last theme for Cry, The Beloved Country is Corrpution in Christianity.In the awful adversity that Kumalo encounter, his only consolation comes from his belief and faith in god. As he finds out about his son his belief and faith is tested, so he seeks help from his priest. Kumalo spends time praying for all the souls lost in Johannesburg and the damaged civilization of his village. According to Msimangu, religion is Africa’s only way of bypassing the explosions of Africa’s racial tensions. Corruption is the agony of the people, the crying of the land, the discord of society, and the mourning of the individual. As Absalom stops having faith it seems like the only way to survive is to turn to the life of crime, instead of praying and hoping things get better. Without faith the people of Johannesburg think they will never get anything unless they rob or kill for it. Alan Paton, the author, suggests that an effective way to rid the land of this terrible disease would be to dispose of the infected parts or aspects and rebuild them completely without any contaminated attributes. In the end of it all without faith and beliefs there will always be corruption.

"I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find we are turned to hating." Reconciliation between father and son, The Barbarous Chain of Inequality and Corruption in Christianity are themes at this point but there is more to come in this amazing novel Cry, the Beloved Country.