Parallelism In Cry The Beloved Country By Alan Paton

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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.

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