The Effect of Social Inequality in Cry, The Beloved Country
Every society has segregations: segregations according to race, according to wealth, according to level of education, and others. Alan Paton in Cry, The Beloved Country uses tone to highlight the racial segregation in South Africa. Racial segregation leads to social inequality.
People naturally segregate themselves. Social inequality occurs not only in Johannesburg, where big corporations take advantage of the naïve, but even in Ndotsheni, a small village. Paton uses a hopeless tone to convey feelings of isolation and defeat. He emphasizes the impact a class system has on the culture of South Africa: “Down in Ndotsheni I am nobody, even as you are nobody, my brother. I am subject
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Paton uses the tone of humility to reveal how after Kumalo experiences the class system in Johannesburg, he can better understand his own people: “After seeing Johannesburg he would return with a deeper understanding to Ndotsheni. Yes, with a greater humility, for had his own sister not been a prostitute? And his son a thief? And might he himself be a grandfather to a child that would have no name?” (120). Paton shows how even though Kumalo cannot stop segregation all by himself, he can grow from the trials, and learn to better communicate and relate to his people. Furthermore, Paton says that if people want to save their world, they must forget the inequalities and unite – person with person – to keep everyone equal and safe. Throughout his novel, Cry, The Beloved Country, Paton writes about how social inequality affects a country. Social inequality causes people pain and prevents them from advancing in the ranks of society. Paton uses tone to establish the negative result of segregation and explain how to overcome it. Paton stresses that fact that people must eliminate segregation, unite as a people, and communicate with each other. From his book, people can understand how to overcome segregation and grow from
The book deals with several sociological issues. It focuses on poverty, as well as s...
She argues that segregation has larger implications than just material goods, so programs that merely redistribute these goods do not fully solve the problem. She discusses three additional effects that only integration can mitigate: “ social/cultural capital inequality, racial stigmatization, and anti-democratic effects” (Anderson 2). Anderson points out that members of isolated communities do not receive similar opportunities, “[undermining] disadvantaged groups’ accumulation of the cultural capital needed for advancement” (2). In addition, she argues that geographic isolation reinforces negative stereotypes, functioning to stigmatize minorities or members of out-groups in general. Racial stigmas do not just occur only with extremist thinking. Anderson points out that, “even people who consciously reject anti-black stereotypes have been found to discriminate against blacks” (17). She finally argues that segregation causes a lack of “both communication and accountability” between political elites and isolated minorities (17). Not only are these three effects byproducts of community separation, but they cannot be fixed simply by moving resources around. Anderson contends that integration is the only answer and is enacted through stages of formal desegregation, spatial integration, and formal social integration. These steps are the only way to ensure that isolated minorities will have equality under law, sharing of public institutions such as schools, and cooperation within those institutions leading to better
In conclusion, racial segregation provides a gateway for countless other forms of injustice. Blacks are forced to live in a world, in which poverty is an epidemic, infrastructure is inadequate, education is non-existent, families are torn apart, and crime and violence are everywhere. Segregation utilizes all of these factors within a certain area to isolate one group of people from another. This apartheid system refuses to acknowledge the rights of blacks as rightful citizens and forces them to endure the consequences of economic, political, and social oppression. That is unfair and unjust. It is ironic how Americans are the first criticize foreign countries, yet remain blind to their own faults. Until they can identify the problem, the United States of America will continue to struggle as a country.
In America, many people are divided by a class system. Within our society, many people find themselves not interacting much with people outside of their class and can rarely find something in common with people of different financial backgrounds. In Andre Dubus the Third’s writing “The Land of No: Love in A Class-Riven America, he speaks about his experience with his roommate who comes from an affluent background opposed to his less advantaged upbringing. In “The Land of No: Love in A Class-Riven America, Andre Dubus the Third displays that the experiences the people face from different classes can differ entirely and therefore it makes it difficult to identify with someone outside of your class.
...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.”
To summarise there are many material things that favour different groups of people for many reasons. These differences and inequalities created by material things are what make a community that. This is a common vision throughout the world, not just West Main Street or City Road. In some ways it is much easier to find the similarities than differences between these two streets, although they are unique, what you see socially can be seen on any street. (‘The Street’, 2009, Scene 8)
Poverty on social conditions affects everyone in every part of the world, no matter if they are rich or poor. First of all, everyone is divided into some sort of social class. The most known classes are the economic classes- the lower class, the middle class, and the higher class. The lower class goes through arduous labor all day and night to earn decent amounts of money to provide for themselves and their families. Most likely, they are the only source of income for the entire family. The higher class works hard to keep up or raise their high social status. They also work hard so they don’t loss their social rank, which permits them to hold a higher power over the middle and lower classes. Similarities of decisions made by characters in these two literary works will analyzed to understand the meaning behind the actions and influences of the social classes on each other.
Cry the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton is a novel inspired by the industrial revolution. Paton describes in detail the conditions in which the Africans were living during this time period, 1946. This story tells about a Zulu pastor who goes into the city in search of his son and siblings who left in search of a better life. The pastor sees this immense city where a ruling white group is oppressing the black population. This novel is more than just a story, but it depicts the effects imperialism and the Industrial Revolution had on South Africa. Although the government has intervened to protect the people, some of these effects are still present in our societies.
Fear and Redemption in Cry the Beloved Country & nbsp; Fear grips all black societies and is widespread not only among black people but also white people. An unborn child will inherit this fear and will be deprived of loving and relishing his country because the greater he loves his country, the greater will be his pain. Paton shows us this throughout this book, but at the same time he also offers deliverance from this pain. This, I believe, is the greater purpose of this book. & nbsp; When Stephen goes to Johannesburg, he has a childlike fear for "the great city" Johannesburg. Khumalo's fears about his family are exactly the same as every other black person in South Africa.
One great paradox of human life is the balance between security and independence. Many people would say that they are self-sustaining, that they can make it on their own. The question is not always whether or not they can make it, but what the cost of their security is. Some value their personal freedom more than their security, for others it is the opposite. In “Cry, the Beloved Country” characters often wrestle with this issue. Every character responds uniquely according to their situation. The results are meaningful and give information about who they really are and what they value.
In America, many people are divided by what we comprehend as a class system. Within our society, a multitude of people finds themselves not interacting often with those outside of their class and can rarely find similarities with people with a different financial status. In Andre Dubus’ writing “The Land of No: Love in A Class-Riven America”, he speaks about his experience with his girlfriend who comes from an affluent background opposed to his less advantaged upbringing. Dubus shows that the experiences people face from different classes can differ entirely and therefore it makes it difficult to identify with someone outside of your class. In Andre Dubus’ writing, “The Land of No: A Class-Riven America” he is showing
Arthur, Napoleon, and Msimangu, all characters from Alan Paton’s book, Cry, The Beloved Country, are used to share Paton’s points of view on the future of South Africa and the apartheid. Paton uses these characters to represent specific views; Arthur expresses clearly that the apartheid isn’t the right way to progress as a country, Napoleon exemplifies how Paton thinks people should take the anti-apartheid effort, and Msimangu explicitly expresses Paton’s ideas of an ideal leader.
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.
In Alan Paton's novel Cry, the Beloved Country two characters, Absalom's girl and Gertrude, show the how society in Johannesburg is as a whole. Absalom's girl symbolizes how girls her age are mothers and have even become divorced several times before. On the other hand Gertrude, Kumalo's sister, illustrates the qualities of a young woman who becomes corrupt from Johannesburg's filthy system of stealing, lying, and prostitution. Both of them show the ways of Johannesburg as a whole.
Another emphasis is on the learned customs of the people. In court when Kumalo finds that his son will be hanged, he is touched that a white man breaks the custom to help him walk outside. When the white boy raised his cap to Kumalo, he, "felt a strange pride that it should be so, and a strange humility that it should be so, and an astonishment that the small boy should not know the custom." (p. 234). The fact that this small courtesy was taken so heavily is overwhelming from a post-colonial point of view. Kumalo is so accustomed to the way of the land that he does not dare think that he deserves even this respect.