Racial Morals in Cry, The Beloved Country

1525 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Apartheid in South Africa -- Historical Context

Racial Morals in Cry, The Beloved Country

Discrimination against people who are different can be identify in every country around the world. People of every sex, color, religion, and in this case, ethnicity are tormented. In the 1940's, 50's, 60's, and 70's apartheid was an emanate injustice throughout the land of South Africa. Apartheid was the government's rigid policy racial segregation between white Europeans and black natives. The official goal of apartheid was to establish laws that would isolate these groups in most activities, especially in education, employment, housing, and politics. The word apartheid means apartness in Afrikaans, one of South Africa's official languages. This inequity caused great conflict between the races. This conflict can be seen through the experiences of Steven Kumalo and James Jarvis, the main characters in the contemporary novel, on which, this paper is written. Both Steven and James have their own different views of apartheid. The character's views of racial segregation in the novel, "Cry, The Beloved Country," by Alan Paton, are reciprocated, resulting in new views of the black and white seclusion.

Steven Kumalo struggled with both public and private feelings toward the whites who imposed the apartheid upon his people. Steven Kumalo is an old, God-fearing, Zulu pastor from the rural valley of Umzimkulu in the countryside of South Africa (Brutus 361). He is beaconed to the large and over-populated city of Johannesburg to help his ailing sister. It is in the big city that he first publicly and privately realizes his feelings of apartheid. "He sees the condition of the black majority in white-ruled South Africa"(Claiborne 311). Kumalo...

... middle of paper ...

..., for the law and the custom that is gone. Cry, the beloved country, these things are not yet at an end"(Paton 105). Nevertheless, much work was needed to be done by all people in South Africa to help rebuild the broken tribe so that everyone can live in harmony together.

In conclusion, the characters initial racial feelings go through a transitional phase, the end result being optimistic for the future of South Africa. Racial injustice is still seen everywhere across the globe, and will probably remain for eternity. The only thing anyone can do to help break down racial barriers is to make one little change in the way they look at someone who is different. Because after all, every little bit helps, and a great deal of little bits creates a great bit. If there was a great bit, the world would be a better place for anyone of any ethnicity, religion, color, or sex.

Show More
Related

  • Kaffir Boy

    490 Words  | 1 Pages

    “ Sirens blared, voices screamed and shouted, wood cracked and windows shattered, children bawled, dogs barked and footsteps pounded”(7). This scene is from the autobiography Kaffir Boy written by Mark Mathabane. That is one of the scenes he had to live through every morning in apartheid South Africa. Apartheid is a policy of segregation and economic discrimination against non-whites. Apartheid system affected every black person living in South Africa during that time. It forced blacks to become slaves in their own country. The system forced blacks to live in unsanitary environments, work-degrading jobs and carry passes, and receive limited education. Blacks and whites were living in different sections during apartheid.

    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

  • Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country - A Biblical Parable

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cry, the Beloved Country, written by one of the greatest writers of South Africa, is the compelling story of how man-made evils in the city of Johannesburg affect the lives of each member of the Kumalo family. Stephen Kumalo, an old priest, has a major problem: he lost his brother, sister and son to the city. Losing them was one thing but later he is shocked to witness what his family has become. His brother, a politician and carpenter, has left the Church, his once decent sister has now moved on to become a prostitute and an alcoholic, but what he least expected was his own son committing crimes, such as robberies, and one going horribly bad. Naturalist writer, activist, and reformer Alan Paton has done an excellent job in showing the evils of the city. Not only has he done this, but in his writing Alan Paton uses Biblical references frequently. Throughout the novel we see characters changing and becoming more of a Christ or God figure. Through this style of writing, Paton has given South Africa a new, more modern Bible in which he teaches that one must love another in order for blacks and whites to live together.

    Read More

  • Residential Segregation and Social Justice

    1903 Words  | 4 Pages

    Massey, Douglas S. & Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1993.

    Read More

  • Fear and Redemption in Cry the Beloved Country

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Fear In Cry, The Beloved Country

    1430 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s world, people can do limitless things and reach huge achievements in their lifetimes. However, there seems to be a constant hindrance to these doings, essentially keeping them in check and preventing limitless power. Fear works like disease, seemingly harmless at first until it consumes a body, preventing activity and happiness from the sick person. In most cases and given a severe enough sickness, the afflicted is not able to get better without outside intervention through medical aid from a hospital or doctor. Such is the same for fear, where it can grow to be unbeatable, consuming an entire person. Fear plays a large part as an oppressive and consistent force, shown in Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country, which can entirely

    Read More

  • Desegregation, Busing, and Schools

    2536 Words  | 6 Pages

    Massey, Douglas A. and Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.

    Read More

  • The Darkness Of The Heart Essay

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    Racism is never bound by culture, language, or even continents. It is an evil that spans the globe. The history of South Africa is of a culturally divided and fragmented society. The architects of apartheid took advantage of this splintered social order to create an institutionalized separation, dehumanization and enslavement of a people through laws and customs. However, freedom can be achieved when one voice has the courage to stand up against thousands, and inspires others to stand up for what is right and just. The ending of apartheid in South Africa allows people everywhere to never again accept a different definition of freedom depending on a classification imposed by another. South Africa has forged a bright future from the chains of the darkness of the heart – the darkness known as apartheid.

    Read More

  • John Locke's Belief That People Are Born with Rights

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...f South African language and culture, acknowledgement of the racial oppression in South Africa, past and present, that it was wrong and positive action is required to make it right, and finally that all South Africans are legitimate and enjoy full moral equality (“About – DA”). In order for all this to be possible, the state must ensure it does not compromise the freedom of the individual (“About – DA”).

    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

  • Life in a Nutshell: Black Girl, A Short Story by Sembene Ousmane

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story clearly illustrates that when one thinks of their ideal lifestyle they mainly rely on their personal experience which often results in deception. The theme is conveyed by literary devices such as setting, symbolism and iconic foreshadowing. The abolition of slavery was one step forward but there are still several more steps to be made. Steps that protect everyone from human trafficking and exploitation. Most importantly, racism is something that needs to stop, as well as providing equal opportunity to all without discrimination.

    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

  • Racism Exposed in Cry, the Beloved Country

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    Racism Exposed in Cry, the Beloved Country. The purpose of Cry, the Beloved Country, is to awaken the population of South Africa to the racism that is slowly disintegrating the society and its people. The. Alan Paton designs his work to express his views on the injustices and racial hatred that plagues South Africa, in an attempt to bring about change and.

    Read More

  • South African Apartheid

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    Apartheid consisted of a set of unequal laws that favored the whites (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). The Race Classification Act, which divided everyone into four race groups, whites, blacks, coloreds, and Indians were the first of many major laws (Evans, 8). Hundreds of thousands of black South Africans were forced to leave their homes and move into special reservations called “homelands” or Bantustans that were set up for them (Evans, 8). There were twenty-three million blacks and they were divided into nine tribal groups, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, North and South Sotho, Venda, Tsonga, Swansi, and South Ndebele, and each group were moved into a separate homeland (Evans, 8). Another major law was the Groups Area Act, which secluded the twenty-three million blacks to 14 percent of land, leaving 86 percent of the land for the 4.8 million (Evans, 9). Under apartheid laws a minority ...

    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

More about Racial Morals in Cry, The Beloved Country

Open Document