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...
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..., 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.
In "Crash", there are numerous scenes where race relations were either an issue or the basis of an action. Most incidents in the film occurred due to the race of an individual. Corresponding to the film "Crash", there are times in New York City where individuals are pulled over by police just because of their race. The action of pulling people over because of their race can have negative effects on people like it did on certain characters in “Crash”. There are also times in everyday life when somebody may endure a troubling incident and then will pass judgment on people because of their race. It was interesting to see how the characters of the film either knowingly or unknowingly affect one another. In everyday life individuals’ are affected by the actions of others, that is how the world. The char...
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.
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.
The book begins in a small South African village called Ndotsheni, where Kumalo is the pastor of the only church. Like all pastors, Kumalo is a kind, religious, tolerant, and caring man. In chapter 2, very early on, Kumalo is demonstrably very conscious of other people’s feelings, as is shown by what he says to his wife:
Massey, Douglas A. and Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.
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.
The society of the small urban town called Ndotsheni, from which both Stephan and Author come, is based largely on the native African tribal system. This town also suffers from a drought that drives away the young men to work in the mines of Johannesburg. Johannesburg directly contradicts Ndotsheni with no tribal system and the brake down of the moral fibers of its people. Yet in Johannesburg there is also hope for the future and ideas that help lead to the restoration of Ndotsheni. During the time the story is set in Johannesburg the reader is introduced to two exceptionally different characters. The first is John Kumalo, the brother of Stephen Kumalo. He is a corrupt politician with the voice of a “lion,” but a week hart, who spoke about the injustices of the whites to the blacks and their need to revolt. The other an enlightened priest, Msimangu, who prayed for loving and restoration through coming to amends. Their influences help to shape Kumalo into a new person. Furthermore, throughout his story Paton stresses the idea of irresponsibility contradicted by individual responsibility. Eventually the idea of unified responsibility is shown to be the only manor by which South Africa can be saved.
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.
Yes, Alan Paton is racist in his portrayal of the natives as evidenced by the text below:
Massey, Douglas S. & Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1993.
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
Paton is able to convey the idea of racial injustice and tension thoroughly throughout the novel as he writes about the tragedy of “Christian reconciliation” of the races in the face of almost unforgivable sin in which the whites treat the blacks unjustly and in return the blacks create chaos leaving both sides uneasy with one another. The whites push the natives down because they do no want to pay or educate them, for they fear “ a better-paid labor will also read more, think more, ask more, and will not be conten...
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.
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.
Apartheid was a system of classified inhabitants and visitors into racial groups. Nelson Mandela is most known for his heroic efforts to end Apartheid in South Africa. During the apartheid era, the blacks were subjected to the worst forms of discrimination by the white minority. They were restricted and forced to live in townships, whereas whites were allowed to enjoy unlimited freedom. Blacks were stripped of their right to vote, own property, marry whites, work with whites, and even travel anywhere without carrying proper documentation. The whites wanted to make sure that no blacks were considered citizens. Mandela’s reaction to the inhumane social conditions was to team up with the ANC, African National Congress, and stop racial discrimination. While others wanted to seek violence in making a d...