Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, takes place in1946 near the small rural town of Ixopo in the smaller village of Ndotsheni. The main character is Stephen Kumalo, a native priest who sets out on a mission to find his family. He receives a letter from a fellow priest, Msimangu, telling him his younger sister is ill. Kumalo decides he must go to Johannesburg to help his sister. He also hopes to find his only son and see if his brother is well because they too have gone away to Johannesburg. He arrives and with his new friend, Msimangu, searches for his sister and his son. He finds his sister and decides to take her and her son with him to Ndotsheni. He then speaks to his brother who has changed and forgotten his family. His brother helps get them started on their mission to find his son, Absalom. He eventually finds his son, but finds him in prison. Absalom murdered the only son of James Jarvis, a white man. A trial is held and Absalom is sentenced to death. Kumalo returns to his village and has suffered great pain but is welcomed. Through the tragedy he has made a connection with James Jarvis despite the fact his son murdered his. Jarvis is understanding and the two begin to rebuild the Ndotsheni community. In Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, one of the major themes is white destruction of South African’s native tribes. In the novel, whites come to South Africa in search of gold and use natives as their source of labor. They break apart the tribe and offer nothing to replace the broken homes. The title of the novel supports the pain that the white man’s destruction of the tribe is causing to the beloved country of Africa. The title of the novel tells of the pain the natives of South Africa experience. They cry on behalf of their country that they are watching go to waste. From the very beginning of the novel, the reader reads of a beautiful and rich valley. Then Paton goes on to describe...
