Cry, the Beloved Country Observations #4

Maile Danilchik

2/9/17

World Literature 10th

Cry, the Beloved Country Paragraph Assignment #4

Paton, Alan. Cry, the Beloved Country. New York, Scribner, 2003.

   It was believed throughout the native African community in Ndotsheni that “the white man” has broken the tribe. Many think that a broken tribal system contributed to native crime rates to spike and racial injustice. In Cry, the Beloved Country, the prosperous, busy city of Johannesburg serves as the white man’s town, and Ndotsheni in the poor countryside is the place of the tribe. Apartheid kept the two communities apart legally, but there was a political dynamic between the two locations. For instance, the crimes Absalom Kumalo committed in Johannesburg were said to be “the disastrous effect of a great and wicked city on the character of a simple tribal boy.” (Paton, 233). Johannesburg was the location of where many African youths wanted to go, but instead of gaining prosperity they get either are corrupted by the city or led down a path of crime.

In Ndotsheni, the black community seems to be reliant on white men to survive, Kumalo is aware of the dependency Ndotsheni has on white people, “Where would we be without all that this white man has done for us?” (Paton, 301). In many instances, favors done by a white person for a black person was seen as a rare miracle, and white reformers were idolized. However, the young demonstrator who comes to aid the African people of Ndotsheni explains that “it was the white man who gave [Africans] so little land, it was the white man who took us away from the land to go to work...Therefore what this good white man does is only a repayment.” (Paton, 302). The white man was said to destroy the tribe and cause racial divides; therefore the demonstrator believed that every good deed a white man did for the African community should not be viewed as a random act of kindness but something that is necessary to justify the past.

Cry, the Beloved Country Observations #3

Maile Danilchik

2/3/17

World Literature 10th

Cry, the Beloved Country Paragraph Assignment #3

Paton, Alan. Cry, the Beloved Country. New York, Scribner, 2003.

     The two most significant communities that were engaged in the racial tensions were the African natives, referred to as “the tribal system” and white people, or Afrikaners. Arthur Jarvis, a white reformer for the black community, wrote about the politics of the issue before his murder. Many at the time thought that natives were inherently criminalistic, but Jarvis argues that “The old tribal system was, for all its violence and savagery, for all its superstition and witchcraft, a moral system. [The] natives today produce criminals and prostitutes and drunkards, not because it is their nature to do so, but because their simple system...has been destroyed.” (Paton, 179). This was a common belief expressed by Msimangu and Jarvis that it was not the tribe’s fault that Native adolescents were getting into trouble, but because the white men had ruined the tribal system and caused “the disintegration of native community.” (Paton, 178). Jarvis had also supported apartheid to “preserve the tribal system by a policy of segregation…” (Paton, 179) but was dismayed at the inequality of segregation when “[South Africa] set aside one-tenth of the land for four-fifths of the people.” (Paton, 179).

    The politics of South Africa was closely tied to the church, and many equated the word of God with the law. Many believe that South Africa was a Christian society due to its close connections to faith. However, Jarvis wonders how God was connected to racial circumstances in South Africa. To him, it seems that “[God] gives the Divine Approval to any human action that is designed to keep black men from advancement…[and] He blesses any action that is designed to prevent black men from the full employment of the gifts He gave them.” (Paton, 187). Jarvis is confused why “God becomes [an] inconsistent creature, giving gifts [to blacks] and denying them employment.” (Paton, 187). This is most likely a reference to the politics of segregation and the motto of “separate but equal”, yet the irony is in the fact that whites and blacks were separated but not treated equally. Jarvis concludes that “[South Africa] is not Christian; it is a tragic compound of great ideal and fearful practice, of high assurance and desperate anxiety, of loving charity and fearful clutching of possessions...” (Paton, 188) and that such injustice of racism would not exist in a Christian society that followed the covenants of God.