Evolving

Evolving

To many, suffering is a part of life. Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel where Alan Paton reveals the suffering the native South Africans because of their race during apartheid. The author depicts the torn South Africa through the lives of Stephen Kumalo and James Jarvis, two individuals that unravel their own troubled selves as they grieve over the loss of their sons. The novel’s use of repetition allows the reader to understand that apartheid was not limited to just one race, but to all people of South Africa.

To express the harsh transition from the pre-modern to modern man, Paton uses the lost Stephen Kumalo and his son as Black natives in the time of apartheid. When Stephen learns that his son Absalom has killed a man, Absalom is at a loss of words and tears up as he attempts to explain himself. Stephen questions that “Who knows if he weeps for the girl he has deserted? Who knows if he weeps for a promise broken? Who knows if he weeps for another self, that would work for a woman, pay his taxes, save his money, keep the laws, love his children, another self that has always been defeated?” (132). Through Stephen’s constant questioning, Paton reveals Stephen’s uncertainty about his own son. The reader is shown the difference in the father-son relationship, with Stephen becoming more distant with the son who left for Johannesburg. In the last sentence, the sentence structure becomes lengthier as Stephen explains how “if [Absalom] weeps for another self, that would work for a woman, pay his taxes...” (132).

As the number of Stephen’s thoughts increase, it parallels his rising frustration towards his son. Although the repetition of the beginning of Stephen’s questions suggest he is close to finding an answer, the quote actually explains how Stephen is becoming more frantic as he tries to find some answer to his sentence.

Though Absalom is just one of the many young native South Africans that left home to...