Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton - Book Report/Review Example

Cry, the Beloved Country Overview [ID Cry, the Beloved Country is a work by Alan Paton. Paton was White, but he was a teacher,. What distinguishes his work from later work about South Africa and the social structures of apartheid is his sensitivity to all sides of the issue, particularly the concerns of the White community. In this sense, it is most like Invictus. This sensitivity characterizes the entirety of Cry, the Beloved Country. The plot of the book centers around Stephen Kumalos search for his son, Absalom, in Johannesberg. The external conflict is this search and the social and practical difficulties that get in Kumalos way. But the story cannot simply be about that, because throughout much of the story, Absalom has been found: He is scheduled to be executed! The novel ends with Absaloms execution. The climax, and the true plot, is found in the interrelation of the Jarvis and Kumalo families and their attempt to secure something out of the tragedy of Arthurs death. Absalom marries his girlfriend, attempting to at least insure that his father would have a grandchild, even if his death was assured by the repressive apartheid politics. And James Jarvis and Stephen Kumalo return to Ixopo, struggling to institute reforms. The internal plot and conflicts, however, are far more interesting. Kumalo may be the protagonist, but as the story reaches its conclusion, James Jarvis, Arthur Jarvis and Absalom each get their time in the spotlight and their importance in the story. Kumalos search for his son becomes, more broadly, a search for meaning, a questioning of what any of this means. It is truly amazing how his faith in God does not disappear as he sees the injustices and cruelties so vividly described. His son, who went into the city to seek Gertrude out, not only failed in his mission to return Gertrude but in fact got sucked into the corruption, decadence and injustice of the city. Gertrude is drinking and whoring herself, while Absalom has gotten a girl pregnant and is in a reformatory. Kumalo himself has to struggle with the same anger and loss that undoubtedly led Absalom down such a dangerous road. The losses build, but in a true spirit of Christian forgiveness, he extends his hand to James Jarvis, and in a real sense takes on a new son. Jarvis himself was distant from his father. Ironically, the murder of his father was the one means that would allow him to truly know his father. Just as Stephen Kumalo is looking for a son, James Jarvis is looking for a father. Jarvis begins to see what his father fought for, why he fought for, not only in the late Arthur Jarvis manuscripts but in the life and struggle. Jarvis is in a real sense the authors intended avatar for the reader. He is white, a sort of tabula rasa. By having the story be about Kumalos search, Paton makes it possible for the reader to understand on a visceral, personal level what apartheid means for South Africans: Poverty, discrimination, execution, kangaroo courts and sham trials. By doing this, he allows the reader to then come to terms with the more general statements that Arthur was making. Absalom himself is a young man who has been forced to come to terms with his mortality far too soon. His execution sets him on a right path as much as the death of Arthur Jarvis set James on a new path. Prior to his arrest and execution, he was a lost boy, a criminal, a layabout. But as he prepares for death, he sets things right. He reunites with his father. He prepares his girlfriend and his child for a good life the best way he can. The conflicts, then, can be understood on many levels. There is the conflict between justice and revenge or anger. James Jarvis has a choice when he hears about his fathers death: He can be angry not only at Absalom but at Stephen, for having failed to raise his son correctly. Or he can embrace the true meaning of his fathers teaching. There is the difficulty that Stephen faces: What to do? Continue to try to fight a losing fight to rescue his son, or instead decide to go back to Ixopo humbled and without his son, but with a chance to improve the village? Stephens decision is not easy: One could argue he had the responsibility to protect his son at all costs. But Stephen chooses to abandon his parochial obligations and instead embrace his broader human obligations. The key to understanding the setting is the juxtaposition between Johannesberg on the one hand and Ixopo on the other. Ixopo may be struggling: It needs a dam, it needs agricultural reforms, it needs new farming methods and techniques. But it is not a source of corruption. Johannesberg, meanwhile, might be superior in terms of technology, utilities, opulence, but it is markedly inferior in terms of justice and the trajectories of people within it. Blacks coming to Johannesberg find themselves forced into crime, prostitution and violence. Whites find themselves victims of their own cruelty and apathy. It is important to note that it is not the apartheid era, but rather the pre-apartheid era. Apartheid was an improvement over the conditions Paton describes! This inverse correlation between “civilization” and justice or purity is essential to not only the narrative but the point of the novel. Paton is making clear that, no matter how “superior” the Afrikaaners might be in terms of technological advantage, ability to grow food properly, etc., they are inferior in terms of providing fair opportunity, understanding justice or protecting the weakest members of society. One might point out that both Arthur and James distinguish themselves through engineering skill and that this might seem to undermine the inverse connection between justice and civilization. But it is important to note that Arthurs role as an engineer is unimportant to the story: His role as an advocate for justice is not. Arthur could not do anything with his talents in the city, not anything of real value. It is only when James is able to go to Ixopo, away from Johannesberg, that the Jarvis families skills and intelligence can be put to meaningful use: Building dams and improving farming techniques. Paton is clearly offering a frontal assault on those whites who have all the opportunity to improve themselves, access education and power, and squander it on nothing or, worse, on oppressing their fellow man, rather than improving everyones lot. This sensitivity to the real needs of the Jarvis family, though, is key to the effect of the novel. Paton is not demonizing whites: He is not wagging his finger at them. He is instead pleading with them to embrace a new way of life, a new way of relating to their brothers and sisters. James and Arthur are good men. When James rejects hate and embraces compassion, he makes real impacts upon the world. Paton never denies that the death of Arthur is a tragedy, never justifies it based on anyones poverty. The central idea of the novel is the way that injustice makes everyone ignoble, everyone less than what they could be. Gertrude is squandering her life. Absalom loses his life because he seeks her out. Arthur dies. James has to lose his father, Stephen a son. This focus on the cost to everyone, White and Black alike, is what makes the book so effective. Fear is a central emotion, and the conflict between fear and justice is made apparent. “Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much” (Chapter 12). Fear costs humanity love, it costs humanity the fullest appreciation of the soil, sky, it destroys life. The style is efficient yet simultaneously stylish. Paton wastes no time in setting up the core conflicts. But he does use techniques like dashes instead of quotations and a variety of linguistic devices to establish core themes and conflicts. He deliberately echoes the King James Bible, both in terms of literary techniques and in terms of a rapid story-telling pace even with asides and rhetorical elements. The reason I liked the book is that everything contributes to the feeling of injustice, fear and hope that Paton is going for. The writing, the narrative structure, the literary techniques, the symbolism... everything from the artisanship to the art emphasizes the choice the reader faces, between fear and justice. Read More