Cry, The Beloved Country

Cry, the Beloved Country
Author: Alan Paton.
About the book: Cry, the Beloved Country covers Alan Paton's social protest
of pre-apartheid South Africa. Stephen Kumalo departs for Johannesburg to
search for his son Absalom, who murders Arthur Jarvis, a white man who
opposes racial injustice. After his son Arthur's death, James Jarvis re-examines
his own views on inequality and tries to correct some wrongdoings. The novel
shows how people – and a nation — caught between the past and the future can
hope for justice and reconciliation.
Plot: The book opens at the in the remote village of Ndotsheni, in the Natal
province of eastern South Africa, the Reverend Stephen Kumalo receives a
letter from a fellow minister summoning him to Johannesburg, a city in South
Africa. He is needed there, the letter says, to help his sister, Gertrude, who the
letter says has fallen ill. Kumalo undertakes the difficult and expensive journey
to the city in the hopes of aiding Gertrude and of finding his son, Absalom,
who travelled to Johannesburg from Ndotsheni and never returned. In
Johannesburg, Kumalo is warmly welcomed by Msimangu, the priest who sent
him the letter, and given comfortable lodging by Mrs. Lithebe, a Christian
woman who feels that helping others is her duty. Kumalo visits Gertrude, who
is now a prostitute and liquor-seller, and persuades her to come back to
Ndotsheni with her young son.
A more difficult quest follows when Kumalo and Msimangu begin searching
the labyrinthine metropolis of Johannesburg for Absalom. They visit Kumalo’s
brother, John, who has become a successful businessman and politician, and he
directs them to the factory where his son and Absalom once worked together.
One clue leads to another, and as Kumalo travels from place to place, he begins
to see the gaping racial and economic divisions that are threatening to split his
country. Eventually, Kumalo discovers that his son has spent time in a
reformatory and that he has gotten a girl pregnant.
Meanwhile, the newspapers announce that Arthur Jarvis, a prominent white
crusader for racial justice, has been murdered in his home by a gang of
burglars. Kumalo and Msimangu learn that the police are looking for Absalom,
and Kumalo’s worst suspicions are confirmed when Absalom is arrested for
Jarvis’s murder. Absalom has confessed to the crime, but he claims that two
others, including John Kumalo’s son, Matthew, aided him and that he did not
intend to murder Jarvis. With the help of friends, Kumalo obtains a lawyer for
Absalom and attempts to understand what his son has become. John, however,
makes arrangements for his own son’s defence, even though this split will
worsen Absalom’s case. When Kumalo tells Absalom’s pregnant girlfriend
what has happened, she is saddened by the news, but she joyfully agrees to his
proposal that she marry his son and return to Ndotsheni as Kumalo’s daughter-
in-law.
Meanwhile, in the hills above Ndotsheni, Arthur Jarvis’s father, James Jarvis,
tends his bountiful land and hopes for rain. The local police bring him news of
his son’s death, and he leaves immediately for Johannesburg with his wife. In
an attempt to come to terms with what has happened, Jarvis reads his son’s
articles and speeches on social inequality and begins a radical reconsideration
of his own prejudices. He and Kumalo meet for the first time by accident, and
after Kumalo has recovered from his shock, he expresses sadness and regret for
Jarvis’s loss. Both men attend Absalom’s trial, a fairly straightforward process
that ends with the death penalty for Absalom and an acquittal for his co-
conspirators. Kumalo arranges for Absalom to marry the girl who bears his
child, and they bid farewell. The morning of his departure, Kumalo rouses his
new family to bring them back to Ndotsheni only to find that Gertrude has
disappeared.
Kumalo is now deeply aware of how his people have lost the tribal structure
that once held them together, and he returns to his village troubled by the
situation. It turns out that James Jarvis has been having similar thoughts. Arthur
Jarvis’s young son befriends Kumalo, and as the young boy and the old man
become acquainted, James Jarvis becomes increasingly involved with helping
the struggling village. He donates milk at first, then makes plans for a dam and
hires an agricultural expert to demonstrate newer, less devastating farming
techniques. When Jarvis’s wife dies, Kumalo and his congregation send a
wreath to express their sympathy. Just as the diocese’s bishop is on the verge of
transferring Kumalo, Jarvis sends a note of thanks for the wreath and offers to
build the congregation a new church, and Kumalo is permitted to stay in his
parish.
On the evening before his son’s execution, Kumalo goes into the mountains to
wait the appointed time in solitude. On the way, he encounters Jarvis, and the
two men speak of the village, of lost sons, and of Jarvis’s bright young
grandson, whose innocence and honesty have impressed both men. When
Kumalo is alone, he weeps for his son’s death and clasps his hands in prayer as
dawn breaks over the valley.

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Cry, the Beloved Country

Author: Alan Paton.

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