An insightful look in apartheid, South Africa
Sometimes fictional books, when they’re written well, can give the same, if not more, insight to a people and culture than a history book can. Alan Paton’s “Cry, the Beloved Country” (Scribner, 2003, 316 pages) is one of those novels.
Originally published in 1948, the manuscript was first read by a couple of the author’s friends who frantically had it changed to typescript and shipped it off to several publishers. While it had a mixed reception in the novel’s setting of South Africa, it quickly sold in the United States. Paton, a South African resident, did not write this story as some sort of political propaganda. Instead, like a true artist, he wrote this story to provoke reflection, shed light and deepen our understanding of truths like justice, forgiveness and mercy.
This South African novel begins with a Zulu village priest, Stephen Kumalo, who is set off on a journey to the large, bustling city of Johannesburg after receiving a letter from a fellow priest there, Theophilus Msimangu. In the letter, Msimangu asks that Stephen come and help his sister, Gertrude, who has fallen ill.
Rarely leaving his small village of Ixopo Ndotsheni, Stephen is stunned at the contrast between his rural life to the modern advancements of urban Johannesburg. Here, Paton is already setting the juxtaposition of the outlying tribal culture, characterized by Ndotsheni, which has been dwindling and degrading over time and the more European culture of Johannesburg. One thing I loved about this book is that Paton can speak objectively about two different cultures. He can speak well of one without denigrating the other. He can point out injustices in both cultures without damning them as pure evil, but also calling for reform and growth.
Shortly after Stephen arrives in Johannesburg, he finds out his sister has ended up in a corrupt life of prostitution and alcoholism. He convinces her to leave it behind — for her and her child’s sake — and start anew back home in the village. From there, Stephen embarks to find his son, Absalom, who had left for Johannesburg and never returned. Msimangu becomes a very dear, close friend to Stephen throughout his journey as he helps him navigate the busy city and track down his son. This is providential for Stephen who, soon after catching the trail of his son, is led to a prison, where Absalom has been arrested for the murder of a white man.
That man is Arthur Jarvis, an activist, well-known for his impassioned fight against racial injustice and coincidentally enough, the son of Stephen’s neighbor in Ndotsheni, James Jarvis. Paton lays out accounts of grief, both of James and his wife at the tragic loss of their son as well as Stephen’s nearly despairing worry at the consequences of his son’s actions. The reader is given a glimpse into some of Arthur’s essays on native life and race relations, thoughts of which foreshadow healing and resolution for characters in the future.
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We see another character personifying a political perspective of the time, one who depicts a more extreme school of thought in South Africa. In Johannesburg, Stephen reconnects with his brother, John, who has become very active in politics, where his little shop is a hotbed of debate and conversation and is on the watchlist for the police, who are anxious of uprisings. In many ways, John’s political beliefs are different from Arthur’s. Where Arthur had peace as his goal,
John is a character only concerned with power. At the end of the novel, we see that like Arthur, Paton is ultimately concerned with preaching a message of love and healing; and he expresses that through the virtuous, lovable character of Stephen as he returns home to Ndotsheni, where there is more work to be done.
“Cry, the Beloved Country” is an attempt to show the complexity of South Africa’s racial issues, especially when there is a coexistence of very different cultures within the same land. Yet, Paton acknowledges that both the tribal African way of life has strengths, as does the European lifestyle. The flourishing of his country is dependent upon both strengths, but that cannot be reached if people, through their own fears and spite, refuse to recognize the good of the other. I know that not everyone accepted this novel upon publication with open arms, but it did come at a propitious time with apartheid getting established into law a year later. I’m sure this novel shifted at least some of the perspectives of Paton’s fellow citizens, and I hope that it can do the same now, over 70 years later.
Aside from the moving message of this novel, it’s simply an enjoyable read as well. Paton brings South Africa to life through his beautiful, illustrative way of writing. The voice of the narrator embodies the place as well, the African style giving a wild, whimsical feel, something akin to to Rudyard Kipling’s “Just-So Stories”.
In light of the current strife in South Africa, “Cry, the Beloved Country” is a beautifully written and insightful work that will not only inspire healing but also give readers a deeper awareness of the history of that rich land.
(Anna Barren is a teacher and lifelong lover of books. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
