What drives humans to make decision that can change their lives forever, or what anomaly causes humans to act differently or to even change? This question can be anwsered by reading Alan Paton's "Cry, the Beloved Country". Cry, {Book 1, starts in the poor village of Ndotsheni in South Africa, where Stephen Kumalo, the village Parson, recieves a letter from Msimangu, a fellow man of god, asking him to journey to the city of Johannesburg to see his "sick" sister Gurtrude.} {Kumalo arrives only to find out that she is a prostitute and that Kumalo's son Absalom has killed James Jarvis's son Arthur Jarvis, both of which are wealthy white men.} In book 2, the roles are reversed and the reader is introduced to James Jarvis, father of Arthur Jarvis, who finds out that his son was killed by a young man from a native
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For example, Jarvis is more comfertable being around and more openly conversational with those if opposite race, shown when he and Kumalo "[sit] there together in silence"(Paton 279). This change is small yet powerful as it was less than 50 years ago that in the United States, men and women of opposite race would not even sit together. Small changes like the one shown above is proof of change in James Jarvis, and this change is what allows him to help the village of Ndotsheni with little racial boundries restricting his actions. In addition, Jarvis's ultimate sign of change is when he says, "I have seen a man, with a kind of grim gaiety, who was in darkness till you found him. If that is what you do, I give it willingly"(Paton 307). Jarvis feels that he was a man who had no idea that black people in South Africa were treated poorly and that Kumalo saved him because Kumalo is a priest and that is his job, symbolizing himself to the man and Kumalo as the savior. In many ways, Kumalo has seen Jarvis as a savior, almost like god-like figure, just how in the end, Jarvis sees Kumalo as a savior, showing that the feeling is mutual between the
For example, Jarvis is more comfertable being around and more openly conversational with those if opposite race, shown when he and Kumalo "[sit] there together in silence"(Paton 279). This change is small yet powerful as it was less than 50 years ago that in the United States, men and women of opposite race would not even sit together. Small changes like the one shown above is proof of change in James Jarvis, and this change is what allows him to help the village of Ndotsheni with little racial boundries restricting his actions. In addition, Jarvis's ultimate sign of change is when he says, "I have seen a man, with a kind of grim gaiety, who was in darkness till you found him. If that is what you do, I give it willingly"(Paton 307). Jarvis feels that he was a man who had no idea that black people in South Africa were treated poorly and that Kumalo saved him because Kumalo is a priest and that is his job, symbolizing himself to the man and Kumalo as the savior. In many ways, Kumalo has seen Jarvis as a savior, almost like god-like figure, just how in the end, Jarvis sees Kumalo as a savior, showing that the feeling is mutual between the