Racial Disparity

Racial Disparity in Cry, the Beloved Country Discrimination has plagued this earth for centuries. One finds it difficult to identify a time where ostracism among a nation’s people didn’t exist. Surprisingly enough, such a heinous act hasn’t died off either. South Africa began the segregation of its non-white citizens in 1795 with the arrival of the Dutch. Later, in 1948, legislature introduced Apartheid, which led to the relocation of over 3.5 million nonwhite South African citizens to separate living areas. And so began the forty six year reign of the white government over the nonwhite majority. However, in the South African contemporary novel, Cry the Beloved Country, Alan Paton reveals, through moments of understanding between characters, that citizens can break the vicious cycle of social injustice that cost South Africa its land and its people.
Social inequality dominates daily life during the Apartheid. With only 10% of all South Africa's land to inhabit (The 1936 Trust and Land Act), black citizens must work with what little they have. Since many of the inhabitants of the city Ndotsheni "[know] nothing about farming methods," they eventually eroded most of the hills "never meant for ploughing" (162). Constant work of the soil leaves the farmland barren and dry. With a small amount of land to work with, many people migrate to cities in search of labor, which results in overcrowded streets and …show more content…
Oppression leads to the outbreak of crime and the struggle for morality. A nation will collapse if its people don’t stand together. Alan Paton elucidates in Cry, the Beloved Country that we can prevent civil war and social chaos through commiseration for one another. To rebuild the broken tribal system, South Africans must care for each other. They must set aside racial differences and join together in peace and brotherhood. When they begin to love again, only then can they start to repair the many years of