Sam Thompson
Mrs. Smith
AP Lit
10 December 2017
Cry, the Beloved Country Response
How structure impacts and changes throughout the book.
Composed of three books, Cry, the Beloved Country, by author Alan Paton, uses a heavily unbiased, neutral description and view of the living conditions in both Johannesburg and the neighboring tribes to put into perspective the true apartheid bubbling beneath the story, even though we are all the same at our core. Paton relies heavily on interspersed, intercalary chapters throughout the book that seem to give us a glimpse into the minds of both the tribal people and the “white man”, often inspiring sympathy to both sides of the coin, despite their varying lifestyles and conditions.
Initially, Cry, the Beloved …show more content…
Karl Marx, the forefather of Marxism, a form of socialism, had several views on social and economic struggles that are heavily implied in this novel. Capitalism, for example, has created a division between the blacks and whites. The Africans are forced to work in the mines surrounding Johannesburg to survive, while the white man profits. There is also a silent class war underlying many themes in the book. Concededly, these social divisions are somewhat repaired in the end, it is still heavily underlying many of the plot points of the novel. In this scenario, the bourgeoisie is represented by the white man, and the proletariat, represented by the blacks, are rising up in the form of several protests. An example of this is the bus boycott by the workers in response to a rise in fare. Many workers just simply cannot afford to take the bus to work. They walk miles and miles, for hours. Arthur Jarvis, the strong, inspiring political activist murdered by Absalom, also represented a loss for both the white and black sides of the struggle. Karl Marx had always envisioned the proletariat rising up against the bourgeoisie, and these acts would be the beginning of that revolution. This revolution would escalate into such social change that the city could possibly be converted from capitalism to socialism.
These underlying themes and structures within Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton give a very straightforward view on a problem and its possible solutions. Apartheid reigns, and the fury of the African tribal people is only beginning to bubble by the end of the main
Mrs. Smith
AP Lit
10 December 2017
Cry, the Beloved Country Response
How structure impacts and changes throughout the book.
Composed of three books, Cry, the Beloved Country, by author Alan Paton, uses a heavily unbiased, neutral description and view of the living conditions in both Johannesburg and the neighboring tribes to put into perspective the true apartheid bubbling beneath the story, even though we are all the same at our core. Paton relies heavily on interspersed, intercalary chapters throughout the book that seem to give us a glimpse into the minds of both the tribal people and the “white man”, often inspiring sympathy to both sides of the coin, despite their varying lifestyles and conditions.
Initially, Cry, the Beloved …show more content…
Karl Marx, the forefather of Marxism, a form of socialism, had several views on social and economic struggles that are heavily implied in this novel. Capitalism, for example, has created a division between the blacks and whites. The Africans are forced to work in the mines surrounding Johannesburg to survive, while the white man profits. There is also a silent class war underlying many themes in the book. Concededly, these social divisions are somewhat repaired in the end, it is still heavily underlying many of the plot points of the novel. In this scenario, the bourgeoisie is represented by the white man, and the proletariat, represented by the blacks, are rising up in the form of several protests. An example of this is the bus boycott by the workers in response to a rise in fare. Many workers just simply cannot afford to take the bus to work. They walk miles and miles, for hours. Arthur Jarvis, the strong, inspiring political activist murdered by Absalom, also represented a loss for both the white and black sides of the struggle. Karl Marx had always envisioned the proletariat rising up against the bourgeoisie, and these acts would be the beginning of that revolution. This revolution would escalate into such social change that the city could possibly be converted from capitalism to socialism.
These underlying themes and structures within Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton give a very straightforward view on a problem and its possible solutions. Apartheid reigns, and the fury of the African tribal people is only beginning to bubble by the end of the main