In Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country, three books depict the separation between the blacks and the whites, and use the land to exemplify the interactions between the two races. Paton’s use of symbols and metaphors connected to the land, convey the tarnished social and human conditions displayed throughout the book. In this portion of the book, the most prominent metaphor of the land is how it becomes more barren and lifeless because the natives leave the countryside for the more prosperous land, Johannesburg. The land expresses the tradition of the natives. It is being tarnished as the people leave their homes for a place that provides the illusion of something safer and better. The narrator exemplifies this when saying, “And they
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Despite the restoration found in book three, it still begins with examples and symbols for the damaged land and tribe. In a conversation between the natives, Kumalo says, “‘Where do you get water then?’ ‘The women must go to the river, umfundisi, that comes from the place of uJarvis.’” (pg. 256) The drought in the countryside that has been seen throughout the book, physical manifests the suffering land, and the natives that have become reliant on the water of Jarvis, a white man. This mirrors how black people and natives now rely on the whites. Because of the actions and lifestyles of the whites, the black people have established a dependence on them. The narrator then says, “He looked out of the windows. ‘Look, he said, look at the clouds’” (pg. 275). Although Kumalo just heard news of his son’s demise, he looks outside and sees dark, looming clouds covering the sky; something that has not been seen by the tribe in ages. Echoing the beginning of social change between the tribe and the whites. Even though the clouds appear ominous, they symbolize the approaching healing and renewal of both the land and the tribe. The narrator then illuminates the change by saying, “It was something to see, a storm like this. A great bank of black and heavy cloud was moving over Umzimkulu, and Kumalo stood for a long time and watched it. Out of it the thunder came, and lightning shot out of it to the earth below.” (p 277-278). The storm symbolizes the revival that Jarvis’s cooperation and compassion for Kumalo bring to the tribe and the countryside. The rebuilding of the tribe and the land and the reconciliation between the blacks and the
Despite the restoration found in book three, it still begins with examples and symbols for the damaged land and tribe. In a conversation between the natives, Kumalo says, “‘Where do you get water then?’ ‘The women must go to the river, umfundisi, that comes from the place of uJarvis.’” (pg. 256) The drought in the countryside that has been seen throughout the book, physical manifests the suffering land, and the natives that have become reliant on the water of Jarvis, a white man. This mirrors how black people and natives now rely on the whites. Because of the actions and lifestyles of the whites, the black people have established a dependence on them. The narrator then says, “He looked out of the windows. ‘Look, he said, look at the clouds’” (pg. 275). Although Kumalo just heard news of his son’s demise, he looks outside and sees dark, looming clouds covering the sky; something that has not been seen by the tribe in ages. Echoing the beginning of social change between the tribe and the whites. Even though the clouds appear ominous, they symbolize the approaching healing and renewal of both the land and the tribe. The narrator then illuminates the change by saying, “It was something to see, a storm like this. A great bank of black and heavy cloud was moving over Umzimkulu, and Kumalo stood for a long time and watched it. Out of it the thunder came, and lightning shot out of it to the earth below.” (p 277-278). The storm symbolizes the revival that Jarvis’s cooperation and compassion for Kumalo bring to the tribe and the countryside. The rebuilding of the tribe and the land and the reconciliation between the blacks and the