Alan Paton

literature and tradition show this theme when facing a difficult task. “Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali” is a traditional legendary epic by an unknown author. It is about the 13th-century West African leader Sundiata Keita. “The Quarry” is a short story by Alan Paton. It is about Johnny Day, a 12-year-old boy, who climbed the face of an abandoned quarry in a coastal city in South Africa. Both stories show the theme of determination through the characters’ actions.…

separation of black and white people made the fear between both races more prominent. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton shows the fear characters have as they explore the city of Johannesburg. Throughout the novel, specific examples of fear are brought up to observe the life of black and white people during the apartheid. Let's look at some examples. Throughout the novel, just as Alan Patton reiterates the theme of fear. Crime in Johannesburg is a reason for fear. When Kumalo first…

Jarvis dedicates his life in the embetterment of South Africa. His family makes this more difficult for him to do because as they raised him, they taught him many lessons, but of South Africa and the problems it faced, he “learned nothing at all” (Paton 207). He still manages, however, to educate himself and fight against what he saw as unjust. Both the girl and Jarvis gains resilience without the full support of their parents, but regardless, a parent not supporting their child will always…

It’s fascinating how people have been able to make so many different definitions for the word culture; a word that was thought to have one singular definition. People of all cultures are unique not just in their methods and ways of life, but also in their definitions of culture. One person can describe culture as something that can bring family and a community together, but another person may define it as the exact opposite; something that tears people apart and in turn will rip apart a…

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton is a heartfelt novel that explores the destruction but also the coming together of a homeland. Stephen Kumalo is a priest from a small village tucked away in the hills of Africa. When Kumalo is forced to leave his small, safe village of Ndotsheni to the great city of Johannesburg, because his sister is in trouble, he is faced with the sad destruction of his homeland. Soon after arriving in Johannesburg he learns about Apartheid and how it is tearing his…

Cry, The Beloved Country, a book written by Alan Paton, is a novel about a man trying to find his lost family, but all the while describing the racial injustices of South Africa. It takes place in South Africa during the times of the apartheid, and shows many examples of just how bad the racial segregation was. This book was very enlightening in the aspect of racial injustice by showing how it affects the lives of the ones being discriminated. This book was split into three different…