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13-06-2007, 18:08 | |
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
Title: Cry, the Beloved Country Author: Alan Stewart Paton Edition: No Idea, the copy doesn’t give a hint Year of first publishment: 1948 Printed in: Both in London and New York. Isbn nr.: The copy doesn’t have any Number of pages: 105 2. WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK: Well, I did not exactly choose this book myself, we were forced to read it by our professor in the English Language. My first reaction was “ah nice, a bookreport, finally!” 3. SUMMARY Book I Reverend (Umfundisi) Stephen Kumalo lives in Ndotsheni, South Africa. One day he reveices a letter from another Umfundisi, Theophilus Msimangu, saying that his sister Gertrude Kumalo is very ill, and Msimangu asks Kumalo to come to Johannesburg and visit Gertrude and pherhaps help her. Kumalo takes the money saved for his son’s study, wich will never be used because the son is in Johannesburg and won’t return, and goes to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg he wants to also look for his son and his brother, from whom he hasn’t had a letter in a long time. Together with Msimangu he finds Gertrude, and they also find a girl who says she is pregnant from Absalom, Kumalo’s son. They take her with them too. Then they hear about a murder: a white man who stood up for the rights of black people has been shot dead. By a native! It appears to be Absalom who murdered him, because he was afraid. He did it together with the son of Kumalo’s brother, but this man has become a great politician and only wants to clear his son from any charges to save his image. Luckily they get a good lawyer and there is hope for Absalom and his unborn child. Book II Arthur Jarvis is working at his farm in Ndotsheni, when the police comes and say that his son has been shot dead in Johannesburg by natives. Jarvis goes to Johannesburg right away, and reads papers his son has written. He finds out that he did not know anything about this person, who was his own son. He starts reading the books of his son and appreciates what the man has done. John Harrison, his son-in-law, tells him more about his son. Then another murder is commited, another european is shot dead by a housebreaker. Everybody is afraid. Kumalo is afraid his brother will be the next to be murdered. Absalom is sentenced to hanging by the neck until death. He falls on the floor crying. Then they go outside and Father Vincent marries Absalom and then girl. Absalom is taken away and Kumalo takes care of his new daughter and grandchild. When they are leaving, they find out Gertrude is not there. Getrude is not coming to Ndotsheni. Her son is though. Book III Everybody in Ndotsheni is glad the Umfundisi has returned. There is a great drought in Ndotsheni, and there is a huge lack of food. Kumalo prays for the restoration of the town alot, but he knows it is not enough. The people have to do something, together. Then Jarvis sends milk for the children. He wants to help Ndotsheni like his son wanted to help South Africa. They also reveice a message from Johannesburg: Absalom is to be hanged on the fifteenth day of that month. Then rain comes. Jarvis comes, and he builds a dam to save the water for the farming. Also a man comes to teach the people how to farm the best way. Jarvis does alot for the village, there comes more rain and the valley slowly turns green again. Unfortunately, his wife dies suddenly. Kumalo promises to pray for her in the church every day. Jarvis says that his wifes last wish was a new church for Ndotsheni, and so it is built. Kumalo senses that hope has returned. On the fourteenth day, Kumalo goes up the mountain. He always does that when something relevant happens. On his way up, he meets Jarvis. He says he is leaving Ndotsheni. Kumalo thanks him for everything and then prays on the top of the mountain. Before the sun rises the next day, he cries out: “my son, my son, my son...” THEME I think the theme of this book is the apartheid in Afrika, and the situation there, caused by the Europeans. Although the story is a view from one person, or actually during the three books, three persons, I think the deeper thought is the bigger picture: how the white men came, destroyed and refused to rebuild. And how the natives suffer from that. TITLE DECLARATION I think the title is a cry, a sob, for the beloved country, wich once was marvellous and rich, beautiful and genereous, but wich is no longer that way, since the white men came and took and destroyed. It is a cry, for the tribes that are broken but not rebuilt. A cry for the losses and for the depts to wich poverty has droven the human soul in Africa. 4. CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS Main character Stephen Kumalo Stephen Kumalo is the main character in the story. He is the Umfundisi in Ndotsheni, a village in a valley of South Africa. He wants the best for everybody and he trusts people easily. He is well-educated, and reveices his well-earned respect in his village. In the “white” world, he is unsure. His belief is a great security for him, and he tries to help as many people as possible. John Kumalo John Kumalo is the brother of Stephen Kumalo. His son appears to be involved in the murder his nephew committed, but he acts egoistic and does not care about risking the life of his brother’s only son to save the life of his own son. Arthur Jarvis Arthur Jarvis was the father of the murdered man. He is not angry or filled with resentment towards Stephen Kumalo and his son. He even wants to help Kumalo and his village, also because he wants to help his son by setting through his work, and the help he gave to so many people. It is also his wife’s wish and this he must listen to because his wife has suffered alot. Other important persons Absalom, the son of Stephen Kumalo and the murderer of Jarvis’ son. Gertrude, Kumalo’s sister, who is the reason Kumalo comes to Johannesburg in the first place. Reverend Theoplihus Msimangu, who sends the message that Gertrude is ill, and who helps Kumalo searching for his sister and his son. 5. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BOOK The book is written in the third person. The time it plays is not given, but I think it must play around the time the book was written, wich is in the 1940’s. The told time is about five weeks. It plays in Africa, in and near Johannesburg, which lies in the south of the country. The story itself is told in chronological order, but there are three books, in which the story is told from a different point of vieuw, every time starting from a later point in the story. Some parts of the story are very describing, like the first part of every book in wich the country is described, but there are also parts through wich you seem to be dragged hastily because the author wants to get you to a new event quickly. Also, the descriptions in book two and book three are much less extended then in the first book. 6. ABOUT ALAN STEWART PAT ON Alan Stewart Paton was born in Pietersmaritzburg, Kwazulu-Natal on the 11th of January in 1903, as the som of a minor civiil servant. He was educated at the Maritzburg College, and then studied at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg, where he got a Bachelor of Science degree. Later he got a diploma in education. He taught at a high school in Ixopo, where he met his first wife Dorrie, and then at another high school back in his hometown. He served as the principal of the Diepkloof in 1948, where he introduced controversial reforms, containing a remarkable dormitory policy. He wanted to serve during the Second World War, but was refused. So he went on a trip throughout Europe and America. In Norway he began writing Cry, The Beloved Country, his first and most famous novel, wich he finished in San Fransisco on Christmas Eve 1946. There he met Aubrey and Marigold Burns, who helped him publishing this novel. Back in Africa he taught at the Ixopo High School for White Students, where he fell in love with Dorrie Francis lusted, with whom he married in 1928 after her husband died. She died in 1967 of Emphysema. He described his years with her in Kontaakion For You Departed in 1069. In that same year he married Anne Hoplins, his secretary. In his later works Tales From A Troubled Land (1961) and Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful (1981) he spoke about the racial theme and the apartheid, just like in his first novel, but now using real life characters and events that really happened. In 1953 Alan Paton founded the South African Liberal Party, with which he fought the Apartheidpolicy until it was forcedly dissoluted by the Apartheid regime. After this, he retired to Botha’s Hill, where he died in April 1988. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Paton. 7. GENRE This book is a realistic novel, because the story happens in a place and time and situation that really exists, although these specific characters might be fantasy. The story could have happened. |
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