Cry the Beloved Country Essay

Alan Paton is the clever author of Cry, The Beloved Country, a historical fiction book that displays the violences of injustice, discrimation, and imperialism that begins its story in the lonesome island of Ndotsheni where Kumalo lives. Stephen Kumalo, the main protagonist of Alan Paton’s Cry, The Beloved Country, is a meek Zulu pastor who has lived as a native in Ndotsheni. Kumalo discovers his sister Gertrude has fallen ill as addressed in a letter from a fellow priest in Johannesburg. Despite the cost of the strenuous excursion to Johannesburg, Kumalo flees Ndotsheni in hopes of Gertrude’s quick recovery and finding his son Absalom along his journey. Everyday seems to be a challenging obstacle for Kumalo (I used the black poster board to symbolize these hardships), either searching the metropolis for Absalom or coming to the realization his sister is a prostitute, he never loses his confidence. Therefore, it seems appropriate to ask this basic question: “Why is it so important to keep moving forward and have hope if your loved ones are not around to support?” because questions about life pop into each individual’s mind and life is a heavy package that comes with prices to pay (I used the package to symbolize this). The title is written symbolically because Stephen and Absalom Kumalo have been seperated, but suddenly Absalom reenters Kumalo’s life. The visual portion’s background contains the repetition of the book’s title because certain remarks are repeated throughout the course of the story, but the title must be read in a way so people turn the paper to fully understand life. The title has underlined letters because they are important messages and ideas I received from the novel. A major symbol, the dove in the center symbolizes that Christian faith is the center of Kumalo’s life where he acknowledges blacks are inferior to whites. Arthur Jarvis’s written words read, “The truth is that our civilization is not Christian; it is a tragic compound of