Cry, the Beloved Country

The setting of Cry, the Beloved Country takes place a few years before the institution of apartheid, where the Racial Divides and Societal Prejudice in South Africa grows. Through Reverend Stephen Kumalo’s experiences in Johannesburg and Ndotsheni, Alan Paton highlights the prejudices of white South African people toward Black South African people. Kumalo and friend Theophilus Msimangu’s experience with bus protests best exemplifies how the South African government dehumanizes Black South African citizens. The bus system charges Black people more for travel, causing citizens to protest by walking instead. However, Kumalo and Msimangu experience the kindness of a white driver who sees them walking the 11 miles to Alexandra. He offers them a ride, and on the way back, Kumalo sees other white people pick up Black workers—yet, white police officers intervene and threaten to take these drivers to court. Likewise, a young white man from Shanty Town’s reformatory supports Kumalo after his son Absalom is sentenced to death for murder. Despite such stands against racism, Paton frames the white people involved as a minority. Due to heightened racial tension, including Absalom’s murder of white man Arthur Jarvis, the majority of “white Johannesburg was afraid of black crime” (52).