There are many examples in the story of characters’ fear and suffering being comforted by acts of kindness and compassion. These main ideas are repeated in most of the chapters of the novel, like golden threads woven into the text. These ideas become themes of the novel because they express universal experiences and truths. You and everyone else, regardless of language, age or race, experience the truth that acts of kindness can comfort those who are suffering from fear, loneliness or loss. The moral of the lesson told in the story of Ndotsheni is therefore that the world – in this case South Africa – needs acts of compassion and social justice to liberate people from fear and hatred so that they can work together to rebuild relationships and live meaningful lives.
To do:
Choose your own example in the novel of an act of caring that comforted a character suffering from fear. Describe this act in a few sentences. Then describe an incident in your own life when an act of caring lifted your fear.
Example in the story:
Your own example:
3.2 Tracing themes in the novel
3.2.1 Erosion
In Cry, the Beloved Country the fertile soil of the farmlands is eaten away by over-grazing and by incorrect farming methods. Likewise, the moral values of the black migrant labourers’ tribal traditions and the social conscience of the white mine shareholders, the businessmen and farmers are eaten away by corruption and greed for money and power. The erosion of the land and its people is a dominant theme in the novel. Such erosion leads to crime, fear and suffering while also creating opportunities for caring, change and restoration.
3.2.2 Power relations
South Africa: The theme of power relations in this historical novel explores how greed for power corrupts South African society in 1946. Greed for more possessions, money and political power contribute to the erosion of moral standards, social justice and equity. Arthur Jarvis’ manuscript (pp. 124–126 in your school edition) describes the social and political injustices committed to ensure that power remains in the hands of the government. The segregation policy of the South African government only sets aside “one-tenth of the land for four-fifths of the people” (p. 126 in your school edition). The migrant labour policy exploits unskilled labour to maintain and increase production in the mining industry. Racial tension flares as a result of corrupted power relations. Book Two, Chapter Nine (pp. 159–165 in your school edition) illustrates the increased racial tension in John Kumalo’s inflammatory speech demanding higher wages and in reports about the black miners’ strike.
Reverend Kumalo’s story: The theme of power relations is also explored at a family and a personal level. Reverend Kumalo abuses his power as Absalom’s father to question him relentlessly, even though he can see that Absalom can’t answer his questions. He abuses his power as Absalom’s father to humiliate his son’s girlfriend. John Kumalo’s greed for money and political power prevents him from fighting fearlessly for the rights of black people. Reverend Kumalo warns Mr. Litsitsi about the damaging effect of power on relationships; he sounds his warning as a moral lesson: “But hate no man, and desire power over no man. For I have a friend who taught me that power corrupts” (p. 230 in your school edition).
The power of voice: Power relations are expressed in the power of voice. The uplifting power of Msimangu’s “voice of gold” (p. 78 in your school edition) over his audience is compared to the sound of a deep bell that reverberates in the listeners’ minds and hearts. John Kumalo’s “great bull voice” (p. 159 in your school edition) has the power to stir up the crowd’s emotions. Black women do not feel free to voice their thoughts and feelings. Reverend Kumalo’s wife does not have the power to voice her hurt: she “was silent, with the patient suffering of black women, with the suffering of oxen, with the suffering of any that are mute” (p. 7 in your school edition).
3.2.3 Fear
Fear results as a consequence of moral decay, which in turn leads to greed for more power and to the corruption of society. The theme of fear takes shape in different forms according to the circumstances and acts that cause fear and anxiety.
Violence and crime: In Book One, Chapter Twelve the fear of white and black people of violence and crime is voiced in their different reactions following the news of Arthur Jarvis’ murder. White people’s fear that the mines and industries will come to a standstill when the black labourers strike is reported on in Book Two, Chapter Nine.
Loss: In the lives of Reverend Kumalo and his family fear of the loss of his sister, son and brother becomes a reality. At the beginning of the novel Reverend Kumalo and his wife fear that they have lost their son, his sister and brother to Johannesburg. Reverend Kumalo’s fear grows as he discovers the extent of corruption and crime in Johannesburg and their effect on his sister and brother. His fear that he has lost his son Absalom to crime is confirmed when he hears that his son has murdered a white man. His son is found guilty of murder and he fears that there will be no mercy for him. This fear is also confirmed.
Power of fear: The theme of fear pervades the whole novel. The last sentence in the novel underlines the paralysing power of fear while it promises that the day will come when the people of South Africa will be set free from fear, even though the exact moment cannot be predicted: “But when that dawn will come, of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why, that is a secret” (p. 238 in your school edition).
3.2.4 Suffering
South Africa: The novel illustrates many incidents of intense suffering caused by social injustice that, in turn, is a consequence of moral decay in the South African political landscape at the time. In Johannesburg, the migrant labourers suffer because they cannot find accommodation in overcrowded Alexandra, Sophiatown and Orlando. Desperate for shelter, they construct their own shacks; they start Shanty Town.
Shanty Town: The intense suffering of a child and her mother in Shanty Town is dramatised in Book One, Chapter Nine. The child is dying, probably from tuberculosis, because she does not have proper food, shelter and medical care. Her mother anxiously asks for a doctor and Mr. Dubula promises that they will send one. Tragically, it is too late and the mother accepts her daughter’s death and her own suffering in silence: “Such is the lot of women, to carry, to bear, to watch and to lose” (p. 50 in your school edition). These words foreshadow the suffering of Reverend Kumalo’s wife and of James Jarvis’ wife in Ndotsheni at the loss of their sons’ lives.
Reverend Kumalo’s story: The crippling effect of suffering is also dramatised in the description of Reverend Kumalo and James Jarvis’ actions when the two fathers share a memory of Arthur Jarvis: “The old man’s face was working. He continued to look on the ground and Jarvis could see that tears fell on it. He himself was moved and unmanned, and he would have brought the thing to an end, but he could find no quick voice for it” (p. 157 in your school edition).
3.2.5 Caring
In contrast to the theme of suffering, the theme of caring explores the power of love and compassion to provide comfort to people in their suffering.
The power of prayer: Reverend Kumalo finds comfort in reading his Bible and in praying to God. The power of prayer to counteract the crippling effects of suffering is illustrated when Father Vincent tells Reverend Kumalo to pray for his son’s repentance; for the caring work done by the priests at the Mission House; for the rebuilding of black blind people at Ezenzeleni; for his family and the people of Ndotsheni; for his own rebuilding. Reverend Kumalo’s prayers restore his faith and lead to the restoration of Ndotsheni.
Love: The people of Ndotsheni’s love and care for Reverend Kumalo restores his confidence. He is no longer afraid and he confesses the sins of his sister, his brother and his son. The final chapter of the novel shows the power of Reverend Kumalo’s faith in God’s love to provide comfort to him and to his son in their suffering. He holds a