Role of Fear and Hope in "Cry, The Beloved Country"

“Cry, the Beloved Country” is a novel written by Alan Paton about Stephen Kumalo – a black, Zulu priest who travels to the land of Johannesburg with the desire to reunite with his family members – his son, Absalom, and his sister, Gertrude – whom he’s never heard from in a long time every since they moved to Johannesburg. The novel is also set in a time period where South Africa was governed with racial injustice that heavily impacted the nation’s citizens.

Hope and fear is a emotion that is common amongst the character of “Cry, the Beloved Country”. But what function do these common emotions play in the book? How does it influence the characters? And what purpose does influencing those characters do in the novel? Though by definition, fear and hope are contradicting feelings – they act as the same thing in “Cry, the Beloved Country”. And that is being a motivator for the characters. The emotions impacting those characters gives us an idea of the setting/situation the character(s) are/is in and presents us the way characters think or react towards different situations. Hope and fear acting as a motivator for characters serves another purpose in the book – and that is to propel the novel’s plot or storyline. In the novel, fear and hope acts as a drive for the characters in the book, as hope sets a goal – thus motivating one to reach for whatever it is that they desire, and as fear motivates characters as the idea/object/environment that a character fears – is something a character doesn’t want to experience, thus making the character crave a way to not encounter that situation.

Hope is a emotion frequently aligned with goals or desires as it usually makes one yearn for something – hence being the perfect motivator for characters in the novel who experience this emotion. Hope is a feeling that Stephen Kumalo has felt when he finally heard word about his younger sister – Gertrude, who resides in Johannesburg to search for her husband. In chapter 1, we learn that 3 of his family members – his son, his sister, and his brother, travelled to Johannesburg and has never heard from since then nor come back to the village – as we figure out later that none of them has ever wrote to them back. “when people go to Johannesburg, they do not come back. They do not even write any more.” . We also learn that he receives a letter from Theophilus Msimangu stating that “this young woman (Gertrude) is very sick, and therefore I ask you to come quickly to Johannesburg.” Later in the same chapter, it’s revealed that he decides to go to Johannesburg to search for his sister “Let me see, I shall go…” Nonetheless, Kumalo is definitely filled with the hope of reuniting with his family members after finally hearing about one of his “ghost” family members in a long time. This feeling of hope acts as a motivator for him, as the reason behind him travelling to a faraway place is because of his hopes to meet with his family members.

Though hope and fear are contradictory emotions, fear also influences characters by being a motivator for them. After Kumalo has arrived in Johannesburg and discovers that his sister now resides in a place called Claremont. Upon arriving to her house he finally comes face to face with his sister- though the reaction Gertrude has towards seeing Kumalo in a while, isn’t filled with joy or excitement. Instead, it is one filled with fear - “ - It is I, my sister. Have no doubt it is fear in her eyes. She draws back a step, and makes no move towards him. She turns and says something that he cannot hear. Chairs are moved, and other things are taken. She turns to him. - I am making read, my brother. They stand and look at each other, he anxious, she afraid. She turns and looks back into the room. A door closes, and she says, Come in, my brother.” After progressing further into the chapter, we find out that Kumalo is ashamed of Gertrude: “a liquor seller, a prostitute, with a child and you do not know where it is? Your brother a priest. How could you do this to us?”. At this point Gertrude is ashamed of herself as well and “falls on to the floor and cries” and wants to go back to the village as she says that she is “sick here” and also admits that she is a “bad woman” and she’s no “woman to go back”. Afterwards, both she and Kumalo get on their knees and starts praying. In this section of the chapter, fear is what makes Gertrude ashamed of herself when confronted by her brother of the many “sick” jobs she does. The fear of not being a morally good person and being a person that her own brother is ashamed of - is what drove her to be ashamed of herself, and is what sparked her desire to return back to Ndotsheni and revert back to her old ways. Hence, this fear, is a motivator for Gertrude.

All in all, both hope and fear plays a role in the novel – as they act as a motivator for the characters. The emotion of fear gives characters a drive, as the situation/idea/object the character is afraid of, is something a character may not want to be exposed with thus motivating them to figure out a way to not encounter that situation. The emotion of hope – though a totally opposite emotion – has the same influence upon characters as hope are also motivators for character, as they set a goal for characters, which drives them to reach whatever they hope for. The purpose fear and hope has when becoming a character’s motivation is to give us an idea of what kind of person the character is and also assists in propelling the book’s storyline.

QUESTIONS:
1. What do they man by "if Afrikaners could only see that bilingualism was a devil of a waste of it" on page 201?

2. I don't understand when they say "it would be exciting, exhilarating, a matter for thanksgiving. But it cannot be bargained for. It must be given or withheld, and whether the one or the other, it must not alter the course that is right"?

3. On page 207, why was Jarvis "Shocked and hurt"?

4. Is Jarvis going to continue on reading his other books?

5. On page 222, why did the police man repeat himself "Good pay, high rank, prestige, he said."

WORKS CITED

(Paton, Alan. "1" Cry, The Beloved Country. New York: Scribner, 1948. 37. Print)

(Paton, Alan. "1" Cry, The Beloved Country. New York: Scribner, 1948. 39. Print)

(Paton, Alan. "1" Cry, The Beloved Country. New York: Scribner, 1948. 40. Print)

(Paton, Alan. "6" Cry, The Beloved Country. New York: Scribner, 1948. 59. Print)

(Paton, Alan. "6" Cry, The Beloved Country. New York: Scribner, 1948. 61. Print)