Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people driven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man. In search of missing family members, Zulu priest Stephen Kumalo leaves his South African village to traverse the deep and perplexing city of Johannesburg in the 1940s. With his sister turned prostitute, his brother turned labor protestor and his son, Absalom, arrested for the murder of a white man, Kumalo must grapple with how to bring his family back from the brink of destruction as the racial tension throughout Johannesburg hampers his attempts to protect his family. Readers feel an uncanny connection to three things: the land, an old
black rural priest searching in a corrupt city for his son, and an old
white rural man confronting the loss of his son. When first published in 1948 in apartheid South Africa, Cry, the Beloved Country was a powerful book about the power of unity and an author's hope of a future where segregation would no longer exist. The story is a humanizing experience that evokes feelings of sympathy and understanding, not hatred for a system so blatantly wrong.
CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY by Alan Paton 316 pages republished by Scribner in September 2003 ISBN-10: 0743262174
This is one of the most beautiful books ever written and deserved a Nobel Prize because a simple book can change a society...but then Murakami has also been denied the same prize so they don't always get it right. It was also on Oprah's Book Club list (I am not sure that makes it a great book but it does make it a popular book). For the activities, I have decided to take a traditional reading approach with pre-reading activities to activate vocabulary schemas, during-reading questions to help guide the reader and post-reading questions to integrate the material and make it relevant for the reader.
BEFORE READING THE BOOK: One of the themes of Cry, the Beloved Country is how economic and social problems can affect families. What are the possible negative results of these problems? Which ones do you think the book will focus on?
WHILE READING BOOK 1 CHAPTERS 1-5: Paton was writing Cry, the Beloved Country, just before the apartheid system was established. The great distrust between whites and blacks, which existed then, forms the background to his book. How do you think the system of apartheid affected white and black people in South Africa? Imagine twenty-four hours in the life of a black worker. What problems did he or she face every day? The language of the book has been discussed a good deal. One of its features is that it offers literal translations of Zulu phrases: "Go well" and "Stay well" are the English versions of "Hamba kahle" and "Sala kahle". What other features of the language of the novel strike you as significant?
AFTER READING BOOK 1 CHAPTERS 1-5: Try to imagine the conversation at the Mission House between Stephen Kumalo, Msimangu, Father Vincent, and one of the other priests. Stephen talks of the drought in Ndotsheni, the disappearance of young people from the area and the destruction of the tribal system. The others talk of the problems of life in Johannesburg.
BEFORE READING CHAPTERS 6-11:
Try to predict what Stephen will discover about his son Absalom’s life in the city before he meets him. Write down your predictions.
AFTER READING BOOK 1 CHAPTERS 6-11: Were your predictions correct?
BEFORE READING CHAPTERS 12-17: In this section, someone is asked to marry. Who? What does that person say?
WHILE READING: Stop at the end of Chapter 14. Imagine the conversation between John Kumalo and his son, Matthew. Why did John Kumalo look happier at the end of the conversation?
AFTER READING CHAPTERS 12-17: In Chapter 12 an unnamed speaker asks: "Which do we prefer, a law-abiding, industrious and purposeful native people, or a lawless, idle and purposeless people? The truth is that we do not know, for we fear them both." In the context of the novel this appears to be an enlightened statement; but note how both alternatives fail to posit the autonomy of African people. Comment on this issue.
You are the lawyer defending Absalom. What can you find in this last section to show the good things about his character. How would you present your arguments to the court?
The novel is partly about the tension between the traditional African rural way of life and the new form of society being forged in the cities and particularly in Johannesburg. What differing views of this tension or struggle are offered by Stephen, his brother John, and Msimangu?
AFTER READING BOOK 1: Are the novel, and the South African situation that it talks about, so particular that it would be difficult to generalize? Could it be similar to other countries? Or could one argue that the movement presented here from country to town, from one set of problems to another, is the story of human civilization?
BEFORE READING BOOK 2 CHAPTERS 1-6: In this section, you will read about all the good work Arthur Jarvis did to help black people. What do you think this work was?
WHILE READING BOOK 2 CHAPTERS 1-6: What in your view is the effect produced by the repetition of the opening paragraph of the novel at the beginning of Book Two?
‘a boy with education did not want to work on the farms ...’ Is this still true today? Is there a place for educated people in farming areas?
Think about the world’s trading problems and find out what you can about issues like poverty, fair trade, the effects of farming on the environment etc. on the Internet. How can educated people in rural areas improve the situation?
AFTER READING BOOK 2 CHAPTERS 1-6: James Jarvis reads Arthur’s essay on the causes of black crime. Are the causes the same today? Are they the same everywhere?
BEFORE READING BOOK 2 CHAPTERS 7-11: You will read about a meeting between two fathers. One of the fathers is white, the other is black. How do you think they will feel about each other?
WHILE READING CHAPTERS 7-11: Think about Gertrude’s experiences at Mrs Lithebe’s house. How is her life different to what it was before? Was she happier then, or is she happier now? What do you think? Now imagine she is speaking to one of her old friends about her new life. What do they ask her? What does she answer? What does she want to do in the future?
AFTER READING BOOK 2: At the end of Book 2, Gertrude disappears. What would she write in a diary about the things she did in the twenty-four hours after she left Mrs Lithebe’s house.
Describe the main differences between Stephen Kumalo's home, as pictured in Book One and James Jarvis's home, as pictured in Book Two.
"Kumalo and Jarvis had both failed to get to know their sons. By the time they do know them, it is too late." Is this a fair statement about (a) Stephen and (b) Jarvis?
BEFORE READING BOOK 3: Predict how you think that Kumalo will feel when he gets back to Ndotsheni. What do you think he will do?
WHILE READING BOOK 3 CHAPTERS 1-4: Read Chapter 2 carefully, up to the end of Kumalo’s conversation with the white boy on the horse. When Stephen asks the boy why he is staying in Ndotsheni, the boy says that it is for a ‘special reason.’ What do you think this is? Use examples from the text to explain your answer.
AFTER READING BOOK 3 CHAPTERS 1-4: What are some of the things that the people of Ndotsheni could do to guard against the effects of drought in the future?
BEFORE READING BOOK 3 CHAPTERS 5-7: In this section two people die. Stephen reacts differently after each death. Who dies? How does Stephen react?
AFTER READING BOOK 3 CHAPTERS 5-7: Look carefully through this section again. What can you find in the text to show that there is hope that black and white people may one day live together without fear?
AFTER READING THE BOOK:
(a) If I were Absalom, I wouldn’t have ......
(b) Msimangu leaves the Mission House to start a new religious community because ......
(c) ...... was the worst character in the book.
(d) Gertrude should/shouldn’t have ......
(e) If the author had to describe his book in one sentence, he would write:
CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY by Alan Paton 316 pages republished by Scribner in September 2003 ISBN-10: 0743262174
This is one of the most beautiful books ever written and deserved a Nobel Prize because a simple book can change a society...but then Murakami has also been denied the same prize so they don't always get it right. It was also on Oprah's Book Club list (I am not sure that makes it a great book but it does make it a popular book). For the activities, I have decided to take a traditional reading approach with pre-reading activities to activate vocabulary schemas, during-reading questions to help guide the reader and post-reading questions to integrate the material and make it relevant for the reader.
BEFORE READING THE BOOK: One of the themes of Cry, the Beloved Country is how economic and social problems can affect families. What are the possible negative results of these problems? Which ones do you think the book will focus on?
WHILE READING BOOK 1 CHAPTERS 1-5: Paton was writing Cry, the Beloved Country, just before the apartheid system was established. The great distrust between whites and blacks, which existed then, forms the background to his book. How do you think the system of apartheid affected white and black people in South Africa? Imagine twenty-four hours in the life of a black worker. What problems did he or she face every day? The language of the book has been discussed a good deal. One of its features is that it offers literal translations of Zulu phrases: "Go well" and "Stay well" are the English versions of "Hamba kahle" and "Sala kahle". What other features of the language of the novel strike you as significant?
AFTER READING BOOK 1 CHAPTERS 1-5: Try to imagine the conversation at the Mission House between Stephen Kumalo, Msimangu, Father Vincent, and one of the other priests. Stephen talks of the drought in Ndotsheni, the disappearance of young people from the area and the destruction of the tribal system. The others talk of the problems of life in Johannesburg.
BEFORE READING CHAPTERS 6-11:
Try to predict what Stephen will discover about his son Absalom’s life in the city before he meets him. Write down your predictions.
AFTER READING BOOK 1 CHAPTERS 6-11: Were your predictions correct?
BEFORE READING CHAPTERS 12-17: In this section, someone is asked to marry. Who? What does that person say?
WHILE READING: Stop at the end of Chapter 14. Imagine the conversation between John Kumalo and his son, Matthew. Why did John Kumalo look happier at the end of the conversation?
AFTER READING CHAPTERS 12-17: In Chapter 12 an unnamed speaker asks: "Which do we prefer, a law-abiding, industrious and purposeful native people, or a lawless, idle and purposeless people? The truth is that we do not know, for we fear them both." In the context of the novel this appears to be an enlightened statement; but note how both alternatives fail to posit the autonomy of African people. Comment on this issue.
You are the lawyer defending Absalom. What can you find in this last section to show the good things about his character. How would you present your arguments to the court?
The novel is partly about the tension between the traditional African rural way of life and the new form of society being forged in the cities and particularly in Johannesburg. What differing views of this tension or struggle are offered by Stephen, his brother John, and Msimangu?
AFTER READING BOOK 1: Are the novel, and the South African situation that it talks about, so particular that it would be difficult to generalize? Could it be similar to other countries? Or could one argue that the movement presented here from country to town, from one set of problems to another, is the story of human civilization?
BEFORE READING BOOK 2 CHAPTERS 1-6: In this section, you will read about all the good work Arthur Jarvis did to help black people. What do you think this work was?
WHILE READING BOOK 2 CHAPTERS 1-6: What in your view is the effect produced by the repetition of the opening paragraph of the novel at the beginning of Book Two?
‘a boy with education did not want to work on the farms ...’ Is this still true today? Is there a place for educated people in farming areas?
Think about the world’s trading problems and find out what you can about issues like poverty, fair trade, the effects of farming on the environment etc. on the Internet. How can educated people in rural areas improve the situation?
AFTER READING BOOK 2 CHAPTERS 1-6: James Jarvis reads Arthur’s essay on the causes of black crime. Are the causes the same today? Are they the same everywhere?
BEFORE READING BOOK 2 CHAPTERS 7-11: You will read about a meeting between two fathers. One of the fathers is white, the other is black. How do you think they will feel about each other?
WHILE READING CHAPTERS 7-11: Think about Gertrude’s experiences at Mrs Lithebe’s house. How is her life different to what it was before? Was she happier then, or is she happier now? What do you think? Now imagine she is speaking to one of her old friends about her new life. What do they ask her? What does she answer? What does she want to do in the future?
AFTER READING BOOK 2: At the end of Book 2, Gertrude disappears. What would she write in a diary about the things she did in the twenty-four hours after she left Mrs Lithebe’s house.
Describe the main differences between Stephen Kumalo's home, as pictured in Book One and James Jarvis's home, as pictured in Book Two.
"Kumalo and Jarvis had both failed to get to know their sons. By the time they do know them, it is too late." Is this a fair statement about (a) Stephen and (b) Jarvis?
BEFORE READING BOOK 3: Predict how you think that Kumalo will feel when he gets back to Ndotsheni. What do you think he will do?
WHILE READING BOOK 3 CHAPTERS 1-4: Read Chapter 2 carefully, up to the end of Kumalo’s conversation with the white boy on the horse. When Stephen asks the boy why he is staying in Ndotsheni, the boy says that it is for a ‘special reason.’ What do you think this is? Use examples from the text to explain your answer.
AFTER READING BOOK 3 CHAPTERS 1-4: What are some of the things that the people of Ndotsheni could do to guard against the effects of drought in the future?
BEFORE READING BOOK 3 CHAPTERS 5-7: In this section two people die. Stephen reacts differently after each death. Who dies? How does Stephen react?
AFTER READING BOOK 3 CHAPTERS 5-7: Look carefully through this section again. What can you find in the text to show that there is hope that black and white people may one day live together without fear?
AFTER READING THE BOOK:
(a) If I were Absalom, I wouldn’t have ......
(b) Msimangu leaves the Mission House to start a new religious community because ......
(c) ...... was the worst character in the book.
(d) Gertrude should/shouldn’t have ......
(e) If the author had to describe his book in one sentence, he would write:
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