Cry the Beloved Country #5

At the end of chapter 31, a little boy comes to visit Stephen. This little boy is Arthur Jarvis' son who is visiting his grandparents because his father has been killed. This little boy is educated in Zulu, as well as English, and learns quickly of the native's troubles with drought and decided to help complete strangers save their dying children. This kind of kindness seems to have been instilled in him by his late father, as was his knowledge of native languages and customs. Arthur made sure that his own children were educated in the ways of traditional South Africa, like greeting and ways of life, to make up for his lack of education in that area when he was a child. This education and kindness makes a great impression on Stephen and helps to mend some of his fears and hurts about the Jarvis family pertaining to the murder as well as how to help the people of his village who have dying children because they don't have anything for them to drink. I think that as this final book goes on, the relationship between the kind little boy and Stephen will grow and greatly help the village.

Cry the Beloved Country #4

During the first book of this novel, Stephen Kumalo goes on a journey that transforms his outlook on life from positive to negative. When Stephen leaves home for Johannesburg, he is a priest who sees the best in people and is hopeful that he will find his sister, nephew, and son. After arriving in the capitol city, he is shocked by how much crime and poverty ravages the city. He finds his sister, but is appalled by the professions and lifestyle that she has adopted since moving into the city. He takes his sister into where he is staying and begins the long search for his son, the part of the journey that changes his outlook. At the beginning of the search, Stephen is hopeful that he will find his son and then bring him home. As the search goes on, however, and Stephen finds evidence of a life of crime following his son's elusive trail, he begins to loose hope in ever finding his son, which slowly turns his outlook to a more negative and cynical light. When Stephen finds his son in jail, he has transformed into a man who has lost all hope and cannot see the good in people anymore because his memory of his obedient and good son has also shattered to reveal a criminal adolescent whom his father barely knows anymore.

Commentary #3

In Chapter 7, Reverend Kumalo has been reunited with his sister and is writing about it to his wife. He notices the beautiful day outside, "the sun was shining, and even in the great city there were birds, small sparrows that chirped and flew about in the yard" (Patton 75). This bright and happy day reflects Reverend Kumalo's mood of happiness now that he has found and rescued his sister. The weather symbolizes his happy mood without Reverend Kumalo having to say that he is happy. This use of weather to symbolize character's feelings is often used by many authors, including John Steinbeck, one of Alan Paton's stylistic inspirations for this novel. Since Alan Paton uses John Steinbeck's style of dashes instead of quotations, I wonder if Alan Paton will use any more of Steinbeck's writing style in this novel besides the quotes and the symbolism of weather.

Commentary #2

In Chapter 6, Reverend Kumalo is reunited with his sister. That night during his prayers he thinks to himself, "One day in Johannesburg, and already the tribe was being rebuilt, the house and the soul restored" (Patton 73). Earlier in the novel, Reverened Kumalo had described South Africa as a broken tribe that has led to a broken house, which in turn has led to a broken soul or person. I think that Reverend Kumalo thinks of his scattered family in the same way as he does South Africa in its present state of  apartheid rule. By slowly reuniting and reconnecting with his family, he is putting  his family (tribe) back together from its divisions of uncertainty and separation, and his soul back together from the worry and fear that his broken tribe has caused him . I think if Reverend Kumalo finds his missing son, all three aspects (tribe, home, soul) will be fixed. His extended family will be together again, so his tribe will be fixed. His immediate family of his wife and children will be together again, thus repairing his home. Finally, he will no longer have to worry about what has happened to his family in Johannesburg, which repairs his soul.

"Cry the Beloved Country" Commentary #1

    In the first four chapters of the novel, Reverend Kumalo sets out for his first trip to Johnannesburg, but he never admits that it is his first time to the capitol city to anyone until he reaches the mission. Why doesn't he admit to people that he has never been to Johannesburg before? Is he embarrassed or is he afraid? I think that it is a combination of pride and fear. He is proud because he is an important memeber of his local society and he doesn't want to admit to people that he has never been to a city before because then their respect for him could lessen because they could see him as just a country priest, which is less respectable than being a priest who travels a lot to both the city and the country.
     I also think that Reverned Kumalo is also terrified of the city because none of his family memebers who have gone to Johannesburg have ever returned. He is scared of loosing the little money he has that he needs to help his sister. Reverend Kumalo also is scared of the unknown, common thing for humans to be afraid of. He worries throughout his journey if the money he has brought will be enough, if he will get lost in the massive capitol city, and if he will return home to his wife and parish.
     Both of these reasons: pride and fear are what I think causes Reverend Kumalo to boast and lie to the other passengers on the train to Johannesburg.

Chapters 21-24

    In Chapter 23, Winnie is arrested and put on trial for leaving wen fu and taking Danru with her. Winnie's trial is extremely fast and very one sided. The judge made his decision to side with wen fu so easily, that it didn't seem like he gave any thought that Winnie may have had a reason to want for run way or that everyone but the husband was telling the truth. The judge only seems to see one man, a "war hero", and a bunch of women arguing against him. He convicts Winnie and she is sentenced to jail for 2 years, a harsh sentence for a woman who had fled from her husband with her now-dead son.

    The judge's actions in this court case fits the mold of Chinese patriarchal society perfectly. Nothing was ever the man or the husband's fault in this culture.  Women and wives were subservient and considered a lesser form of people in this culture. The wife was supposed to take the blame for everything and the husband was supposed to forgive as well as lead the family. This sort of culture still exists in some countries today. Countries like Saudi Arabia and other some Middle Eastern nations, treat women today in a similar fashion to the way that women were treated in China almost 70 years ago. Trials like Winnie's in these places today would probably have ended in the same result because of the way the cultures are formed and societies have been built around the culture. The parallels between 1940s China and these nations are very striking. Women have a very hard time finding education and being independent in both cultures. Also, women can't really help themselves rise in socio-economic status without a man in these misogynistic and patriarchal cultures.  However, women like Winnie do fight against the limits of these cultures. Winnie successfully fights back against her abusive husband and leaves him for good. There are women in places like Saudi Arabia who open schools for girls, teach girls, and try to participate in politics. Women in both cultures face extreme adversity in their attempts to make a better world for themselves and others around them, but they never give up, and as Winnie discovered not playing into the game that controls you can be the most freeing thing,even if you end up someplace unpleasant (like jail). 

Chapters 17-18

   In Chapter 18, Winnie is put through the worse night of abuse this far. It was because she danced with an America. soldier named Jimmy Louie. That night Wen Fu divorces her at the point of a gun, then does other horrible things to her, including raping her, all while still pointing a gun at her head and threatening to kill her and everyone in their house if she doesn't do what he says. The next morning Winnie tries to leave because she is now divorced, but Helen and Auntie Du try to stop her. The point out that her divorce isn't valid because it wasn't witnessed. Winnie begs them to be her witnesses, butt hey won't do it because they don't understand how bad Winnie's marriage actually is. Helen agrees to help her escape, but she makes a terrible mistake by telling Wen Fu where Winnie went.
   My main questions are: how does Winnie ever forgive Helen for what she did that day? Winnie will eventually help Helen get out of China and come to the United States, but why does she do it when Helen betrayed her when Winnie was trying to do the same thing? It is possible that Winnie feels some sort of obligation to Helen for helping her many desperate circumstances, like Yiku's death and the day the Japanese dropped the propaganda papers. Another reason could be the promises that Winnie made when the bombs were falling over their city and she didn't know where her son was. One of those promises was to be a loyal friend to Helen. This promise of loyalty could have made Winnie see that she has to forgive Helen in order to keep this promise that she believes helped her find Danru safe and sound after the bombings in Chapter 17. All of the reasons I have listed so far are possible answers to my questions, the most probable answer is what Winnie says when she is begging Auntie Du and Helen to sign her divorce paper as witnesses. In the midst of her begging she says, "If you do this, I am in your debt forever"(ebook 351). Even though they don't help her in the exact way that she wanted, they do hide Winnie and Danru for a night; which could make Winnie still feel like she has to uphold her promise despite the torret of misfortune their actions caused her.