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.