Cry tge beloved country quotes :
"You have said it, he said. It is said now. This money which was saved for that purpose will
never be used for it. You have opened a door, and because you have opened it, we must go
through"
Kumalo speaking to his wife (the reason they spend the money)
T/f: all roads lead to Johannesburg
True
"The humble man reached in his pocket for his sacred book, and began to read. It was this
world alone that was certain."
Narrator. Moral compass: a persons ability to judge what is wrong and right. Kumalo reads the
bible on the train when he is scared for what lies in Johannesburg. The fear of the unknown
"how the tribe was broken, and the house broken, and the man broken; how when they went
away, many never came back, many never wrote any more"
Kumalo telling the priest about his town.
Theme=fear
Tribe- house- man
"It is not only in your place that there is destruction."
One of the priest says that In Johannesburg the people are the ones that are destructive but in
Ixopo it is the land
"It is another, a worse kind of sickness..."bad liquor here, made strong with all manner of things
that our people have never used. And that is her work, she makes and sells it.."These women
sleep with any man for their price.."They gamble and drink and stab. She has been in prison,
more than once."
Msimangu telling kumalo about his sister Gertrude
"The peace of God escapes us."
Kumalo talking to Mismanag. After Mismanag just said that it is hard to find the kind of quiet
smoking gives you in Johannesburg
THEME
"The child is there"
Msimangu. Gertrude child is in Johannesburg. Child represents innocence. The child needs love
and education the savior for th child is kumalo
"what God has not done for South Africa, man must do."
Msimangu tells kumalo that this is what his brother John thinks
"white man has broken the tribe. And it is my belief-and again I ask your pardon-that it cannot
be mended again. But the house that is broken, and the man that falls apart when the house is
broken, these are the tragic things."
Msimangu. Everybody has to do their part. Blames indictment on whites
Indictment: accusation Vindication: clear someone's name
(Negative). (Positive)
"There are some white men who give their lives to build up what is broken.""It is fear that rules
this land." They give us little almost nothing.
Msimangu. Tragedy that broken things aren't mended. But not all white men build something in
the place of something broken but some do just not enough.
"Bantu Press, our newspaper, and it is moderate and does not say all that could be said"
Msimangu shows Kumalo the Bantu press building as they are on their way to his sisters
Gertrude's
"Down in Ndotsheni I am nobody, even as you are nobody, my brother." "here. I do not say we
are free as men should be. But at least I am free of the chief. At least I am free of an old and
ignorant
man, who is nothing but a white man's dog
John kumalo speaking to his brother about how he has power in Johannesburg
"But it is not being held together, he said. It is breaking apart, your tribal society. It is here in
Johannesburg that the new society is being built"
John kumalo. John says that in Johannesburg the new society is being built
"But it is they who dig the gold..It is the white man's shares that will rise, you will read it in all the
papers. They bring more of us to live in the compounds, to dig under the ground for three
shillings a day. They do not think, here is a chance to pay more for our labour. They think only,
here is a chance to build a bigger house and buy a bigger car"
John kumalo speaking to Kumalo. John says that people think South Africa is built on mines but
it is actually built on the sweat by their sweat. Cause blacks do the work
"There is a new thing growing here, he said. Stronger than any church or chief"
John kumalo speaking to Kumalo telling him new customs are growing here that he will see one
day
"He is a big man, in this place, your brother. His shop is always full of men"
Msimangu speaking to Kumalo. A politician that can stir it up and then stand back and watch the
chaos
"white man has power, we too want power, he said. But when a black man gets power, when
he..."gets money, he is a great man if he is not corrupted. He seeks power and money to put
right what is wrong, and when he gets them, why, he enjoys the power and the money"
Msimangu talking to Kumalo.
"Most white men do not know the truth about power, and they are afraid lest we get it"
Msimangu talking to Kumalo
"But there is only one thing that has power completely, and that is love. Because when a man
loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power. I see only one hope for our country, and
that is when white men and black men, desiring neither power nor money, but desiring only the
good of their country, come together to work for it."
Msimangu talking to Kumalo. THEME
"I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find we
are turned to hating."
Msimangu talking to Kumalo.
black man when he sees one of his people helped in public by a white man, for such a thing is
not lightly done
Kumalo smiles when he sees this
Such is the nature of woman. Such is the lot of women, to carry, to bear, to watch, and to lose.
Children dying in shanty town
Of this the child understood nothing; yet something he did understand, for he would listen
solemnly to the deep melodious names, and gaze at his uncle out of wide and serious eyes.
And this to the uncle was pleasure indeed, for he was homesick in the great city; and something
inside him was deeply satisfied by this recital
Kumalo is influenced by the child and is making kumalos journey a little better
"I tell you, you can do nothing. Have you not troubles enough of your own? I tell you there are
thousands such in Johannesburg. And were your back as broad as heaven, and your purse full
of gold, and did your compassion reach from here to hell itself, there is nothing you can do"
Msimangu talking to Kumalo after they go see Absalom gf and she tells him she hasn't seen
him.
"This is a terrible loss for South Africa, for this Arthur Jarvis was a courageous young man, and
a great fighter for justice. And it is a terrible loss for the Church too. He was one of the finest of
all our young laymen."
An unknown priest reading an article to the other priest
The dead man was well known for his interest in social problems, and for his efforts for the
welfare of the non-European sections of the community.
Newspaper article
Chapter 9
Black fear: Shanty towns
Chapter 12
White fear: whites afraid of losing their power, all have different ideas how to fix South Africa ex.
education, police, separate places for blacks
Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love
the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor
stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved
when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley.
For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.
The natives pulling back
Ezenzeleni
Place for the blind, a place of hope to connect with God. Whites and blacks in harmony. Whites
helping blacks (vindication)
Blind people don't see race
Child= hope
Blind=no judgement or fair
For some hours he sat there in the sun, and whether it was the warmth of it, or the sight of the
wide plain beneath stretching away to blue and distant mountains, or the mere passage of time,
or the divine providence for the soul that is distressed, he could not say; but there was some
rising of the spirit, some lifting of the fear.
Kumalo is gaining strength from the land
What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? What broke when he could
bring himself to thrust down the knife into the warm flesh, to bring down the axe on the living
head, to cleave down between the seeing eyes, to shoot the gun that would drive death into the
beating heart?
Universal theme: applies to everyone no matter what culture
"Yes-it was true, then. He had admitted it to himself. The tribe was broken, and would be
mended no more. He bowed his head. It was as though a man borne upward into the air felt
suddenly that the wings of miracle dropped away from him, so that he looked down upon the
earth, sick with fear and apprehension. The tribe was broken, and would be mended no more.
The tribe that had nurtured him"
Kumalo See past skin color and has fair judgement. He is no longer blind he gets it. He is
looking for his son and his hope keeps getting lower and lower.
After seeing Johannesburg he would return with a deeper understanding to Ndotsheni. Yes, and
with a greater humility..One could go back knowing better the things that one fought against,
knowing better the kind of thing that one must build. He would go back with a new and
quickened interest in the school, not as a place where children learned to read and write and
count only, but as a place where they must be prepared for life in any place to which they might
go
Kumalo will return with a better understanding. He always has a purpose: fix life for the
community and the younger generation
"I have tried every way to touch you, he says, but I could not come near. So give thanks and be
satisfied".
Msimangu talking to Kumalo. Kumalo tells him that he is recovered after heading Msimangu
speak to the blind about God
Yet he is despised by some, for this golden voice that could raise a nation, speaks always thus.
For this place of suffering, from which men might escape if some such voice could bind them all
together, is for him no continuing city. They say he preaches of a world not made by hands,
while in the streets about him men suffer and struggle and die. They ask what folly it is that can
so seize upon a man, what folly is it that seizes upon so many of their people, making the
hungry patient, the suffering content, the dying at peace? And how fools listen to him
Msimangu is helping everyone but himself but still feels frustration. This speech to the blind
helps kumalo recover
Prodigal
Prodigal son in th bible takes his dad's inheritance and after he spends it all he finally has no
choice but to go back to his dad who forgives his son and welcomes him back (unconditional
love)
Absalom
What is it like when kumalo finds absalom?
The conversation between these two: absalom is distant and quiet and kumalo demands
answers. Absalom has so much shame that he can't look at his dad. Absalom feels bad but he
is not doing much about it
"And while there is life, there is hope for amendment of life."
Father Vincent talking to Kumalo about Absalom. Amendment of life is making changes to your
life for the better
"There is a man sleeping in the grass, said Kumalo. And over him is gathering the greatest
storm of all his days. Such lightning and thunder will come there as have never been seen
before, bringing death and destruction. People hurry home past him, to places safe from
danger. And whether they do not see him there in the grass, or whether they fear to halt even a
moment, but they do not wake him, they let him be."
Extended metaphor. Kumalo is talking and he is the one sleeping in the grass while a storm
gathers overhead. This metaphor means that other people know of Absalom trouble before
Kumalo. And people don't won't to tell Absalom the painful news so they let him sleep
"My friend, your anxiety turned to fear, and your fear turned to sorrow. But sorrow is better than
fear. For fear impoverishes always, while sorrow may enrich."
Father Vincent talking to Kumalo. Stuck in your fear you won't go any place but sorrow will move
you.
"Fear is a journey, a terrible journey, but sorrow is at least an arriving."
Father Vincent talking to Kumalo. Kumalo is scared for absalom punishment
"When the storm threatens, a man is afraid for his house, But when the house is destroyed,
there is something to do. About a storm he can do nothing, but he can rebuild a house."
Father Vincent speaking to Kumalo
"You cannot doubt that. You are a Christian. There was a thief upon the cross"
Father Vincent. Biblical term: Jesus told the prisoner being crucified next to him that he will go to
paradise with him
"You are beside yourself. Go and pray, go and rest. And do not judge your son too quickly. He
too is shocked into silence, maybe. That is why he says to you, it is as my father wishes, and
yes that is so, and I do not know."
Father Vincent talking to Kumalo. Kumalo just said that he can not reach his son. He begins
judging his son saying his son only has pity for himself and not the child he had made childles
What does Jarvis find out about his son that he didn't know?
His son is a missionary fighting for social justice (rights), his son is self actualization: the
realization or fulfillment of ones talent
"That's one of the first things that we said. Here he was, day in and day out, on a kind of
mission. And it was he who was killed."
Harrison talking to Jarvis after Jarvis asked why this happened to his son of all people. Irony
that Arthur was helping the natives and he was killed by the people he was trying to help
"For he had never thought much of missionaries. True, the church made a lot of it, and there
were special appeals to which he had given, but one did that kind of thing without believing
much in missionaries. There was a mission near him, at Ndotsheni. But it was a sad place as he
remembered it. A dirty old wood-and-iron church, patched and forlorn, and a dirty old parson, in
a barren valley where the grass hardly grew. A dirty old school where he had heard them
reciting, parrot-fashion, on the one or two occasions that he had ridden past there, reciting
things that could mean little to them"
Jarvis is talking about kumalo and has no idea who he is
"But I wish now that I'd known more of him. You see, the things that he did, I've never had much
to do with that sort of thing."
Jarvis talking to his wife who knew him better than Jarvis
It was Permissible (allowed)..
Arthur Jarvis witting
The truth is that our Christian civilization is riddled through and through with dilemma. We
believe in the brotherhood of man, but we do not want it in South Africa
The narrator uses Arthur Jarvis to smack the reader in the face- social injustice=Soap boxing
(Windy City)
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Morality: distinction between right and wrong
Lack of morality: gold rush
Morality: jarvis trying to understand his son
Judge is entrusted a great duty, to judge and to pronounce sentence, even sentence of death.
Because of their high office, Judges are called Honourable, and precede most other men on
great occasions. And they are held in great honour by men both white and black. Because the
land is a land of fear, a Judge must be without fear, so that justice may be done according to the
Law
The judge does not make the law the people do. The judge upholds the law
Well, some of these people are saying it would be nice if these shares could have stayed at
twenty shillings, and the other eighty shillings had been used, for example, to erect great antierosion works to save the soil of the country. It would have been nice to have subsidized boys'
clubs and girls' clubs, and social centres, and to have had more hospitals. It would have been
nice to have paid more to the miner
Soap boxing
Money is for buying the fruits of the earth, of the land where you were born. No second
Johannesburg is needed upon the earth. One is enough.
Johannesburg is corrupt and they found more gold so it will become more corrupt
"Therefore I shall devote myself, my time, my energy, my talents, to the service of South Africa.
I shall no longer ask myself if this or that is expedient, but only if it is right. I shall do this, not
because I am noble or unselfish, but because life slips away, and because I need for the rest of
my journey a star that will not play false to me, a compass that will not lie."
Arthur Jarvis. Self actualization
The front door was self-locking and he let himself out. He looked up at the sky from the farmer's
habit, but these skies of a strange country told him nothing. He walked down the path and out of
the gate. The policeman at the back door heard the door lock, and shook his head with
understanding. He cannot face it any more, he said to himself, the old chap cannot face it any
more.
James jarvis has changed
"Therefore let us sell our labour for what it is worth, he says. And if an industry cannot buy our
labour, let that industry die. But let us not sell our labour cheap to keep any industry alive."
John kumalos speech
"I am forsaking the world and all possessions,"
Msimangu. 3 parts of Christian service: prayer, action, money
But Gertrude was gone. The little boy was there, the red dress and the white turban were there.
But Gertrude was gone
She knows she should change but can't