Cry the Beloved Country
English 10 Advanced
Study Guide Questions
Winch
As you read, consider these questions. On the specified dates, seminars will be held. To
earn full credit, you must provide a thoughtful, yet concise answer to the questions at
hand, providing text to support your answer (complete with page number) and clearly
connecting your analysis to the text. You may also inject any insights you had or
connections you made as you read. You should bring any notes you’ve taken with you to
class (but NOT Internet print outs which are simply a red flag for me, suggesting your
use of an unnecessary crutch.) but should not simply read from your notes when you join
the discussion. See rubric for grading details.
Essential Question: Alan Paton, the author of Cry the Beloved Country, was a white
South African who felt deeply the racial tensions and inequalities of his homeland.
During his lifetime, South Africa was a nation ruled by a white minority government,
imposing policies of racial segregation and economic inequality on the native black
Africans who made up the vast majority of the population. The white community was
divided into the Afrikaners, the descendents of the 17th century Dutch settlers, and the
descendants of the British settlers who followed. Both communities grew with the
discovery of gold and diamonds in the mid 19th century as did the conflict between the
two. Paton himself was of British ancestry. He started his professional life as a teacher
for the sons of the white, wealthy minority class and later found his purpose in acting as
the headmaster of a reform school for black boys who were in trouble with the law.
When he took the position, the institution was run like a penitentiary with barbed wire
fences and locked cells. Under his leadership, it was reformed into a school designed to
reform troubled youth. As you read Cry, the Beloved Country, look for evidence of
Paton’s politics and social leanings in the novel. What is the source of power? What is
the effect of power on a people? What is the effect of powerlessness? Why should
we care?
Main characters:
Stephen Kumalo (Black South African Anglican priest)
Absalom Kumalo (his only child – a son)
Gertrude Kumalo (Stephen’s much younger sister)
John Kumalo (Stephen’s brother)
Msimangu (a Black South African priest who befriends Kumalo)
Mrs Lithebe (a Black South African woman who rents rooms in her house)
Arthur Jarvis (a young, idealistic White South African activist)
James Jarvis (Arthur’s father, who lives on an estate overlooking Kumalo’s village)
Book I
Due date: Thursday, Nov. 4th
Opening Question: To what extent are we all products of our environments? What
circumstances can alter our perspectives? Is this alteration beneficial or detrimental?
Core Questions:
1. Why does Kumalo feel he should/must go to Johannesburg? Who summons him?
How/Why? Is that significant? How does he react to this summons and why?
2. How is the Kumalos’ financial situation made obvious? What is the significance
of this?
3. What dangers/uncertainties/unfamiliar situations does Kumalo encounter on his
journey and in the city? What does that tell the reader about him? What is the
author’s purpose here?
4. Summarize and analyze the conversation Kumalo and the other priests have the
night he arrives in Johannesburg. What is the author’s purpose in including this
dialogue?
5. What does Kumalo learn about his sister, brother and son? What is his reaction to
each? What aspect of South African society does each represent?
6. How do Gertrude, John and Absalom’s attitudes differ? Why?
7. Why was Absalom let out of the reformatory? By whom? What does this tell us
about the societal structure of S.A. and reform?
8. Describe Msimangu as a character. What is his position in the novel? What does
he say that resonates with you?
9. How are the worlds of white South Africa and the world of Black South Africa
contrasted? Is it one world or two?
10. What kindnesses does Kumalo encounter in Johannesburg? How is he changed by
his journey?
Book II
Due date: Wednesday, Nov. 10th
Opening Question:
Core Questions:
1. How does James Jarvis first hear of his son’s death? What insight does the
scene/setting offer the reader about the Jarvis family’s social and economic
standing in South Africa? What insight does his reaction to the news offer the
reader about him as a person and father?
2. Summarize Arthur’s writings. According to him, what was permissible and what
is not permissible? What is his analysis of their “Christian civilization”?
According to his writings? Why is he doing what he is doing? Where is the
irony?
3. How is Arthur’s funeral both representative of South Africa’s social and
economic inequalities AND hopeful for a new South Africa? How does the
funeral impact James Jarvis? What does he realize? How do Arthur’s writings
impact him?
4. Who is “Harrison”? What is your impression of him and why? Do you get the
impression that the author agrees or disagrees with him? What gives you this
impression? What does he represent?
5. What is the tone of chapter 23? What is the PURPOSE of chapter 23?
6. What insight does the reader get into Absalom’s personality from the first
encounter with the judge? From his interaction with his own father? From the
trial itself? Describe his affect.
7. Describe the meetings between Stephen Kumalo and Absalom in Johannesburg.
How are they painful and why? To whom? How do you account for each man’s
reaction to the other? Where is the irony? Is there any hope offered?
8. How and why is the first meeting between Stephen Kumalo and James Jarvis
especially poignant? What does it tell us about each man?
9. How is Stephen betrayed by his brother John? What does this tell us about John’s
character? How does Stephen react and what does this tell us about him?
10. What finally happens with Gertrude? Why? What might the author be saying?
11. How has Stephen Kumalo changed as he leaves Johannesburg? Find evidence of
his thought processes as he absorbs this horror.
12. Analyze Msimangu’s position in this tragedy. What does he represent
(intellectually, emotionally and spiritually) and how?
Book III
Due Date: Thursday, Nov. 18th
Opening Question:
Core Questions: What is the source of hope in tragedy? What keeps us moving
forward when our hearts are breaking?
1. Describe Kumalo’s wife’s reaction to the news he brings when he arrives home.
What does this tell us about her?
2. Describe the villagers’ reactions to Kumalo’s return. What does this tell us about
the village? Compare/contrast that with Johannesburg. What might the author be
saying?
3. How does Kumalo feel upon his return to the village and how do we know that?
4. What lesson do the villagers teach Kumalo? How do we know that he’s learned
this lesson?
5. What lesson does Jarvis teach Kumalo? How does their relationship evolve?
6. How has Kumalo changed as a result of his time in Johannesburg? What does he
do which he might not have done before?
7. Give examples of hope for the future, which are introduced in Book III. Analyze
the type of hope each offers.
8. How is the last scene in the novel Biblical in nature? (Of what Bible
story/stories does it remind one?) What is Alan Paton’s message?