Cry, the Beloved Country

Chapter 2

This chapter serves as the introduction to the protagonist of Cry, the Beloved Country, the priest Stephen Kumalo, establishing his main conflicts and character traits. From his first encounter with the small child, Paton establishes Kumalo as a kind man yet powerful and respected within his community despite his poverty, as shown by the small savings that he and his wife had scraped together for their son's education. Kumalo is decidedly a man of the country; he and his wife approach Johannesburg as a nearly mysterious place where people go and are never seen again.

This chapter also introduces one of the major themes of Cry, the Beloved Country: the reassembling of the family. Paton establishes that three members of the Kumalo family are now in Johannesburg, and a major part of the novel will involve bringing these disparate family members together. The most important of these characters is the  son Absalom Kumalo, whose fate will be the major preoccupation of Stephen Kumalo as the story progresses.

Paton creates a definite sense that Absalom has been lost to his family, especially with the mention that he will never come back to Ixopo and the use of his savings for other purposes. However, Stephen has not given up hope for Absalom, and it is this hope that will provide a major motivation for Stephen Kumalo's actions.

 In Natal, Kumalo’s life is orderly. His village holds him in high esteem, and the child who brings him his letter is awed by the comforts of his home. With the arrival of Msimangu’s letter from the city, however, comes discord. Until that moment, Kumalo and his wife have lived in relative harmony, and their careful budgeting and saving shows their organization and cooperation. The arrival of the letter, however, stands this simple order on its head, as Kumalo and his wife argue and are forced to squander their savings. In the station every time Kumalo thinks of the city and its dangers, he becomes small and weak.