Cry, the Beloved Country

Chapter 6

The streets of Claremont are filthy, and Msimangu explains that many of the children in the streets are not at school because there is no room for them in the classes. Msimangu waits up the street while Kumalo listens to the strange, unfriendly laughter coming from behind his sister’s door. Gertrude keeps Kumalo waiting while her unseen companions hastily rearrange and prepare the room.

Gertrude is sullen and fearful at first, and she tells Kumalo that she has not yet found her husband. Kumalo reproaches her for not writing and demands to see her child. When it becomes clear that she does not know where the child is, he tells Gertrude that she has shamed them, and announces that he has come to take her back. She falls on the ground in hysterics, saying that she wants to leave Johannesburg but is not a good enough person to return home. Softened by her remorse, Kumalo forgives her, and they pray together.

The confrontation with Gertrude is significant because when Kumalo first meets her, he takes a hand that is cold and dead. Symbolically, Gertrude is spiritually dead, but gradually, through the warmth and sincere devotion of Kumalo, she begins to come alive. She continues until there is a scene of sincere repentance on her part; then she confesses that she is sick and wishes to return home. The large city has made her sick; a general sickness abounds throughout Johannesburg. We also see a change in Kumalo in that at first he judges his sister harshly before he slowly begins to sympathize with her and ultimately forgives her.

The chapter ends on the hope that the tribe will be rebuilt and that Stephen's house will be restored. But as the search for Absalom will prove, the house is destined to undergo greater tragedy before it can be rebuilt.