Cry, the Beloved Country

Chapter 10

In the beginning of Chapter 10, Kumalo still feels that there is a great gulf separating him and his sister. He will have this same feeling when he meets his son. However, Kumalo feels some relief by his response to Gertrude's son and sees in the young boy a hope for the future. But at the same time that Kumalo is seeing all types of suffering and despair, he himself feels helpless. Throughout these chapters, he contemplates more and more about the basic value and nature of life.

The picture of the reformatory and the staff member reinforces the idea that there are white men of goodwill in South Africa who want to be constructive, creative, and kind, although the odds are overwhelmingly against them. The young director of the reformatory represents the frustration of continual disappointment when working with the natives. Absalom was thought to be still redeemable, but when Absalom fails again in the outside world, the young director becomes rather bitter and disillusioned. Furthermore, the good Reverend Msimangu loses control of himself and expresses some bitter thoughts about the girl Absalom has deserted. Thus when even Msimangu and the director resort to bitterness and disillusionment, the situation must be desperate. The girl, though, has long ago given up hope, if indeed she ever had any. She is a Johannesburg girl, born and reared there, and her fate is simply to exist without a trace of human dignity or happiness.

Cry, the Beloved Country

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 begins the search for Absalom — a search that will lead Stephen Kumalo through a series of new experiences and new revelations. The first of these is the encounter with the bus boycott when he meets Dubula. Msimangu then explains more about the leaders and the new movement. Stephen's brother John has the voice, but Dubula has the heart. Thus, in contrast to John, who may be working partly for self-interest, Dubula's work involves great suffering and great dedication and sacrifice. John sits like a chief and talks of vague ideas, but Dubula is quiet, humble, hard-working, and extremely effective, for he works with one small but practical area, an area of immediate concern to his people. Consequently, the government, according to Msimangu, is more afraid of Dubula, because he wants nothing personal out of his dedication and therefore cannot be easily corrupted.

Even if the boycott does not succeed in reducing the bus fares, it has done a great deal of good because it has shown the solidity of the natives and has aroused the conscience of many whites. Both of these factors are important in the novel because they illustrate that the situation is not hopeless and that the issue is not purely a racial one of whites versus blacks. It is a matter of right and wrong, and many whites are on the side of the right. In the action of the whites giving the blacks a ride, we see a foreshadowing of the action that Jarvis will later undertake. These small actions then lead to greater acts of justice on the part of the whites.

Cry, the Beloved Country

Chapter 7

John represents a different way of life in that he has broken with the church and with the tribe and is now living with a new wife. He has shed all the old tribal values and has adopted the more impersonal ways of the city. This outlook stands in direct contrast to Stephen, who has adhered strongly to the old values embedded in the tribe and church. Furthermore, John is glad to be away from the domination of the chief because now he can assert his own importance. We must also realize that he is being used by the party solely because of the strength of his voice; in other words, he has become a voice without heart or morals.

When Kumalo brings Gertrude and the child from the slum area, he immediately buys them new outfits. Symbolically, he is preparing them to accept a new way of life as expressed by the discarding of the old clothes and accepting the new ones.

Throughout the novel, Msimangu is the spokesman for the author; it is he who identifies one of the principal evils of society: the white man has power and the black man wants this same power so as to be like the white man. At first the black man says he wants power so that he can correct injustice and the wrongs of the society. But the tragedy lies in the fact that as soon as the black man receives power, he uses it as badly as does the white man; that is, he is content to enjoy all the rewards of power and forgets about correcting the injustices.