Inequality and injustice is the prominent theme in Cry, The
Beloved Country. Kumalo’s
search for his son takes place against massive social inequalities.
Which, not being directly responsible for Absalom’s troubles, was
certainly reason for them. Because black South Africans are allowed
to own only limited quantities of land, the natural resources of
these areas were taxed. The soil of Ndotsheni turns on its
inhabitants—exhausted by over-planting and over-grazing, the land
becomes sharp and hostile. For this reason, most young people leave
the villages to seek work in the cities. Gertrude, Absalom, and
Kumalo's brother John find themselves caught up in this wave of
emigration, but the economic lure of Johannesburg leads to danger.
Facing limited opportunities and disconnected from their family and
tribal traditions, both Gertrude and Absalom turn to crime.
When Stephen Kumalo finally arrives in Johannesburg, he
immediately begins his search for his lost loved ones. He first finds
his sister Gertrude. In the letter that he had first received from
the umfundisi explained that she was sick. He soon realized that her
sickness was not physical, but mental. His sister had become a
prostitute to “get money” for her and her little boy while
searching for her husband. After going to jail, selling illegal
liquor, and selling herself, she finally was saved by the humble,
quiet man of her brother.
Stephen Kumalo searched high and low, house after house, town
after town for his troubled son, Absalom. Going from house, to house,
to school, to jobs, his search came to a stop when he realized that
his son turned to a life of theft and robbery and was taken by police
after killing a white man in a break-in. Ironically, the white man
that he killed was trying to help the black South Africans with
equality. But his work ended just like his life: unexpectedly and
unfinished.
The black South African's got injustice when it came to bus
taxes, working conditions, and pay. They planned bus boycotts to
lower the increased taxes, and was seen walking for miles to work
just to prove that they weren't willing to pay the high prices. They
were treated with inequality with the poor working conditions, and
the unfair advantages the white's got out of the South Africans
labor. The black South Africans achieved nothing out of the priceless
gold they mined while the Whites benefited and built off of it.
Gertrude’s and Absalom’s stories recur on a large scale in
Johannesburg, and the result is a city with slum neighborhoods and
black gangs that direct their anger against whites. In search of
quick riches, the poor burglarize white homes and terrorize the
owners. The white population then becomes paranoid, and the little
sympathy they do have for problems, such as poor mine conditions,
disappears. Blacks find themselves subjected to even more injustice,
and the cycle spirals downward. There is little understanding on
either side, and it seems that the cycle of inequality and injustice
will go on endlessly.
No comments:
Post a Comment