Cry, the Beloved Country

1
Cry, the Beloved Country

• Alan Paton
• 1903-1988

2
Authors Background

• Born in Pietermaritzburg in the Natal Province in
  eastern South Africa, a region once known as
  Zululand
• Parents were devout Christians
• Attended Natal University College, where he
  studied mathematics and physics
• was principal of the Diepkloof Reformatory for
  black youths in Johannesburgimproved conditions
  and sought to rehabilitate

3
Cry, the Beloved Country

• Published in February 1948
• Novel was a huge success in Europe and U.S. but
  unpopular in South Africa
• The novel was translated into Zulu and a number
  of other languages and has sold well over 15
  million copies

4
Patons Social Conscience

• Paton is considered a reformer and used his
  novels, short stories and essays as vehicles for
  his strong philosophical and moral viewpoints.
• Strove to promote social change, particularly
  with regard to the treatment of native South
  Africans and the preservation of the land

5
Comments on Cry

• Although circumstances drew Paton into political
  activity, it would be improper to regard this
  novel as a political document. While a primary
  concern of art is a formal beauty that may
  reflect justice, a primary concern of politics is
  the pursuit of power, and literature that serves
  it is propaganda, not art. Cry, the Beloved
  Country is not propaganda. Professor Callen

6
Literary Techniques

• Intercalary Chapters or Inserteda passage that
  is not part of the narrative and does not involve
  the main characters. Usually used to make a
  thematic point, or to describe a scene that is
  apart from the action.
• Dialogue---Patons use of dashes, rather than
  quotation marks, serves to quicken the pace of
  the dialogue and to emphasize words, rather than
  the speaker. Speaker is rarely identified,
  requiring the reader to pay careful attention.

7
Literary Techniques, Continued

• Repetition of phrases, paragraphs and
  description
• Language---use of Afrikaan words, such as veld,
  kraal, inkosana and umfumdisi. Note the word
  native is used exclusively to refer to black
  descendants of tribal Africans and not to the
  whites who had lived in South Africa for
  generations.

8
Genre The Social Realism Novel

• Movement began the second half of the 19th
  century as artists and writers rebelled against
  Romanticisms idealized portrayal of life.
• Focused on the harsh realities of the Industrial
  Revolution and the problems created by a growing
  urban migration.
• The goal of art for the Realist is to achieve
  verisimilitudeto portray people, landscapes, and
  social situations as they actually weregiving a
  slice of life with photographic accuracy.

9
Classic traits of the Social Realism work

• Vivid, unflinching, and usually unsentimental
  descriptions of actual places, though frequently
  these places are given fictional names
• A plot that centers on a social or political
  conflict or problem. Common themes are racial
  injustice, the oppression of the poor, the
  degradation of the land, the problems caused by
  urban migration
• Complex and often flawed characters or archetypal
  characters that represent different facets of
  society.

10
History of South Africa

• Dutch arrived in 1652 and established Capetown.
  Within 5 years they began importing slaves.
• Over the next 100 years, Dutch, German, and
  French Huguenot immigrants settled South Africa,
  pushing deeper in to tribal regions. These
  settlers were known as Afrikaners, or Boers, who
  developed a common language know as Afrikaans.
• In 1795 Britain wrested control of Capetown from
  the Dutch, which led to a century of sporadic
  fighting over control of the region.

11
SA History, Continued

• In 1820, British immigrants settled on the
  eastern coast of South Africa, in an attempt to
  push back the native tribes in that region.
• British missionaries, opposed to slavery, arrived
  in the early 1800s and caused further division
  between the British and slave-owning Dutch.

12
And More Boer History

• After Britain outlawed slavery, the Boers began a
  moving north and east of Capetown and formed two
  republicsthe Orange Free State and the Transvaal
  or ZAR.
• This division led to the Boer Wars in the from
  the late 1880s-early 1900s, in which Britain
  emerges as the victor.

13
ApartheidSeparateness

• 1948-1990Laws aimed at segregating races and
  maintaining strict control over
  non-whiteslegalized racial discrimination by
• Prohibiting inter-racial marriages
• Barring blacks from holding jobs classified as
  skilled labor, or almost all well-paying jobs
• Mandating separate schools and hospitals
• Restricting the movement of blacks through pass
  laws which required blacks to carry passes with
  ID and fingerprints
• Restricted land ownership by blacks
• Required all South Africans to register by race

14
Apartheid in the 50s and 60s

• 1951government established reserves or
  homelands and assigned Africans to these
  homelands according to their tribe of origin.
  This stripped native blacks of their South
  African citizenship.
• 1960sthe UN called for sanctions against the
  Republic of South Africa to protest apartheid and
  human rights but had little effect for three
  decades.
• 1964--Nelson Mandela, the leader of the
  anti-Apartheid movement, was tried for treason
  and sentenced to life in prison.

15
End of Apartheid

• 1976a peaceful march by Soweto schoolchildren
  turns deadly when police fire into the crowd,
  sparking rioting and international outrage.
• 1980sinternational pressure mounted
• 1990South Africa freed Mandela and began
  repealing apartheid laws
• 1994blacks and mixed-race South Africans were
  allowed to vote, electing Mandela president. He
  served until 1999.