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Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, is the timeless novel about South Africa in the 1940’s. As powerful white men use the land for their own benefit, the tribal system of the African natives is broken down and replaced by poverty, homelessness, fear, and violence. A black priest, Stephen Kumalo, ventures to the great city of Johannesburg in search of his lost sister and son. His journey demonstrates the unhealthy lifestyle and mutinous atmosphere of the black people; yet he is the beholder of forgiveness, love, hope, and the restoration of a country overwhelmed with problems.

The blacks in big cities, such as Johannesburg, are fearful of white men because they have all the power. They own the mines and factories, and make and carry out the laws. When fear is so deeply ingrained in a society, it can cause people to strike out in violence, or to submit and be voiceless to unjust authority. “Have no doubt it is fear in her eyes…. ‘I have nothing to tell,’ she said. ‘You have nothing to tell because you are afraid.’”(Pg. 46-47) The woman, Mrs. Mkize, is one of the many blacks who are terrified by the whites. She doesn’t want the police to come to her house, and does not know if she can trust Msimangu and Kumalo. This constant apprehension causes people to act in ways that they normally would not.

It is this same panic that caused Absolom Kumalo to shoot Arthur Jarvis. Absolom, being a criminal, had reason to fear authority figures; and because Arthur was white, Absolom automatically associated him with supremacy and command. “‘I told them I was frightened when the white man came. So I shot him. I did not mean to kill him.’”(Pg. 98) When so many white people are being killed by blacks, it can only increase the fear felt by both races: blacks because they do not wish to procure any trouble, and whites because they do not want to be the next victim.

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