ABSTRACT
Novero Ferdinand (2008). An Analysis of Paton’s Social Criticism toward the South African Society as Reflected in Stephen Kumalo’s conflicts in Cry, the Beloved Country Yogyakarta : Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis concerns the novel, Cry, the Beloved Country written by Alan Paton. This novel tells about a journey of a priest looking for his son, brother and sister. Through a long journey, Stephen Kumalo faces conflicts happen within himself. I found this novel interesting because there are some factors that could raise conflicts to someone. This novel becomes more interesting because Paton uses these conflicts to criticize the South African society at that time.
This thesis is intended to answer three questions, namely (1) how is the character of Kumalo depicted in the novel? (2) what are the conflicts and the causes of the conflicts that are faced by the main characeter? (3) what is Paton criticism toward South African society in the twentieth century as reflected in Kumalo’s conflicts?
The method used is library research. The data were collected from the novel, criticism on the novel, and other sources realted to the novel. I employed the theory of character and the theory of characterization to answer the first question. To answer the second question, I used the theory of conflicts to explore the conflicts faced by the main character. To answer the third question, I adopted the sociocultural historical approach. This approach was used because I would like to study the socio cultural historical aspect of the story as a reflection of the social condition of the society in South Africa.
From the analysis, I draw conclussion: (1) Kumalo is a humble man and strong dealing with the situation he faces. Although he is old, he is able to face every circumstances in his life. (2) The conflicts that kumalo has when he has to struggle within himself. The conflicts that Kumalo has made him feel affraid,sad, desperate and suffering. The causes of the conflicts comes from the member of his family and his own village. (3) Paton’s critcism of South African society are social injustice, moral degradation, and descrimination between black people and white people.
Novero Ferdinand (2008). An Analysis of Paton’s Social Criticism toward the South African Society as reflected in Stephen Kumalo’s Conflicts in Cry, The Beloved Country Yogyakarta : Program Study Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini mengenai novel yang berjudul Cry, The Beloved Country yang di karang oleh Alan Paton. Novel ini mengenai perjalanan seorang pendeta dalam mencari anak serta adik dan kakaknya. Melalui perjalanan yang cukup panjang yang di laluinya. Terdapat banyak kendala yang harus dihadapinya yang mengakibatkan banyak konflik terjadi di dalam dirinya. Novel ini menarik karena penulis dapat menemukan beberapa factor yang dapat mengakibatkan konflik-konflik pada diri seseorang. Novel ini menjadi lebih menarik karena pengarang menggunakan novel ini sebagai kritik social terhadap masyarakat Afrika Selatan pada masa pertikaian antara kulit putih dan kulit hitam.
Skripsi ini bermaksud menjawab tiga pertanyaan, yaitu (1) bagaimana karakter dari tokoh utama dilukiskan dalam novel tersebut (2) konflik-konflik apa saja yang dihadapi tokoh utama dan apa penyebab dari konflik-konflik tersebut (3) Kritik sosial apa yang di sampaikan oleh Alan Paton untuk mengkritik masyarakat Afrika Selatan pada masa abad ke-20 yang di refleksikan di dalam konflik yang dihadapi oleh tokoh utama.
Metode yang digunakan adalah penelitian data yang dikumpulkan berasal dari novel itu sendiri, kritik pada novel, dan sumber sumber lain yang berhubungan dengan novel yang di ambil dari study pustaka. Penulis menggunakan teori karakter dan teori karakteristik untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama. Teori-teori ini digunakan untuk mempelajari dan menganalisis karakteristik dari tokoh utama. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan kedua, penulis menggunakan teori konflik untuk mempelajari dan menganalisis konflik konflik dan penyebab dari konflik-konflik yang di hadapi oleh tokoh utama. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan ketiga, penulis menggunakan pendekatan sosiokultural-sejarah yaitu dengan mempelajari apa yang terjadi pada waktu pengarang menulis novel tersebut dan mempelajari latar belakang masyarakat Afrika Selatan pada waktu itu.
Dari analisis yang di lakukan penulis menyimpulkan (1) Kumalo adalah seorang yang rendah hati dan sabar dalam menghadapi tantangan yang ada di hadapannya. Walaupun ia tua namun ia kuat dalam menghadapi setiap masalah yang ada dalam kehidupannya. (2) Konflik-konflik yang di hadapi Kumalo adalah ketika ia harus bergumul dengan dirinya sendiri. Konflik-konflik yang di hadapi oleh Kumalo membuatnya merasakan takut, sedih, putus asa dan menderita. Penyebab dari konflik-konflik tersebut berasal dari anggota keluarganya dan desanya. (3) Kritik sosial yang di sampaikan Paton untuk masyarakat Afrika selatan pada waktu itu ialah ketidakadilan sosial, penurunan moral dan diskriminasi ras antara kulit hitam dan putih.
AN ANALYSIS OF PATON’S SOCIAL CRITICISM TOWARD
THE SOUTH-AFRICAN SOCIETY AS REFLECTED IN
STEPHEN KUMALO’S CONFLICTS IN CRY, THE BELOVED
COUNTRY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
Novero Ferdinand
Student Number: 994214166ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
AN ANALYSIS OF PATON’S SOCIAL CRITICISM TOWARD
THE SOUTH-AFRICAN SOCIETY AS REFLECTED IN
STEPHEN KUMALO’S CONFLICTS IN CRY, THE BELOVED
COUNTRY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
NOVERO FERDINAND Student Number: 994214166
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2008
Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go
and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye
shall search for me with all your heart.
And I will be found of you, Saith the Lord.
(Jeremiah 29: 12-14a)
This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to My beloved family My beloved mother and father My awesome God And all my supporting friends And my girlfriend
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to my Father in heaven for his love and
kindness through Jesus Christ for giving me a chance to finish this thesis. I thank you
for all the forgiveness, faithfulness and blessings in my life.
I would like to thank my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum for her
guidance, corrections, suggestions, and comments on every steps of this thesis. I
would like to thank my co-advisor Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum for the advices
to make my thesis better and for helping me to evaluate my Subjects and for
everything. I also would like to thank all of English Letters Lecturers and the
secretariat staffs for their guidance in all these years. I also wish to express my
gratitude to Pak Alip for all the efforts during my last year in Sanata Dharma.
I would like to thank my beloved father Rolly Kussoy and my beloved mother
Dortje Posumah. To my Aunt Jenny and Uncle Dyan for helping me in all the finance
during my study in Sanata Dharma. To my girlfriend Pamela Felita for all the prayer
and love and care. To my Best Friends Nova, Ibrahim, Michael, Didik, Esti and
Henny for always supporting me, may God bless them all. To Bapak Kost and Ibu
Kost who were so kind in helping me when I was sick, I would like to thank all of my
friends both in Sanata Dharma and in my church that I cannot mention one by one.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my loving memory Aunt Natje
for introducing me the novel Cry, the Beloved Country and for all the supports that I cannot mention them all. Thank you so much, Jesus is always with you.
Novero Ferdinand
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE………... i
APPROVAL PAGE………... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE……… iii
MOTTO PAGE……….. iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN……….. v
DEDICATION PAGE………... .. vi
A. Review of Related Studies………... 9
B. Review of Related Theories………...12
C. Review on South Africa Social Condition in the Early 20th Century…... 23
D. Theoretical Framework………... 27
A. The Characterization of Stephen Kumalo………...………. 32
B. 1. Stephen Kumalo Conflicts………..……...……….. 34
a. Afraid of Something Uncertain …..….……….34
b. Sad of Gertrude’s Condition…………...……..……….35
c. Desperate of Absalom’s Murder Case..……….36
d. Suffering because of the Treatment of His Family...36
2. The Causes of Stephen Kumalo Conflicts……….………....37
a. Gertrude’s Sickness……….. 38
b. Absalom’s Crime………...………....40
c. John’s Political Intrigue…………..………...42
d. Ndotsheni Dry Season…...………44
C. Paton’s Social Criticism of South African Society as reflected in Stephen Kumalo’s Conflicts………..………..45
CHAPTER V CONCLUSSION………...50
BIBLIOGRAPHY………..53
APPENDICES…..………..…56
A. Biography of Alan Paton………..……….…56
B. Summary………58
ABSTRACT
Novero Ferdinand (2008). An Analysis of Paton’s Social Criticism toward the South African Society as Reflected in Stephen Kumalo’s conflicts in Cry, the Beloved Country Yogyakarta : Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis concerns the novel, Cry, the Beloved Country written by Alan Paton. This novel tells about a journey of a priest looking for his son, brother and sister. Through a long journey, Stephen Kumalo faces conflicts happen within himself. I found this novel interesting because there are some factors that could raise conflicts to someone. This novel becomes more interesting because Paton uses these conflicts to criticize the South African society at that time.
This thesis is intended to answer three questions, namely (1) how is the character of Kumalo depicted in the novel? (2) what are the conflicts and the causes of the conflicts that are faced by the main characeter? (3) what is Paton criticism toward South African society in the twentieth century as reflected in Kumalo’s conflicts?
The method used is library research. The data were collected from the novel, criticism on the novel, and other sources realted to the novel. I employed the theory of character and the theory of characterization to answer the first question. To answer the second question, I used the theory of conflicts to explore the conflicts faced by the main character. To answer the third question, I adopted the sociocultural historical approach. This approach was used because I would like to study the socio cultural historical aspect of the story as a reflection of the social condition of the society in South Africa.
From the analysis, I draw conclussion: (1) Kumalo is a humble man and strong dealing with the situation he faces. Although he is old, he is able to face every circumstances in his life. (2) The conflicts that kumalo has when he has to struggle within himself. The conflicts that Kumalo has made him feel affraid,sad, desperate and suffering. The causes of the conflicts comes from the member of his family and his own village. (3) Paton’s critcism of South African society are social injustice, moral degradation, and descrimination between black people and white people.
Novero Ferdinand (2008). An Analysis of Paton’s Social Criticism toward the South African Society as reflected in Stephen Kumalo’s Conflicts in Cry, The Beloved Country Yogyakarta : Program Study Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini mengenai novel yang berjudul Cry, The Beloved Country yang di karang oleh Alan Paton. Novel ini mengenai perjalanan seorang pendeta dalam mencari anak serta adik dan kakaknya. Melalui perjalanan yang cukup panjang yang di laluinya. Terdapat banyak kendala yang harus dihadapinya yang mengakibatkan banyak konflik terjadi di dalam dirinya. Novel ini menarik karena penulis dapat menemukan beberapa factor yang dapat mengakibatkan konflik-konflik pada diri seseorang. Novel ini menjadi lebih menarik karena pengarang menggunakan novel ini sebagai kritik social terhadap masyarakat Afrika Selatan pada masa pertikaian antara kulit putih dan kulit hitam.
Skripsi ini bermaksud menjawab tiga pertanyaan, yaitu (1) bagaimana karakter dari tokoh utama dilukiskan dalam novel tersebut (2) konflik-konflik apa saja yang dihadapi tokoh utama dan apa penyebab dari konflik-konflik tersebut (3) Kritik sosial apa yang di sampaikan oleh Alan Paton untuk mengkritik masyarakat Afrika Selatan pada masa abad ke-20 yang di refleksikan di dalam konflik yang dihadapi oleh tokoh utama.
Metode yang digunakan adalah penelitian data yang dikumpulkan berasal dari novel itu sendiri, kritik pada novel, dan sumber sumber lain yang berhubungan dengan novel yang di ambil dari study pustaka. Penulis menggunakan teori karakter dan teori karakteristik untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama. Teori-teori ini digunakan untuk mempelajari dan menganalisis karakteristik dari tokoh utama. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan kedua, penulis menggunakan teori konflik untuk mempelajari dan menganalisis konflik konflik dan penyebab dari konflik-konflik yang di hadapi oleh tokoh utama. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan ketiga, penulis menggunakan pendekatan sosiokultural-sejarah yaitu dengan mempelajari apa yang terjadi pada waktu pengarang menulis novel tersebut dan mempelajari latar belakang masyarakat Afrika Selatan pada waktu itu.
Dari analisis yang di lakukan penulis menyimpulkan (1) Kumalo adalah seorang yang rendah hati dan sabar dalam menghadapi tantangan yang ada di hadapannya. Walaupun ia tua namun ia kuat dalam menghadapi setiap masalah yang ada dalam kehidupannya. (2) Konflik-konflik yang di hadapi Kumalo adalah ketika ia harus bergumul dengan dirinya sendiri. Konflik-konflik yang di hadapi oleh Kumalo membuatnya merasakan takut, sedih, putus asa dan menderita. Penyebab dari konflik-konflik tersebut berasal dari anggota keluarganya dan desanya. (3) Kritik sosial yang di sampaikan Paton untuk masyarakat Afrika selatan pada waktu itu ialah ketidakadilan sosial, penurunan moral dan diskriminasi ras antara kulit hitam dan putih.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
A nation usually has norms which exist in society. However, if one of those
norms fall down or break down, it can cause differences between one society and the
others. Those things happen in South-Africa in the early of the 20th century which
takes Paton’s attention to write about the social condition of South African society in
1946.
The situation and condition between urban society and rural society are
different in many ways such as norms, attitudes or even point of view in a religion.
Those are some causes which Paton tries to criticize toward the South African society
in his novel Cry, the Beloved Country.
Paton was born at Pietermaritzburg, Natal, in 1903. He attended
Pietermaritzburg College, at which he afterwards taught at the Natal University
College and he took his B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Physics and the Diploma of
Education. In 1925 he went to Ixopo to teach, where Cry, the Beloved Country opens. Before writing this book Alan Paton had written numerous articles on South African
problems for national periodical, which he has continued to do (1944: 2).
During his life he has seen racial discrimination happen in South-Africa and
using his talent as a writer he tries to criticize the condition of society of South
African through one of his literary work Cry, the Beloved Country. He has spoken out
against apartheid and his country’s policy of racial segregation with the memory
group of whites in control.
In this thesis I found some conflicts happen in the character of Stephen
Kumalo which becomes Paton’s criticism on the society. At that time there was a
huge gap between town and country society. Many people in rural society go to urban
society for some purposes but finally found that the circumstances in urban society
not as they expected which makes them have to choose a hard way to live. Rural
society shown in the novel are poor while Urban society are rich but they work in
different ways. Rural society still sticks with their norms and religion while in urban
society, there are many intricts, politics, and different point of view about a religion.
Wellek and Warren in their book A Theory of Literature stated that Literature as a social institution, using as its medium language, a social creation. Such
traditional literary devices as symbolism and metre are social in their very nature.
They are conventions and norms which would have arisen only in society. Literature
which also a social function, or ‘use’, which cannot be purely individual. Thus a large
majority of the questions raised by literary study are, at least ultimately or by
implication, social questions: questions of tradition and convention, norms and
genres, symbols and myths (1956: 42). We can see that literature has a close
relationship with society and by using Stephen Kumalo’s character and through the
conflict that Kumalo faced in almost all of the story, Paton succeeded to arise the
character related to the social condition in the novel and in South Africa at that time
will become my focus later in describing the problem formulation.
Daily newspaper, The New York Times wrote about the novel, “A beautiful novel, rich, firm and moving… its writing is so fresh, its projection of character so
immediate and full, its events so compelling, and its understanding so compassionate
that to read the book is to share intimately, even to the point of catharsis, in the grave
human experience treated.”
(http://archives.obs-us/obs/english/films/mx/cry/aboutb.htm). The quotation above shows that Cry, the Beloved Country is able to move the reader’s compassion and to share the intimate feeling because Paton use many aspects in life in describing the character and the
social condition in the novel.
Cry, the Beloved Country soon become famous after its first publication and invite many comments from other country. Many newspapers from other country put
a comment about Paton’s novel and some of them admires Paton’s work as one of the
best novel at that time. Another quotations written in The New Republic said that, “The greatest novel to emerge out of the tragedy of South Africa, and one of the best
novels of our time.”
(http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/films/mx/cry/aboutb.htm).
The novel sold well both in North America and in Great Britain. It was soon
translated into 20 languages, and made into a film in England (1952) and a musical in
the United States (Lost in the Stars, 1949, script by the playwright Mazwell Anderson
edition, dedicated to Jan Hofmeyr, came out three months before Hofmeyr’s death at
age 53 in December 1948. Book sales in South Africa were second only to those of
the bible, and Paton became famous.
(http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/films/mx/cry/aboutb.htm). Paton became famous after the first
edition of Cry, the Beloved Country not only in South Africa but also in Europe because the novel soon translated into 20 languages.
Paton knew the area around Ndotsheni well. He taught school there when he
was a young man. It is here where most of the main character in the novel was born.
Paton wants to write a literary work because he wants to reveal his minds and ideas,
which concern with his environment. We can learn many things in literature, such as
the characterization of the main character, the conflict faced by the main character,
the setting of the story, and the ideas or criticism that the author wants to show, and
through the conflict, we can see that the author describes his ideas of social criticism
and fate by using a language that the reader may understood. Basicly, the internal
conflicts happen in the story faces by the main character Stephen Kumalo wants to
show the people of South-Africa against the discrimination of races and the injustice
B. Problem Formulation
This part discusses three problems which I formulate to give a brief definition
of my study. The problems are formulated as follows:
1. How is Stephen Kumalo depicted in the novel?
2. What are the conflicts and the causes of the conflicts faced by Stephen Kumalo?
3. What are Paton’s criticism of the South African Society in the early 20th century as
reflected in Stephen Kumalo’s conflicts?
C. Objectives of the Study
This study aimed to answer the questions in problem formulation. First, the
study discusses the characterization of Stephen Kumalo as the main character of the
novel. Second, the study discusses the conflicts and the causes of the main character’s
conflicts. This discussion will reveal other characters and condition which causes the
main character having conflicts. Third, the discussion will be focused on the conflicts
faced by the main character. This study will connected the problem formulation one
and two to answer problem formulation four. Four, the discussion will reveal the
author criticism toward the South African society at that time. This study will reveal
the conflicts of the main character to show what Paton criticizes toward the South
D. Definition of Terms
To get a clear understanding about the study, I try to explain some important
terms or definition related with the topic of the discussion. Those terms are as
follows:
1. Conflicts
I would like to give a little brief definition about what the meaning of conflict.
Conflict is the struggle that grows out of the interplay of two opposing forces in a plot
(At least one of the opposing forces is usually a person, or, if an animal or animate
object is treated as though it were a person, a protagonist). There may be involvement
in conflicts of four different kinds (1) a struggle against nature (2) a struggle against
another person (3) a struggle against society (4) a struggle for mastery two elements
within the person (Holman and Harmon, 1986 :107).
Conflict may be divided into two kinds, internal and external conflict. Internal
conflict is between two desires within a character; external conflict is between
characters or between a character and his environment (Stanton, 1965 : 62). I can
conclude that internal conflicts is the condition where the character have to struggle
inside himself while external conflicts is the struggle between the character and the
force outside the character which could be anything. This internal conflicts makes the
2. Social Criticism
The definition of Social Criticism in this section I divided into two. First I try
give the definition of Criticism itself then Social, and then I try to draw conclusion
from both definitions. The definition of the word “criticism as Paul Procter states in
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English is “the act of forming and expressing judgements about the good or bad qualities of anything, especially artistic work, work
of a critic” (1978:263).
In the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literature Terms edited by Chris Baldick, “Criticism is an activity which one of them is judgement of its worth by
comparison with other work”. Baldick also adds more specific explanation that
“criticism is concerned with revealing the author’s explanation (sometimes called
‘expressive’ Criticism) (1991: 48).
While Society, used by a novelist, sometimes refers merely to the high or
fashionable class. However, ‘society’ can be wider in sense, not only comprehending
merely people and their class but also their customs, conventions, beliefs and values,
their institutional-legal, religious and cultural and their physical environments
(Langland, 1984: 6). I can conclude that society is a group of people who live
together with their own values, beliefs and customs.
A society in this study refers to the South African Society. There are many
aspects I can learn through the South African society such as their customs, how they
I conclude that Social Criticism is an act of expressing judgment toward a
group of people that live in one area, and that judgment could be toward anything
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Cry, the Beloved Country as one of Alan Paton’s works was written in 1948. It is the story of Zulu Christian Pastor’s journey from quite Natal province to a
modern, sinister Johannesburg in search of his son, his sister and his brother-all
whom have disappeared into an urban life, sin and political intrigue. By tragic
circumstances his son Absalom, has accidentally killed the social reformer son of a
leading Natal farmer. The novel deals with social condition in South-Africa where
Paton used to live and spent most of his work and life there.
There are many opinions about the theme of this novel. Some critics said that
the theme of Cry, the Beloved Country is about the tension between urban and rural society. In this novel, Paton presented rural society as a united family a religious
person and having good morality and stability, while urban society as broken family,
hedonism and atheism. It can be seen that the tension is a comparison of living
between Johannesburg as a place of urban society and Ndotsheni as a picture of a
place where rural society live. Other critics said that the theme is about social
disintegration and moral restoration (Ross, 1997: 8).
Cry, the Beloved Country may be longer remembered than any other novel of 1948, but not because it fits into any pattern of the modern novel. It stands by itself; it
creates rather than follows a tradition. It is at once unashamedly innocent and subtly
sophisticated. It is a story; it is a prophecy; it is a psalm. It is passionately African, as
no book before it had been; it is universal (Lewis Gannett, 2005: 1).
According to Gannet, Cry, the Beloved Country is a sophisticated novel. It is a combination of a story, a prophecy and a psalm. It is a fiction that includes Christian
values as the dominant influence of the characters. Dealing with Paton’s interest in
the race relation in South Africa, Gannet had an opinion that Cry, the Beloved Country is a story, which tries to offer a solution to the problem of South Africa, which is based on Christian values, such as love and kindness (2005: 1).
Randoph Vigne stated that Cry, the Beloved Country was the book that enabled Paton to say, when campaigning against the Group Areas Act 1957: ‘Having
a voice which, by God’s grace, can be heard beyond the confines of South Africa, I
use it to speak for people who have no voice at all’. The novel, Cry, the Beloved Country is well known in many countries outside South Africa. It means that Paton’s voice for the injustice in South Africa also reaches to other country and to other
people outside South Africa (2006: 1).
According to Vigne, Alan Paton allowed politics to interfere his literary
works: For Paton, as he makes clear several times, politics was a duty, interference in
his life as a writer. To literature he owes always an equal, perhaps a higher duty.
Nowhere, however, does he examine the failure of his hopes for political change
Maris Kobe in his review on the novel says, “In language both simple and
eloquent, Alan Paton has created a masterpiece of symbolism, compassion and
understanding. This book is a must read as a modern rendering of Greek tragedy.”
(1997: 2)
From those criticisms, I can conclude that Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel but it contains with some values and critics about the society of South Africa. Paton
succeeds to a remarkable degree in portraying a segment of South African life during
period immediately following the end of World War II. He succeeds, to an even more
remarkable degree, in endowing this regional portrait with universal significance. He
accomplishes this by incorporating into the actualities of South Africa’s physical and
social setting a fundamental theme of social disintegration and moral restoration. This
theme is worked out through two complementary, or counter pointed, actions:
Stephen Kumalo’s physical search for his son Absalom, and James Jarvis intellectual
search for the spirit of his son Arthur. In each case, the journey, once undertaken,
leads to an inner, spiritual awakening.
Another criticism stated by Rooney said that Cry, the Beloved Country is a great novel about racism, since it shows the injustice without any violence. It is
intended to evoke and summon the readers compassion to the effect of the injustice
(2005: 1). Through this novel, Paton tries to show the reader what is really happen in
South Africa at that time. Paton tries to realize the readers about the effect of the
Paton himself stated in his note of this novel, that Cry, the Beloved Country is a compound of truth and fiction. The story is not true, but the social condition is a
record of the plain and simple truth. It is not only a portrait of social condition of
South Africa, but it also conveys Paton’s feelings and opinions about racism. It seems
that through this novel, Paton tries to fight against the practice of racism, especially
racism in South Africa (1974: 5).
In this study, I focus on the main character’s conflicts and the author’s
criticism toward the South African society in the novel. As I stated above, there are
some opinions and critic about the novel. Most of them are to show social condition
of the South African society at that time. Using the fact that the author was live in
South Africa at that time, I compare the society with the society of South Africa
where the author lives at that time. Although the novel is not real, the fact of social
condition in South Africa at that time is real. The conflicts of the main character show
the criticism of the author toward the South African society.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character
According to Abrams (1981: 20) in his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms, characters, the basic of the word characterization, are “the persons presented in a
dramatic or a narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed
what they do-action.” The ground in the character’s temperament and moral nature
for his speech and action constitute his ‘motivation’. A character may remain
essentially ‘stable’ or unchanged in his outlook and disposition from beginning to the
end of work, or he may undergo a radical change, either through a gradual
development or as the result of an extreme crisis.
According to Holman and Harmon (1986: 81), character is a complicated term
that includes the idea of the moral constitution of the human personality, the presence
of the moral uprightness, and the simpler notion of the presence of creatures in art
that seem to be human beings of one sort or another. I conclude that within a
character we can see moral constitution that usually exits in society, the moral
constitution express the human personality.
A main character can be either static or dynamic. A static character is one
who changes little if at all. Things happened to such character without things
happening within. The pattern of action reveals the character rather than showing the
changing in respond to do the actions. A dynamic character is one who is modified by
actions and experience. One objective of the work in which the character appears is to
reveal the consequences of these actions (Holman and Harmon, 1986: 83).
According to Forster, characters can be divided into two terms. First, a flat
character. It is build around ‘a single idea or quality’ and is presented without much
individualizing detail, and therefore can be fairly adequately described in a single
motivation and is presented with subtle particularly. Thus, he is as difficult to
describe with any adequacy as a person in real life, and like most people, he is
capable of surprising the reader (1974: 46-48).
2. Theory of Characterization
Abrams in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms states that characterization must have three principles, they are as follows: (1981: 6).
a. The characters must be consistent in their behavior. In other words, the characters’
way remains essentially stable or unchanged in their outlook and disposition from the
beginning to the end of the work
b. The characters must clearly be motivated in whatever they do, especially when
there is a change in their behavior.
c. The characters must be plausible or lifelike, credible, realistic, and probable.
Abrams states in his book, A Glossary of Literary Terms, there are two methods of characterization namely showing and telling. In Showing method (called
`dramatic method), the author only presents his characters to talk and act and leaves
the readers to infer what motives and dispositions lie behind what they say and do.
While in Telling method (called `direct method), the author himself becomes a kind
of narrator in order to describe and evaluate the motives and disposition qualities of
According to Barnet, Berman and Burto in their book Literature for Composition there are some important factors that must be considered when we want to see the character involved in a story. Those are: (1988: 2)
1. What the character says
What the character says can give a clue how the author describes him, for
example whether he is a kind or bad person, educated or uneducated person.
2. What the character does
We are to know whether he is from upper or lower class, and he is a kind bad
person from what the character does.
3. What other characters say about the character
It is needed to get additional information and clear description about some
characters that will be described in the story.
4. What others do
The action of others may help indicate what the character could do but he
does not do. It is very important to know his characteristics such as lazy, or careless.
I also used M.J. Murphy, Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Students. Murphy mentions nine ways in which an author attempts to make his characters understandable and come alive for
1. Personal description
Personal description means that the author can describe a person’s appearance
and clothes in the story.
2. Character as seen by another
Instead of describing a character directly the author can describe him through
the eyes and opinion of other characters.
3. Speech
It is an important way that may be used to describe a character. The author
can give us an insight into the character of one person in the book through what the
person says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he is in conversation with another,
whenever he puts forward an opinion, he gives us some clues to his character.
4. Past Life
By letting the readers learn something about a person’s past life, the author
can give them a clue to an event that has helped to shape a person’s character. This
can be done by direct comments by the author, through the person’s thought, through
his conversation, or through the medium of another person.
5. Conversation of Others
We can take clues of a person’s characteristics through the conversation of
other people and the thing they say about him. People do talk about other people and
6. Reactions
Through the person’s reaction to various situation and event, the author can
also give us a clue to know the person’s characteristics.
7. Direct Comment
The author can describe or comment on the person’s characteristic directly.
8. Thoughts
The author can give us direct knowledge of what person is thinking about. In
this respect, he is able to do what we cannot do in real life. He can tell us what
different people are thinking.
9. Mannerism
The author can describe a person’s mannerism and habits, which may also tell
us something about his character.
3. Theory of Conflict
Conflict happens in our life, whether it is unpleasant thing but it can bring a
positive or negative effect and can change our point of view of something. Sometimes
people do not realize the meaning of conflicts itself and sometime event tries to avoid
a conflict so they do not trap in the situation which the conflict exist. Meredith and
Fitzgerald define that conflict is something which is unpleasant, which has happened
or to be experienced by the character, if the character has free choice to choose, he
Sometimes, people do not realize that conflict can bring a positive effect, and
then people usually avoid confronting conflict. Beaty and Hunter (1989: 778), in their
book, say that most people try hard to avoid conflict. People prefer living without
complication. Nevertheless, no one escapes conflict for long, even without war or
large-scale disagreement. If people are given a choices between livings without
problems or living with problems, they will choose living without problems. But as
human being, we should realize that in daily live, man must face some problems
willingly.
According to James W. Vander Zanden in his book, Social psychology,
conflict is a form of interaction in which people (individually or in group) perceive
themselves as being involved in a struggle over resource or social values. People in
conflict find themselves at odds. They feel separated by incompatible objectives.
They see one another as competitors or threats, and thus their interaction is
antagonistic. (1984: 314).
Conflicts are not always restricted to two parties. At times, three or more
individuals have an interest in a competitive outcome. By forming an alliance with
one or more others, people can combine their resources in order to advance their own
individual interest. However, as sociologist have long recognized, situations
involving three or more persons are quite different from those involving two people
In a novel, Holman and Harmon point out that conflict plays an important
role, conflict is the struggle that grows out of the interplay of the two opposing forces
in a plot. It provides interests, suspense and tension (1986: 107). In other words, a
conflict is the basis of all fiction; the structure of any given piece of fiction is
determined by the way in which the conflict is developed (Brooks, 1952: 27). A
conflict could create the tension and also the plot to be more interesting. The story
could be more complex and interesting, when the authors could develop the conflict.
Most authors write a story based on conflicts. Holman and Harmon state
clearly about conflict, conflict can be a struggle against another person, a struggle
against society, a struggle for mastery by two elements within the person (1986: 107).
Here, Holman and Harmon want to say that conflict is caused by two different forces.
It could be within person or between two persons. It is clearer as I put the statement
from Redman (1964: 363), which divide conflict into two, “Inner or internal conflict
and external conflict. The inner or internal conflict means a struggle within the heart
and minds of protagonist, while the external conflict means a struggle between the
protagonist and an outside force.”
In this novel, Paton presents conflicts that are faced by Stephen Kumalo in
order wants to show the author criticism toward the South African society in his time.
In the novel, Paton presents Stephen as a priest who is struggling with himself and
with the society around him. Stephen has conflicts dealing with the circumstances
4. The Relation between Literature and Society
There are many opinions about society in life between analyst. However, the
general view of society refers to the human relationship. Rose (1977: 87-89), in the
study of society says that the basic fact of human behaviors is oriented in so many
things in the world. Not only do men live together and share common opinions,
values, beliefs and customs, they also continually, interact, responding to one another.
According to Staub (1978: 5), there is very strong relationship between
values, beliefs and personal goal and behavior in the society. The primary focus of a
person in an action. A person is helped by action not by beliefs that one ought to act.
Values and empathy are important as motivation of social action.
From Rose’s and Staub’s statements, I can conclude that society is the
interaction between people. People live together and they also interact each other.
They share their beliefs, opinions, values and customs in their interactions. They do
their activities in society based on their personal goals, beliefs, and values.
Literature is a social institution and traditional literary device, it may
symbolize society. In a literary work, there are convention and norms, which could
have arisen only in society. Further, literature represents life and life itself is a social
reality, though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual
have also been object of literary intuition. Thus, the topic which is raised in literary
Wellek and Warren also gives a comment in their book that Literature as a
social institution, using as its medium language, a social creation. Such traditional
literary devices as symbolism and metre are social in their very nature. They are
conventions and norms which would have arisen only in society. Furthermore,
literature `represents` ‘life’; and ‘life’ is, in large measure, a social reality, even
through the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have
also been objects of literary ‘imitation’. Literature which also a social function or
‘use’, which cannot be purely individual. Thus a large majority of the questions
raised by literary study are, at least ultimately or by implication, social questions:
questions of tradition and convention, norms and genres, symbols and myths. (1956:
94).
It can be seen from Wellek and Warren’s statement above, that literature has
a close relation with society because literature `represents` ‘life’; and ‘life’ is, in large
measure, means social. Wellek and Warren in their book, theory of literature, state
their argumentative opinion about those relationships as follows.
The relation between literature and society is that literature is an expression of society, but if it assumes that literature, at any given time, mirrors the current social situation correctly, it is also, its vogue if it means only that literature depicts some as poet of society reality. To say that literature is mirror of expression life is even more ambiguous. An author in edibility expresses life is total conception of life, but it would be manifested untrue to say that he expresses the whole of life even the whole life of a given time completely and exhaustively (1956: 95).
Wellek and Warren also give three actual relations between literature and
society, which are explained in descriptive way. The descriptive relations between
literature and society can be classified as follows.
First, there are the sociology and the profession of the author and institutions of literature. The problems appearing in this case are the economic basic of literary production, the social provenance and status of the author, his social ideology, which may be found in extra literary pronouncement and activities. Second, there are the problems of the social content, the implications and the social purpose of the works of literature themselves. Third, there are the problems of the audience and the actual social content of works themselves and the influence of the literature on society (1956: 95-96).
From the quotation above, It is clear that the relation between the author’s
work and literature can be seen from its influence on society. Those ideas are
expressed through the related events and characters in a literary work.
Literature can be a medium to criticize the society. Furthermore, Rohrberger
(1971: 10) mentions that the humanist takes the view that literature is a criticism of
life that affects men in society and that great literature should express the values of
order, restraint and human dignity.
A person can learn about society through the study of art. It is because the
idea of a literary work is taken from society. It means that the literary work can be
C. Review on the South Africa Social Condition in the Early 20th Century
South Africa is one of the largest and most powerful states situated in the
southern part of Africa. South Africa is a beautiful country with many natural
resources. However, it is handicapped by lack of water and by soil erosion. South
Africa’s population is diversed racially and ethnically. Blacks make up 72,2 % of the
population, whites 15,9%, coloureds (person of mixed racial origin) 9,1% and Asians
2,8 %. The black population consists of nine main ethnic groups, the largest are Zulu
and Xhosa (The Encyclopedia Americana, 1995: 262-263).
South Africa is also well-known as the most industrialized and prosperous
nation in Africa. South Africa is the world’s leading gold-producing nation, ranks
second as a producer of diamond and manganese, and holds third place in output of
uranium. It also has an abundance of chrome, coal, iron, and manufactures three fifth
of Africa’s steel. Besides the mineral resources, South Africa also produces wool,
fruit, and wines (Joy, 1967: 128).
The primary problem of South Africa starts from the rule of a huge African
majority by a small European minority. During the end of the 15th century, some
countries came to explore South Africa, but the European colonial powers’ scramble
for Africa reached its peak at the last quarter of the 19th century. By 1876 only 10%
of Africa’s territory had been seized, this figure reached 90% by 1900. British was in
At the turn of the century, for the first time, South Africa had an extremely
valuable resource that attracted foreign capital and large-scale immigration.
Discoveries of gold and diamonds in South Africa exceeded the natural resources in
any other parts of the world, and more foreign capital had been invested in South
Africa. The white population expanded eightfold, while hundreds of thousand of
Africans sought work each year in the newly developed mines and cities of
industrializing areas. However, not all shared equally in this newfound wealth.
Diamond and, in particular, gold mining industries required vast amounts of
inexpensive labor in order to be profitable. Therefore, there must be a group of people
to be sacrified that were the native African (Wallbank, 1969: 78).
The situation forces Black Africans to relocate in urban areas for employment,
and to struggle in the workplace and in the township outside the cities, has eliminated
the essential of traditional tribal life and relationships. African workers were
subjected to a confusing arrangement of discriminatory laws and practices, all
enforced in order to keep workers cheap and pliable. For example, they were not
allowed to join in black trade union. Laws restricting the movement of Black
Africans outside the reserves were instituted. Breaking a labor contract became a
crime under the Master and servants laws. Black Africans were also subjected to
special taxes. It can be seen that the life of the black African themselves really did not
change, even it went worse. Earlier, they had often been low-paid farm workers.
unskilled, low-wage mine workers, while a much smaller number of whites held the
skilled positions with much higher salary (Wallbank, 1969: 78).
Not only the men suffered because of the discriminatory treatment, but
women and children did too. In the much rural areas, the wives and children of these
migrant laborers had to struggle hard in continuing their life with the limited
remittances sent back by the men. It was a familiar story that they would live in
poverty and shortage of everything because wages were too low to feed and clothe
and old age, and public revenues insufficient for public services which would give the
African the basic necessities for a reasonable standard of living (Wallbank, 1969: 78).
In short, many of the discrimination features as the typical of twentieth-century South
Africa—pass laws, urban ghettos, impoverished rural homelands, African migrant
labor—were first established in the course of the South Africa’s development.
Fortunately, the presence of the Christian missions with all of their activities
could bring a little fresh air in the daily life of society. The good influence of the
missions have extended over a wide area and have been sustained over a long period.
They helped many people by providing the principal vehicle for education and they
had brought to many Africans a personal religion and morality which had helped to
fill the gap caused by the disintegration of the society (Wallbank, 1969:79).
Cry, the Beloved Country takes place after these upheavals and immediately before the implementation, in 1948, of apartheid, which codified the systematic
workers were permitted to hold only unskilled jobs and were subject to “pass laws”
that restricted their freedom of movement. In 1913, the Natives Land Act radically
limited the amount of land that black South Africans were permitted to own. As the
character Arthur Jarvis states in the novel, just one-tenth of the land was set aside for
four-fifths of the country’s people. The resultant overcrowding led many black South
Africans to migrate to Johannesburg to work in the mines. Those in power welcomed
the influx of cheap labor but failed to provide adequate housing or services to address
the mass migration. These are the circumstances under which the character Stephen
Kumalo leaves his impoverished rural village to search for his son in Johannesburg
(http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/cry/context.html).
Though Paton’s novel helped raise the social consciousness of white South
Africa, things got much worse before they got better. In 1948, the National Party
(representing Africaner and conservative interests) gained power and introduced
apartheid. Under apartheid, every South African was classified according to race, and
the Group Areas Act enforced the physical separation of blacks from whites. Every
aspect of South African life was racially segregated. Under the leadership of Nelson
Mandela, the African National Congress (ANC), which had been founded in 1912 as
the South African Native National Congress and renamed in 1923, began protests
against the new laws in the form of strikes and marches. After decades of struggle
and bloodshed, the ANC prevailed, and South Africa held its first free election in
ratified one of the most liberal constitutions in the world.
(http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/cry/context.html)
D. Theoretical Framework
In doing this study, I use the theories of conflict and theories of character and
characterization mentioned in the review on related study. The theories are related to
social criticism of the analysis which is about the main character’s conflicts and the
causes of the conflicts. It is necessary to understand the theories of conflict because
they will be helpful in analyzing the criticism of the author. The theories of character
and characterization are also play an important role to show the social conditions of
South Africa at that time through the characters in the story.
Since this analysis is about the conflicts and the causes of the conflicts as
criticism toward the society, the historical background on the South African social
condition are also needed to be presented in order to provide guidance to the analysis.
The historical background helps in finding the criticism of the author toward the
South African society at that time. It will limit the topic so that the analysis will be
focused on the main character’s conflicts and the causes of the conflicts as the social
criticism of the author. Therefore, by giving the background on South African Social
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of work that I analyze is a novel and the title is Cry, the Beloved Country. It is made and printed in Great Britain by Hazell Watson and Viney Ltd, published by Penguin Books Ltd, Middlesex, England in 1944. It became an
immediate worldwide bestseller. It is about a black man’s country under white’s man
law is a work of searing beauty. Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set against the background
of a land and a people risen by racial injustice. Remarkable for its lyricsm,
unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.
Cry, the Beloved Country was published in 1948 to overwhelming international acclaim—at the time of the author’s death, in 1988, more than fifteen
million copies of the novel had been sold, and it had been published in twenty
different languages. In Paton’s native South Africa, however, praise for Cry, the Beloved Country remained muted, and the novel’s objectives take on the problems of racial inequality in South Africa created much controversy. Nonetheless, Paton’s
reputation as one of South Africa’s greatest writers remained secure, though his
subsequent novels, Too Late the Phalarope (1953) and Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful (1981), were praised by critics but failed to generate the same excitement as Cry, the Beloved Country.Alan Paton died in South Africa in 1992.
B. Approach
Analyzing a literary work needs an approach in order to lead the researcher to
a better understanding of a novel. Rohrberger and Woods (1971: 6-15) present five
approaches in their book Reading and Writing about Literature. They are the formalist approach, the biographical approach, the socio-cultural-historical approach,
the mythopoeic approach, and the psychological approach.
The socio-cultural-historical approach insists that the only way to locate the
real works is in reference to the civilization that produced it. It means that referring to
the civilization or history in which the literary work produced is important in this
approach.
The approach that I apply in this study is the sociocultural-historical approach.
The approach is stated by Rohrberger as follows.
Critics whose major interest is the sociocultural-historical approach insist that the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the to the civilization that produced it. Civilization is defined as the attitudes and action of a specific group of people and point out that literature take the attitudes and actions as its subject matter (1971: 9).
The critics also define civilization as the attitudes and actions of a specific
subject matter. It is necessary that the critic investigates the social milieu in which a
work was created in a vacuum and second, literature embodies ideas significant to the
culture that produced it. There are two factors that need to get attention to
socio-cultural. First, accuracy in the presentation of historical facts is of value to the
historian, but not necessarily to the author. Second, a work of literature might have a
historical significance, but not necessarily a literary significance.
The themes of Cry, the Beloved Country is about social inequality and injustice in the main character’s conflicts; the focus of the sociocultural-historical is
the South African society, the time when Paton lives and exists. Nevertheless, he is
able to join with the culture and society at that time was bad, especially for the Black
people, the working class. They were described as a second class in society because
of the politics Apartheid. Looking at the bad conditions, Paton, who came from the
white society but born and live in South Africa wrote a novel about the condition of
South Africa, he put his criticism on it.
I use the sociocultural-historical approach because of its relation between the
author and the society at the time Paton wrote the novel. In the novel, Paton wants to
criticize the society at that time and he describes it through the representation of each
character problem in the novel. The sociocultural-historical approach also related to
this study which examining the criticism and the conflicts and the causes of the
conflicts of the main character personality which closely related with the society and
C. Method of the Study
There were some steps to analyze the novel. First, I read the story many times
in order to gain in a deeper understanding on the novel, then I made some notes
concerning the evidence of some problems that I found in the novel, such as
characters, conflicts, and society. Second, I collected some books and papers or
articles from the Library which related with the subject matter of my study. I also
tried to find some criticism about the novel in the internet. Then I read them all and
compare the theories and criticism toward the novel. Third, I analyzed the novel.
There were still few of steps that I did in analyzing the novel. First, I explain
the main character personality then I tried to find some interaction between characters
o find out the conflicts which are faced by the main character. After that, I tried to
find out the society which influences the conflicts. Then I compared the society in the
twentieth century and the society in the novel to reveal the criticism of the author in
the novel. Method of the study I used is a Library research because some of the
sources I taken form the library, learning other thesis that have close relation with my
study and then comparing them. I also did some browsing in the internet to find some
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter contains the answers of three problems as I stated in the previous
problem formulation. This analysis will be divided into three parts. The first part will
describe the analysis of Stephen Kumalo’s characterization. The second part will be
the description of Stephen Kumalo’s conflicts and the causes of the conflicts. The
third part will answer Paton’s criticism toward South African society as reflected in
Stephen Kumalo’s conflicts.
A. The Characterization of Stephen Kumalo
As described in the novel, Kumalo is an old man around sixty. He has
occupation as a priest and he used to be called Umfundisi by people in Ndotsheni
which means a parson.
“Kumalo Felt a pang of jealously for he had never earned ten pounds a month in all his sixty years. (p. 214) “
“The Reverend Stephen Kumalo looked up from the table where he was writing, and he called, come in. The small child open the door carefully like one who is afraid to open carelessly the door of so important a house, and stepped timidly in. – I bring a letter, Umfundisi. (p. 8) “
Stephen Kumalo is a kind hearted and a humble man. He always spoke his
words humbly and almost all of his speech with another person he said it humbly.
“He is kind and gentle, and treats her with courtesy and respect, and uses the house as if it were his. And she admires him for what he has done, for saving
Gertrude and the child, for getting his sister a new dress and a clean white clothe for her head, for getting shirt and jersey and trousers for the child. According to the custom she has thanked him for these gifts. (p. 104) “
“Kumalo could not boast anymore. He had been safely guided and warmly welcomed. He spoke humbly. I am much confused, he said. I owe much to our friend. (p. 20) “
Kumalo has a habit to pray in the church and read the bible when he has to
struggle which is uncertain to him. It can be seen from the quotation below that
Kumalo sometime use his time to pray and read his bible in the middle of
circumstances he faces.
“They rose and Kumalo said, It is my habit to pray in the church. Maybe you will show me. (p. 24)”
“The humble man reached in his pocket for his sacred book, and began to read. It was this world alone that was certain. (p. 16)”
At the end of the novel, Kumalo sees the restoration of his own Village,
Ndotsheni and he feels relief about it and what he had done. After all of the struggle
he experience in the great city of Johannesburg, he gives thanks to everything. He
remembered with profound awareness, that he had great cause for thanksgiving, and
that for many things. He took them one by one, giving thanks for each, and praying
for each person that he remembered (p. 233).
In this novel, Paton describe Kumalo as a Portrait of saintly man. A figure of
an old priest who used to pray and read his bible whenever he struggle with
manage the problems and survive till the end of the story and see the restoration of
his own land although he cannot meet with his son again.
B. Stephen Kumalo’s Conflicts and the Causes of the Conflicts
In the characterization of Kumalo, Paton describes Stephen Kumalo as a
figure of an old village priest who has to struggle with himself because of the
condition he sees in Town not the same as the condition he has in Village. Especially
when he deals with the member of his family which cause him some conflicts. In
other situation he has to struggle with his own land that is his own village. I will
explain briefly about Stephen Kumalo’s conflicts and the causes of the conflicts in the
section below.
1. Stephen Kumalo’s Conflicts
This section will describe some conflicts that Stephen Kumalo has during his
struggle to find the member of his family. As I stated before that conflicts is a
struggle between two desires inside the character, Conflicts can consist certain
feelings that a character have. Stephen Kumalo conflicts during the searching of his
family are as follows.
a. Afraid of something uncertain
Kumalo feelt afraid when he had to go to Johannesburg, a great city not
known to him. Fear when he thinks about Gertrude and Absalom. Fear about
“The journey had begun, and now the fear back again, the fear of the unknown, the fear of the great city where boys were killed crossing the street, the fear of Gertrude’s sickness. Deep down the fear for his son. Deep down the fear of a man who lives in a world not made for him, whose own world is slipping away, dying, being destroyed, beyond any recall. (p. 15)”
“They walked to the gate of the little house of Mrs. Lithebe. Kumalo lifted to his friend a face that was full of suffering. This thing, he said. Here in my heart there is nothing but fear. Fear, fear, fear. (p. 67)”
Afraid has become one of Stephen Kumalo’s conflicts because he has to
decide between his own will and the situation he face. He feels fear because he does
not know what will going to happen next while he is still hoping the good side from
the situation he faces. Kumalo’s afraid will brought him to another conflicts that he
is going to face later.
b. Sad of Gertrude’s Condition
Kumalo cries when he knows Gertrude has become a liquor seller and a
prostitute with a child, he feels sad because he cannot do nothing to change the
condition. And he also sad when he knows that his son had been sent to reformatory.
“His eyes fill with tears, his deep gentleness returns to him. He goes to her and lifts her from the floor to the chair. Inarticulately he strokes her face, his heart filled with pity. (p.30)”
“He glanced at his friend, but Kumalo’s eyes were on the ground. Although Msimangu could not see his face, he could see the drop that fell on the ground, and he tightened his grip on the arm. (p. 59)”
Kumalo sad because he feels pity to see what happen while in other situation
he cries because he looses his hope. He feels sad and cries, he struggles in his heart
one of conflicts because he cannot do anything to help Gertrude although he is a
priest so he just Struggle within himself and feels the sadness inside him.
c. Desperate of Absalom’s murder case
Kumalo feels desperate when he is hoping some support and a help to help his
son from his brother John but when he look at him, John did not give what he
expected. Kumalo becomes tired and dispirited when he feels desperate, it can be
seen when he arrived at Mrs. Lithebe’s house.
“Kumalo look at his brother, but his brother does not look at him. Indeed he walks away. Wearily, wearily he goes from the great gate in the wall to the street. Tixo, he says, Tixo, forsake me not. Father Vincent’s words come back to him, anything, anything, he said, you have only to ask. Then to Father Vincent he will go. (p. 92)”
“Kumalo returned to Mrs. Lithebe’s tired and dispirited. The two women were silent, and he had no desire to speak to them, and none to play with his small nephew. He withdrew into his room, and sat silent there, waiting till he could summon strength enough to go to the Mission House. (p. 92)”
Kumalo feels desperated because the situation he face was to hard for him. He
has to help his son but he does not receive any help especially from his own brother
so he has to choose to find any help from another man. He struggles within himself
between learned to be humble and the desires to be something that is himself (p. 93)
d. Suffering because of the treatment from his family
Kumalo suffers because he has been shamed and humiliated when he came to
speak to his brother about their son and John consider it as provokating him and he
