The Land in Cry

In Cry, the Beloved Country, Paton contrasts the Kumalo family and the Jarvis family through the use of the setting. He often describes the valley where Kumalo's village is as being barren, wasted, and torn. The imagery he uses evokes the vision of something dying. This is very fitting because many in his village are dying due to starvation, because nothing grows in the valley anymore and it doesn't rain. The Jarvis family, however, lives up in the hills. There, they say the grass is watered by the mist, and that things are not too dry. The imagery Paton uses for the Jarvis' land makes it seem peaceful, plentiful, and thriving; the exact opposite of Kumalo's village in the valley. So, while both families are going through times of grief for their sons, the white family is much better off than the black family in the valley.

Ashoka

Jose Luis Nunez is a sociologist in Bolivia who is trying to help young people understand the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen. He and a team of professionals/volunteers organizes leadership activities to encourage young people to organize their OWN events.

Naw Paw Ray is a woman in Thailand helping to educate and employ the Burmese migrants in Thailand. She trains Burmese immigrants to be teachers, and her schools prepare the Burmese children for a possible return to Burma or to integrate them into Thai society.

Eugen Toth is a man in Slovakia who has created a new model for how the government handles rainwater. He is attempting to change the perception of rainwater and hopefully lead to better water conservation through circulating the rainwater where it falls.

Nameless characters

Cormorant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant

A nameless character in Cry, the Beloved Country, is the man from the reformatory. He is always referred to as the "young man" or the "young white man." This is unusual in the story because most of the white characters, however minor, are given names. Jarvis' wife, his daughter-in-law's brother, his daughter-in-law, Absalom's lawyer, etc. are all given names. The white characters with names seem more prestigious, upper-class, and separated from the indistinct black characters.
I think that Paton chose not to name the young white man to make him seem less like the upper-class white characters. He probably did this because the young white man works in the reformatory, helping the young black people, not far from Shantytown. He often crosses the social divide, such as when he helped Kumalo out the door at the courtroom. Leaving him nameless, like the minor black characters, puts him on the same level as them.

Effect of Different "Books"

I think that the "books" inside another book is basically the same as breaking the book into parts. And splitting books into parts is useful in many ways. First, it probably helped the author keep track of what he was writing- I know I always break my writing into different parts so I don't have to look at it as a whole, which can be overwhelming. Also, it gives the story a chance to take on a new direction. When a new part begins, anything can happen, such as a change in the focus, a change in the setting, a lapse in time, and even the narrator can change. It gives you a chance to see the story from a new perspective and maybe skip over unneeded information. It also helps organize the process of a book, and the way it is organized can tell you about the story and the style of writing.

Oppression Links

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11417721

Cry Journal 3

Phrases/lines:
"All roads lead to Johannesburg."
"Have you a room for me to let?"
"Shantytown is up overnight."
"What shall we do in the rain?"
"Nobody comes back from Johannesburg."
"More lovely than anything you could sing about."
The first phrase, "All roads lead to Johannesburg," is a metaphor. It is repeated often to illustrate how everyone in southern Africa, no matter their race, ends up going to Johannesburg. The first time Paton says this he is being a little more literal, describing the train that Kumalo is taking to Johannesburg. The second time, he talks about how everyone ends up going to Johannesburg when they can no longer find work in the country. The way he says that all roads lead to Johannesburg also explains the phrase "nobody comes back from Johannesburg" because all the roads LEAD there, not back from it.
Images:
Hills, mountains
The immensity of Johannesburg
The beauty of the African countryside
The last image, of the beautiful country, is used to contrast the ugliness of the new city. All of the old villages and tribes that the natives had built are described as being beautiful and loved and cared for. It contrasts the big city, with its endless roads and its crowds of people and its traffic and Shantytowns. It makes the city seem like a place you did not want to be, and yet, everyone goes there.
Concepts:
The suffering of women
Fear of catching the wrong bus
The crime in the city
Fear of Kumalo's son
Mothers protecting children
The suffering of women, especially mothers like Kumalo's wife and the woman Mrs. Seme, is probably repeated to build theme. Paton suggests that it is in their nature to suffer silently. They give birth to children, raise them, and then must suffer through the pain of losing them to death or to the big city.

Cry Journal 2

Alan Paton characterizes the genders differently, but only slightly. The men seem to be more rounded characters, with more variety among them. The priest, the conman, the politician, etc. But the women seem to fall only into two categories: a prostitute or a wife and mother. Neither of these two generalizations show women as being powerful or very respectable. It's almost like he's saying that if you don't become a wife/mother you're automatically a prostitute- which I'm sure is the view of some other countries and even our country not too long ago. The women don't play much of a large role yet, either. Aside from the fact that Kumalo goes to the city to find his sister, the women haven't been mentioned much even as he's walking through the city. The men are usually the ones described in detail.