A few years ago, after twenty years out of high school, I made a point to start rereading all of the classics assigned to me in school. It has been an arduous yet uplifting task as I have experienced these classic books again through an adult mind. In this the third year that I am participating in classics bingo, I took the opportunity to revisit another high school book for the classic of the 20th century square. Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country seventy years later is still considered the greatest South African novel ever written. It exposes worldwide readers to the race relations that the country has experienced during the modern era and the gap that still exists today. The message that Paton writes can go along way toward the issues that modern nations experience to this day.

Stephen Kumalo is a simple parson who lives in the village of Ndotsheni. Although he and his wife have always been happy with their lot in life, his siblings John and Gertrude as well as his son Absalom were enticed by the bright lights of Johannesburg. Paton describes Ndotsheni with breath taking prose, and the people of the region till the land, hoping to make due with their station. Yet, the land is parched, and as readers find out later on, the church is falling apart as well, as this is what the white man has allotted to the native Zulu and Sesuto people. Thus, Johannesburg beckons.
Yet, as Paton so eloquently writes, bigger isn't always better. Problems upon problems befall native Africans from curfews and bus boycotts to wages in the diamond and gold mines and the unfortunate case of being black in a country ruled by whites. Kumalo's daughter and son have fallen upon hard times, and it is up to the parson to use his influence within the church network to bring them to safety.

Paton through his characterization of Absalom Kumalo and Arthur Jarvis, the man he is accused of murdering, reveals the disparity between generations in South Africa. The younger generation is working toward change in racial relations, a change in which whites and blacks live side by side in peace and prosperity and Nkosi Sikelele Afrika becomes a reality. The older, entrenched generation might respect these viewpoints, but for the most part, they are not ready for these changes. Arthur Jarvis' father James admits that his martyred son was of a brilliant mind, but he is not ready a unified South Africa in which blacks and whites live respectfully together. That Paton wrote this novel in the years following World War II and the defeat of fascism show how slow the rest of the world was to change.

I appreciated how the older generation in the characters of Msimangu, Stephen Kumalo, and James Jarvis showed magnanimity toward the end of the novel. Even though a heinous crime had been committed, the fathers were not going to stand for the crimes of their sons and might even accept that a change is coming to a new South Africa. In this era where race relations is unfortunately not a thing of the past, perhaps Cry, the Beloved Country would be an appropriate novel to discuss in high school English classes. Yet, with the exquisite prose and mature topics addressed, I achieved more from this book through adult eyes than I ever had during my high school years. Classics bingo has given me the chance to revisit these lovely novels, and I am happy for the opportunity to do so.

5 full stars

Cry, The Beloved Country, Alan Paton
Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel by Alan Paton, published in 1948.
In the remote village of Ndotsheni, in the Natal province of eastern South Africa, the Reverend Stephen Kumalo receives a letter from a fellow minister summoning him to Johannesburg. He is needed there, the letter says, to help his sister, Gertrude, who the letter says has fallen ill. Kumalo undertakes the difficult and expensive journey to the city in the hopes of aiding Gertrude and of finding his son, Absalom, who traveled to Johannesburg from Ndotsheni and never returned. In Johannesburg, Kumalo is warmly welcomed by Msimangu, the priest who sent him the letter, and given comfortable lodging by Mrs. Lithebe, a Christian woman who feels that helping others is her duty. ...
عنوانها: بنال وطن؛ گریه کن سرزمین محبوب؛ مویه کن، سرزمین مجبوب؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و نهم ماه جولای سال 1973 میلادی
عنوان: مویه کن سرزمین محبوب؛ نویسنده: آلن پیتون؛ مترجم: فریدون سالک؛ نادر ابراهیمی؛ تهران، امیرکبیر، 1348؛ در 353 ص؛ چاپ دوم 1357؛
عنوان: بنال وطن؛ نویسنده: آلن پیتون؛ مترجم: سیمین دانشور؛ تهران، خوارزمی، 1351؛ در 291 ص؛ چاپ سوم 1354؛ چاپ پنجم اسفند 1361؛
عنوان: گریه کن سرزمین محبوب؛ نویسنده: آلن پیتون؛ مترجم: هوشنگ حافظی پور؛ تهران، اردیبهشت، 1362؛ در 485 ص؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، مثبت، 1383؛
داستان دربارهٔ مسئلهٔ تبعیض نژادی در آفریقای جنوبی است. دربارهٔ کشیشی فقیر و پیر به نام: استیون کومالو در روستای محروم و کوچک ایندوتشنی است که برای یافتن پسرش (ابسالم کومالو) به ژوهانسبورگ می‌رود. او متوجه می‌شود که پسرش دختر نوجوانی را باردار کرده و مدتی نیز در دارالتأدیب بوده است. کمی بعد پسرش را به جرم قتل یک مرد سفیدپوست بازداشت می‌کنند و ... ا. شربیانی

This is the story of South Africa, and it is the story of two fathers and two sons. There is a moment in which the fathers meet face-to-face that contains everything there is of humanity and the struggle for understanding and compassion in men. That moment left me eviscerated.

I love that this is not written in the spirit of good vs. evil, but in the spirit of man vs. his baser instincts. I sincerely loved Stephen Kumalo and Mr. Jarvis, and I felt both their heartaches. Some books are meant to be written, they well up from inside an author and spill onto the page because their message is one that must be voiced, and this is such a book.

The history of South Africa is sad and, like all colonializations, it is complicated. There is a way of life destroyed and no attempt to offer a replacement that is viable for the native population.

It suited the white man to break the tribe, he continued gravely. But it has not suited him to build something in the place of what is broken.

In the midst of this chaos and struggle, Paton finds the wisdoms that make humans reflections of God. Msimangu says But there is only one thing that has power completely, and that is love. Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power. The more I contemplated that statement, the more profound it seemed to me.

Much of what afflicts the people of South Africa at the time of this book’s publication has been remedied, but its message is so strong and so important and so universal that it can easily be applied to much of what we continue to see in the world today. And, at a more personal level, there are the feelings of the men involved that are so true to feelings each of us have or may have.

This was almost the last thing that his son had done. When this was done he had been alive. Then at this moment, at this very word that hung in the air, he had got up and gone down the stairs to his death. If one could have cried then, don’t go down! If one could have cried, stop, there is danger! But there was no one to cry. No one knew then what so many knew now.

Are these not the thoughts that run through our minds at the moment of loss? Why didn’t I do this or that? Why wasn’t I watching closer? Why didn’t I speak up, hold on, stop fate by altering the time frame by one precious second?

I understand that this novel is now included in many high school curricula, and I applaud that. Everyone should read it.