"The Twelve" and The Russian Revolution Presentation

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Cry, The Beloved Country

Cry, The Beloved County focuses on the journey of one man trying to help his family members who have been led astray by the lifestyle of the city, Johannesburg. Kumalo, being a reverend, has a very strong sense of religion and therefore morality. As he tries to right his family’s wrongs, the story focuses mainly around the loosing of religion and faith in times of trouble. Paton establishes a strong theme centered on religion and morality that is prominently displayed throughout the story.

Kumalo is driven by the desire to bring his family members back home, because “when people go to Johannesburg, they do not come back.” When people move to Johannesburg they fall into bad habits that are worldlier then their past religious and moral habits. For example, they fall into native crime such as stealing and other immoral acts including drinking and adultery.  The loosing of morality is key throughout the story. If Absalom specifically had never lost his sense of morality, he wouldn’t have fallen into the bad company.  It is repeatedly stated that is the reason why Absalom got into the trouble he did.  A stronger sense of morals would have prevented him from just going along with what they did, yet he didn’t maintain his morals and ended up in trouble because of it.

Throughout his stay in Johannesburg, Kumalo also begins to lose his faith. Kumalo begins to “wonder what we live and struggle for.” The uncertainty of purpose in life is the result of a loss of faith and hope. Kumalo has dealt with struggles repeatedly during his stay. He struggles watching his son go through hard times and even being in jail. Kumalo is pained due to the fact that he raised Absalom right and he didn’t turn out to be the good young man he expected.  The hardships begin to wear him down, and he slowly loosess his faith and hope in God. When things were easy he had no trouble believing, but now that things are difficult, he finds it harder to keep his faith.

A strong sense of religion is displayed in trying to help Kumalo back on his faith. Father Vincent tries to steer Kumalo back to the faith and that “it is Christ in us, crying that men may be scorned and forgiven, even when He Himself is forsaken.” According to Father Vincent, it is the presence of Christ in a person that makes men burdened for the sins of others. Paton is pulling a key theory of Christian religion and Bible teaching to emphasize the importance of religion in someone’s life. It appears that Paton has a strong sense of religion and he expresses it through some of the obvious Christian themes such as that of salvation and the dwelling of Christ in a person.

Kumalo is a noticeable reflection of the Christian themes laced throughout the story line. One of the bigger religious themes is that of the loss of one’s faith. Kumalo experiences this as he watches the moralistic downfall of his people and family once they move to Johannesburg.  This is also a defined theme in the story as the lack of morals leads people astray in their lives, ending in desperation. Paton uses characters such as Father Vincent and Kumalo to lead the lost back. Kumalo tries to lead his family members back to their religious ways, and when he begins to lose faith himself, Father Vincent works to lead Kumalo back. The Christian themes are driving factors behind the lives of the characters.