Alan Paton is a very
creative writer. He uses metaphors to describe the condition of the natives of
Africa. These creative forms of writing are also used to show the condition of
the country as a whole. The countless accounts of this shows just how talented
Paton really is.
In Alan Paton's book Cry, the
Beloved Country, he shows in his work that the white African sees differently
than that of the natives. Stephen Kumalo, an African native, and James Jarvis,
a white African, both show the perspectives of the land from the eyes of their
races. They both see the land as beautiful and vast, but their individual
thoughts that go beyond that are astoundingly different. Stephen Kumalo thinks about
how the hills, ".. fall to the valley below, and falling, change their
nature. For they grow red and bare; they cannot hold the rain and mist, and the
streams are dry in the kloofs." (pg. 33) This tells us about the condition
of the land and the country in the eyes of the native people: unkempt, cold and
uninhabitable. On the other hand, James Jarvis thinks about how, ".. they
must needs look out over the barren valleys and the bare hills that were
stretched below them. Some of their labour was drawn from Ndotsheni, and they
knew how ear by year there was less food grown in these reserves." (pg.
162) From these sentences, we can tell that the white Africans have no real
concern about the condition of the land or the country or the people who suffer
in it. The only reason they have to worry about is that if the land is in a bad
condition, their workforce will be too weak to work and will eventually starve
to death. This is a great example of how Paton shows us that, while the native
Africans worry for the land, the white Africans are selfish and only care about
themselves and their businesses.
Paton indirectly addresses at the
beginning of the novel how abused the natives are in South Africa. Alan Paton
describes the earth being, ".. torn away like flesh. The lightning flashes
over them, the clouds pour down upon them, the dead streams come to life, full
of the red blood of the earth." (pg. 34) Just looking at these sentences,
it is apparent that the native Africans are beaten, bruised, and overworked. It
is not that big of a surprise that the natives would demand their equality and
freedom.
The end of the first chapter
describes the epidemical issue all the African tribes are facing. Paton writes,
"Down in the valleys women scratch the soil that is left, and the maize
hardly reaches the height of a man. .. The soil cannot keep them anymore."
(pg. 34) The last sentence of this chapter was very powerful to me. Now we know
that they are also underfed, and that they cannot live in these conditions any
longer. This would explain the corruption that begins to arise as they flock
towards Johannesburg and away from the broken land. It is sad that so many
people have to leave a peaceful tribal life to live in a corrupt city
environment, all but enslaved by the white minority.
The lives of the African natives are
expressed metaphorically throughout the novel. Alan Paton does a fantastic job
at expressing the problems of South Africa through his writing. He is a
phenomenal writer and has enlightened readers around the world.
