Alan Paton began writing Cry the Beloved Country in a hotel room in Norway while he was undertaking a world-wide survey of correctional facilities. Once he'd started writing in a flood of emotion, it only took him three months to finish the book. The book was met with immediate success, and it has been popular in and out of the classroom ever since.
"Cry the Beloved Country" was Paton's first novel. The book's success encouraged him to resign from his administrative position, and devote himself to writing novels, stories, articles, and other works. As he said, "I have left the public service, but not with any intension of living in idleness or ease. I want to interpret South Africa honestly and without fear. I cannot think of a more important or exciting task." Though he wrote other works, "Cry the Beloved Country" is his most well-known work. The book has joined the ranks of "The Great Gatsby" and "The Old Man and the Sea" as a great classic.
Of Fear
We come back to the title again and again. It draws us into the book, preparing us for some of the tragedy, but it also encompasses more than one country, more than one people. But more specifically, we find ourselves among the Zulu, or in Johannesburg, or on the train--traveling from one place to another. And, with the title, the book cries out: for justice, for an end to the injustice, for the starving people, for the young, for the old, for the dying land, for the loss of tradition, and for everything that is falling apart, or everything that was once dreamed possible.With his words--powerful and unforgettable--Paton writes, "Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too much moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much."
As We Search
To give too much of oneself is to risk being hurt, or being devastated by the degradation of the society. To overcome the fear is to begin the journey. Reverend Stephen Kumalo overcomes fear and goes off in search of his son and sister, to bring the prodigals back home. But the search goes on...The book is a search for justice in a land where injustices kill. The book is a search for forgiveness, a search for a way to go on despite the pain and suffering, despite the fear.
The book is a search for understanding, a way of coping with reality that a man accused of murder could have been the same person who was once "a child afraid of the dark."
The book is a search for hope, realizing that hope seems far away--in another country or another world. But, if there is universality to the book, and if there is hope for humanity, there must be a bit left for every part. As for injustice, hate, and evil of all sorts, the book makes us believe that we are not beyond hope. The fragments of the past and the present can be picked up, perhaps rearranged a bit, and they can play a part in a future. It may not be the future we would have dreamed of, but those change with time.
Paton leaves us, on a note of hope. The dawn is just making its way over the horizon. The light is creeping up, dispelling the darkness. Paton doesn't know when his hopes will be fulfilled, but he has no doubt that they will happen: "For it is the dawn that has come, as it has come for a thousand centuries, never failing." Out of the bondage of fear, hope will always come back again. It doesn't fail for long...
