Cry, The Beloved Country

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Rikki Bateman

English 6th & 7th

Cry, The Beloved Country

Parallels can often be found between the themes of sketches and written works. The novel by Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country, and the sketches made by William Kentridge were both made during the time period in which the apartheid laws were established in South Africa. Both works depict the lives of the people during this time and both help illustrate the actions, beliefs, and thoughts that were obtained during this time period. The themes of both the novel and the sketches also illustrate the events that led up to the different movements that occurred because of these laws. The Civil Rights Movement that occurred in the United States and the Anti-Apartheid Movement that occurred in South Africa eventually gave the black community a sense of freedom. The themes in the novel, sketches, and the movements during this time all illustrate the struggles and hardships that the black community had gone through during the 20th century.

The novel Cry, The Beloved Country the struggle that was faced during the 20th century with two different families. The main character, Stephen Kumalo, goes on a search to find his son, Absalom. As he is going from place to place he learns new things about his son's life and the lives of many blacks that live in Johannesburg. During this journey Kumalo has an awakening experience. Since Kumalo lived in a small village that was not greatly affected by the laws of the apartheid. When he encounters the many obstacles in Johannesburg, he realizes that there is a different world that his son was exposed to. This different world leads his son to a life of crime. When Kumalo found his son, he learned many things about him that he never would have imagined that could happen. The things that he learned about his son's life and the things that he saw opened Kumalo to the events that were happened in South Africa. He realized the struggle that was going on that he didn't know about in his little village. This awakening experience was also shown through another father and son in the novel. Kumalo shot a man, Arthur Jarvis. This man was an activist for the rights of the Africans in South Africa. His father, James Jarvis, knew nothing of this. Because his son was killed Jarvis learned many things about his son and about the movements and struggles that the black people were going through. The new information that he learned about his son changed his perspective on the treatment of the blacks. Both Jarvis and Kumalo had an awakening experience that was caused by their sons. Kumalo became more informed on the affects that the apartheid laws had on the people and Jarvis became aware of the inequalities and suffrage that the blacks were going through.
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The sketches by William Kentridge also depicted the suffrage that the black community went through during this time period. Kentridge's sketches depict life during the apartheid laws. His sketches show the chaos during the apartheid laws and the suffrage that the people went through. His films that depict Soho Eckstein show how the black people were used and the unfairness that was exerted on them. Soho was the white man that owned everything; he was the one that suppressed the black people. Kentridge's work shows the suffrage that the black community had to go through. In one of ...

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