Title: Cry, the Beloved Country
Author: Alan Paton
Publication Date: 1948
Setting: 1947, pre-Apartheid South Africa; Ixtopo,
Ndotesheni, Johannesburg
Structure: 3 parts, 36 chapters.
1. Assignment: Describe the novel in one sentence.
2. Plot: Write 8-10 key events in order
.
Characters: Describe each character in one sentence:
Stephen Kumalo
Theophilus Msimangu
Absalom Kumalo
Gertrude
The child (Gertrude’s)
John Kumalo
James Jarvis & High Place
Arthur Jarvis
The land
2. Distinguishing characteristics of the work: Choose 2 to
describe in detail
– potentially including significant aspects of style, major
symbols/motifs, major allusions, POV, characterization or other
particularly notable aspects of the work.
3. Major Thematic Elements
Write 2 examples for each of the following:
•Love and fear
•Cities
•The land and the tribes
•Father/son relationship
•Racism