Literature in English
Secondary 4 Express
Cry, The Beloved Country: Book 3 (Chapter 1-7)
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“For it is the dawn that has come, as it has come for a thousand centuries, never failing. But
when that dawn will come, of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of
fear, why, that is a secret.” (p.236)
Read and understand the key ideas and find accurate evidence to support the key ideas for each chapter.
Book 3
Themes
and ideas
Stephen
Kumalo’s
pyrrhic
return to
Ndotsheni
He returns
without his
family but
has a new
family.
Ndotsheni is
also
suffering
from a
terrible
drought but
his people
are glad for
his return
What God
cannot do
for Africa,
man must
do.
Key Ideas (Character, theme, plot,
style):
Evidence:

Stephen’s failure in bringing his
family back
“our son is to die, perhaps there may be
mercy, but let us not talk of it now” (p.187)

Signals the end of the tribe as the
Kumalo family knows it
“And Gertrude. All was ready for her to
come… But when I went to wake her, she was
gone” (p.187)

But through his failure, there also
lies new hope and new beginnings
“And this is the small boy and this is our new
daughter” (p.187)

Kumalo’s wife welcomes them both
and a new beginning starts
“She takes her in her arms… and says to her,
You are my daughter. And the girl bursts
suddenly into weeping” (p.187)
“Something deep is touched here, something
that is good and deep. Although it comes with
tears, it is like a comfort in such desolation”
(p.187)

Drought is taking place in Ndotsheni

But at the same time, this great time
of suffering is met with joy of
Stephen’s return

The secret that Stephen has learned
in Johannesburg that has made him
stronger.

God cannot save Africa

However, unlike John Kumalo’s
interpretation that one must forsake
God, in this instance, it perhaps
shows instead that it is up to man to
make the first step but they must
continue to keep faith with God and
themselves to achieve it.
“It is dry here… we cry for rain” (p.188)
“Umfundisi, you have returned.
Umfundisi, we give thanks for your return”
(p.189)
“I believe, he said, but I have learned that it is
a secret. Pain and suffering, they are a
secret. Kindness and love, they are a secret.
But I have learned that kindness and love can
pay for pain and suffering” (p.193)
“Can we not sing Nkosi Siklel’ iAfrica: God
Save Africa? And the teacher says, they do
not know it here, it has not come here yet”
(p.191)
“Kumalo began to pray regularly in his church
for the restoration of Ndotsheni. But he knew
that was not enough. Somewhere down here
upon the earth men must come together,
think something, do something.” (p.195)

Stephen’s attempts to enact change

Meet with failure
“We should try to keep some of them in this
valley…by caring for our land before it is too
late. By teaching them in the school how to
care for the land. Then some at least would
stay in Ndotsheni” (p.196)
“they have been teaching these things for
many years. Yet it is sad to look upon the
place where they are teaching it. There is
neither grass nor water there. And when the
rain comes, the maize will not reach the height
of a man. The cattle are dying there, and there
is no milk. Malusi’s child is dead, Kuluse’s
child is dying…” (p.197)
The meeting
of Stephen
Kumalo and
Arthur
Jarvis’ son

Stephen chances upon and meets
Arthur’s son
“for a moment he caught his breath in
astonishment, for it was a small white boy on a
red horse” (p.199)

There is an indication of how racial
discrimination can possibly be
healed in this next generation
“I go to a church school, St Mark’s” (p.199)




Salvation
arrives
The
Salvation of
Absalom?
What Absalom was not able to do (to
attend school at St Mark’s, Arthur’s
son can do, possible hint of him
taking up and doing what Absalom
was not able to do)
Stephen teaches the grim small boy
the way of life in Ndotsheni
The return of Arthur’s son as he
speaks to Stephen, they are able to
find common ground in the language
that they speak.
What the father (Arthur) could not
do, perhaps the son (Arthur’s son)
will be able to accomplish. The
Whites and Blacks reaching out for
each other

Hope comes alive for Ndotsheni

It is through the generosity of James
Jarvis that the milk is here but it is
through the efforts of both Stephen
and James who are able to save the
children and the people

Absalom’s letter arrives

It seems to herald a change of heart
within him but is it enough to excuse
all his actions?
“Is that your house?
- Yes this is my house.
- Could I see inside it? I’ve never been inside a
parson’s house” (p.199)
“Why is there no milk in Ndotsheni? Is it
because the people are poor?
What do the children do?
Kumalo looked at him. They die my child, he
said. Some of them are dying now.
Who is dying now?
The small child of Kuluse” (p.201-2)
“I’ve come to talk Zulu again, said the boy…
He sat down at the table and looked round with
pleasure inside him, so that a man felt it was
something bright that had come into the
house” (p.211)
Bright: What does the boy symbolise in the
novel? Why is he referred to as bright?
“There outside the door was the milk, in the
shining cans in the cart.
This milk is for small children, only for those
who are not yet at school” (p.202)
“They told me this morning there will be no
mercy for the thing that I have done. So I shall
not see you or Ndotsheni again.
…There is no more news here, so I close my
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Prepared by: Mr. Brennan Kwa (EFSS Literature 2016)

James

Jarvis and
Stephen
Kumalo

meet…
appropriately
enough in a

church

Ndotsheni to
be nurtured
Mrs Jarvis’
Death
Stephen’s
last thoughts

Or is it because he finally has the
time to stop and think through his
actions?
James and Stephen go to a church
to seek shelter from the rain
James asks for Stephen’s
permission to enter his church
In this place and time, a White man
and a Black man can seek refuge in
church from the storms of the
outside world
The storm could be indicative of the
racial discrimination in the outside
world perhaps?
The agricultural demonstrator comes
to Ndotsheni in order to help make
the land more fertile and to grow
crops there. But it will not be easy to
do so

Change is possible but it must come
from a willingness to sacrifice for the
greater good. And this is not
something that is easy to do

He further emphasises this point that
man must work for the good of
others
letter. I think of you all at Ndotsheni, and if I
were back there I should not leave it again.
Is the child born? If it is a boy, I should like his
name to be Peter. (p.204)
“At last Jarvis found a place where the rain did
not fall too badly, and Kumalo found himself a
place also, and they sat there together in
silence.
But outside it was not silent, with the cracking
of the thunder and the deafening downpour on
the roof” (p.208)
“So the young man told them all he would have
done… how people must stop burning the
dung and put it back into the land… how they
must stop ploughing up and down the hills…
But these were hard things to do, because the
people must learn that it is harmful for each
man to wrest a living from his own little piece
of ground. Some must give up their ground…”
(p.215)
“It was he who taught me that we do not work
for men, that we work for the land and the
people. We do not even work for money, he
said.” (p.229)

Mrs Jarvis passes away.
“The inkosikazi is dead”

Stephen’s condolence letter
Stephen’s condolence letter to James Jarvis
“We shall pray in this church for the rest of her
soul, and for you also in your suffering” (p.219)

James Jarvis reply shows his
willingness to forget the past and
move forward into the future. It also
shows his compassion and
understanding especially in the last
part of his reply.
James’ reply “I thank you for your message of
sympathy… You are right, my wife knew of the
things that are being done, and had the
greatest part in it. These things we did in
memory of our beloved son. It was one of her
last wishes that a new church should be built at
Ndotsheni and I shall come to discuss it with
you.

He wishes to explain that his wife’s
death is not something he blames
Stephen and his family for
You should know that my wife was suffering
before we went to Johannesburg (p.223)

As he waits on the fifteenth day
(Absalom’s execution he thinks
“He cried out, My son, my son, my son”
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Prepared by: Mr. Brennan Kwa (EFSS Literature 2016)
before the
execution of
his son
Absalom
about all the experiences, events
and encounters with the people he
has met in Johannesburg

Stephen thinks about how South
Africa can be saved and his hopes
that one day the fear that men have
will hopefully be stopped.
“The sun would rise soon after five and it was
then it was done, they said.”(p.234)
“And now for all the people of Africa, the
beloved country. Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, God
Save Africa. But he would not see that
salvation. It lay afar off, because men were
afraid of it. Because, to tell the truth, they were
afraid of him, and his wife, and Msimangu, and
the young demonstrator…
They were afraid because they were so few.
And such fear could not be cast out, but by
love.
It was Msimangu who had said, Msimangu
who had no hate for any man, I have one great
fear in my heart, that one day, when they turn
to loving they will find we are turned to hating.
Oh the grave and the sombre words” (p.235)

The end of the novel is not a happy
one but it could possibly be seen as
a hopeful one.

That being said, there are hints that
Alan Paton is ending the novel in
this matter in order to compel action
on the part of his readers.

When that time of discrimination and
racism can come to an end, is a
secret but it is a secret that only the
reader can know.
“Yes it is the dawn that has come…
Ndotsheni is still in darkness, but the light will
come there also. For it is the dawn that has
come, as it has come for a thousand centuries,
never failing. But when that dawn will come, of
our emancipation, from the fear of bondage
and the bondage of fear, why, that is a
secret.” (p.236)
Journal Practice Questions:
1. Explore the importance of children in Cry, the beloved country.
2. Is there hope for the Whites and Blacks to be reconciled in the novel?
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Prepared by: Mr. Brennan Kwa (EFSS Literature 2016)