Lithebe The native landlady with whom Stephen stays while in Johannesburg. James Jarvis A wealthy landowner whose son is murdered by Absalom and who comes to the realization of the guilt of the whites in such crimes. Arthur Jarvis James Jarvis' son, who does not appear in the novel but whose racial views are highly significant and influential. The Harrisons The father and the son represent two opposing views concerning the racial problem.
The father represents the traditional view and the son the more liberal view. Previous About Cry, the Beloved Country. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. Absalom is led astray by Johannesburg and the people with whom he associated, leading to his accidental murder of Arthur Jarvis during a botched robbery. Absalom is found guilty of the crime and sentenced to death.
He is afraid, but eventually comes to a kind of peace before his death. He also faces up to his responsibilities as a father by marrying his pregnant girlfriend , and providing all he can for his unborn child before his execution. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:. Book I, Chapter 3 Quotes. Related Symbols: Johannesburg. Related Themes: The Land and the Tribe.
Page Number and Citation : 34 Cite this Quote. Explanation and Analysis:. Book II, Chapter 28 Quotes. Related Themes: Fathers, Sons, and Families. Page Number and Citation : Cite this Quote. Book II, Chapter 29 Quotes.
The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance. Book I, Chapter 2. None of them have written in a long time. They comment Book I, Chapter 3. Beneath these concerns, there is another one — where He feels ill from the false impression he Book I, Chapter 5.
After struggling to get it out, he reveals that he is very worried about Absalom , and how his son has not been heard from for so long. Msimangu assures him Book I, Chapter 6. After they are finished praying, Stephen asks if Gertrude knows where Absalom is. She says she is not sure, but their brother John will know. Stephen says Book I, Chapter 7.
Then, Stephen asks if John knows where Absalom might be. John says that Absalom and his own son were friendly with one another, They are unsuccessful locating Absalom at the factory, and trace him to a house in Sophiatown. He is not there, Book I, Chapter 8.
The next day, Stephen and Msimangu continue to search for Absalom. They catch a bus after Msimangu assures Stephen that they cannot catch a wrong one, The woman inside reluctantly lets them in. She says that Absalom and his cousin have been gone for a while. She is reluctant to answer questions, Stephen is an old man who is suffering, and that they are only seeking Stephen's son. The woman still refuses to talk. Finally, Msimangu agrees to swear on a Bible that They seek out the taxi driver and ask him about Absalom.
The driver seems very afraid. After Msimangu explains why they are seeking out Absalom , the Book I, Chapter Stephen plays with the little boy, telling him Leaving aside for now the incredibly condescending language of "our natives" that Arthur uses here which we talk about in our "Character Analysis" of Arthur Jarvis , this essay within the novel explains Paton's view that crime is on the rise not because black Africans are by "nature" criminal—which a lot of racist, bigoted white South Africans might believe.
There is rising crime by black people against white South Africans because, increasingly, they see no other options: their traditional systems of moral order have been destroyed thanks to the oppression of European settlers, and nothing has been put in place of these lost tribal structures. In other words, Paton is trying to show through his novel that black crime doesn't happen because the criminals are wicked or anything like that.
He wants to show that crime is all social in nature: it's a symptom of larger injustices in South African society. Which means that Paton doesn't want to build his novel around a criminal mastermind who actively schemes to destroy the law—such a purposefully evil character would ruin his point.
What the novel requires instead is a wishy-washy character who is a perfect sponge for the bad social influences Paton wants to demonstrate—someone soft and totally passive. That sounds like Absalom Kumalo to Shmoop.
Absalom is a perfect victim for Paton: yes, he is a criminal, but only because the legalized racism of South Africa undeniably made him that way. Even his shooting of Arthur Jarvis happens by accident and out of his control, when Arthur startles him as he's holding a loaded gun. Absalom is probably the most purposeless killer we have ever heard of, which makes his execution seem even more pointless and tragic. We mentioned that there are a lot of Christian themes in Cry, the Beloved Country , right?
Well, then it makes sense that one of our main characters has an unusual—and significant—Biblical name. Absalom is one of the sons of King David in the Book of Samuel. He is famous for murdering his half-brother, Amnon, in revenge for Amnon's rape of Absalom's sister Tamar. At first, King David cannot forgive Absalom for murdering Amnon, but after several years, he eventually admits that Absalom's revenge was justified. But things don't end there: Absalom raises up an army to rebel against King David.
In the fighting, Absalom is killed. And even though his son tried to overthrow him, King David is still desperately sad over Absalom's death source. Like the Bible's Absalom, our Absalom kills someone, but he's not entirely to blame for it at least, according to the novel.
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