...Religions have been a significant factor in maintaining societies since the first human society formed. For instance, when Hinduism first emerged, it prevented peasants from rebelling by giving them hope that a person could rise to a higher-caste in his or her rebirth if the person works hard in his or her lifetime. Religions have been a solution to many social problems. In Cry, the Beloved Country, Paton suggests that faith can serve as a coping mechanism by showing how Christianity helps Kumalo overcome his suffering, gives people hope and solace, and integrates various ethnic communities to explain that Christianity can be a solution to many social problems. Christianity helps overcome Kumalo’s suffering. Throughout the book, Kumalo keeps...
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...another matter. In Cry, the Beloved Country, Paton makes it clear that religion is hope. Religion gives the people a sense of salvation, redemption, or purpose, and salvation being the leading factor in Christianity, this is very important. Salvation is the deliverance from sin and consequence, and in the novel, salvation is everything to a person who has nothing. Religion is important to the story, because of Christian values and faith help characters endure their suffering, guide the characters into decent lives, promote hope for the future, and gives the people a purpose. First, for a society like the Africans, who during this era of segregation and oppression suffer significantly, it is important to have a faith in which their suffering is nothing but a trial in this life. For in the Christian faith, God makes it clear that he...
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...A Tribe is a division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties. A car needs an engine, wheels, and gas in order to function; without one of those vital links the car as a whole can’t function. Likewise when regarding a tribe, each link that characterizes a tribe is vital in order for the tribe to function and thrive. In Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton the tribe in Ndotsheni is broken, there are vital links missing. The tribe is broken physically, politically, and spiritually. As a result of the tribe being broken the individuals that are apart of this tribe are turning to lives they believe are their only way to survive in this society. In Ndotsheni the land...
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...Before I had time to consider what would happen next, the Ennazus tribe creeped in and was ready for battle against the Odelinian tribe. Of course I did not participate, I was the reason for this occurrence. Although, I did decide to follow only to see what would happen to my loved ones. All I could hear was the clanking of our wooden swords and shields and the rhythmic march of those in my tribe headed towards the battlefield only a few miles away. I could smell the fear the town was facing, a very unique sense of something I never enjoy taking part in. I know Natan warned his fellow warriors beforehand because I already heard the horrific cries of men, women, and even children of both tribes. I hide within the trees behind the field for which this battle is being fought. Of all the battles these two tribes fought, this is the most gut-wrenching, and I am the reason for all of...
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...The Prominence of God in Cry the Beloved Country Since early civilizations, religion has weaved itself into human culture by connecting societies and races across the world. Despite their clear differences at the heart of every religion is the belief in a higher being and finding solace and courage in its text, values, and community. Faith becomes a way of seeing the world, however, it can also be misinterpreted by people trying to justify their actions. In using the words of God, people throughout history are able to rationalize dominance over others, through claiming superiority in race or religion. In Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country, the Bible and God unify people, showing how despite their differences, black and white men are still able to form a relationship regardless of various obstacles. Illustrating that grief and God can offer comfort and courage, to become either South Africa’s salvation or downfall....
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...Changes in Perspective Alan Paton in Cry, the Beloved Country depicts the complexities of a relationship between a wealthy white male and a poor black priest. The first two parts of this novel shows how people are afraid of change and the last part depicts how they overcome the fear through forgiveness and reconciliation. Paton presents fear at the beginning of his book through Stephen Kumalo’s actions. Kumalo was scared to open the letter from Johannesburg and was even more scared to leave Ndotsheni because it meant change. “Deep down the fear for his son. Deep down the fear of a man who lives in a world not made for him, whose own world is slipping away...” (Paton 44) - this quote from when Kumalo was leaving Ndotsheni for the first...
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...noticed between the conflict in the Congo, and between the conflict of apartheid in South Africa. Perhaps one of the most blatant similarities in content is between The Poisonwood Bible and Cry, The Beloved Country. Both stories tell the tale of a particular culture's arrogance in relation to the culture of another country. I hope to present the details of these similarities in the essay, while providing an explanation for cultural arrogance, along with examples of the development of this theme through the character's actions in the novel. Throughout history, Western culture has been an eminent force in the colonization and occupation of many Eastern and third world countries. Perhaps one of the most often targeted areas by the Western World is Africa. One of the most obvious examples that would come to mind would be apartheid in South Africa. South Africa was colonized by the English and Dutch in the seventeenth century. Also, the discovery of diamonds in the country sparked an English invasion in the early twentieth century, which eventually led to the system of apartheid that we all know about today. The aim of the apartheid was to maintain white domination while extending racial separation, and to hold control over the economic and social system of South Africa. Cry, The Beloved Country, was a novel by Alan Paton that portrayed the real life hardships of the South African natives while trying to overcome Western dominance. The basis in which The...
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...Cry the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton, is the story of the two fictional characters, Stephen Kumalo and James Jarvis, who lose their sons in South Africa in 1948. In his story, Alan Paton used the George Hegel's Dialect of thesis, antithesis, synthesis, in order to expose social injustices in a microcosm of South Africa that correlate to the macrocosm of the issues faced by the entire country and what must be done to fix these injustices. Paton subdivided his story into three books. The first of these books, depicts the Journey of Stephen Kumalo, to try and restore his family, is a cry against injustice. The second book focused mainly on James Jarvis’s plight to understand his deceased son, depicts the yearning for justice. While the final book displays the restoration and repair of the injustices derived from the yearning for justice. The society of the small urban town called Ndotsheni, from which both Stephan and Author come, is based largely on the native African tribal system. This town also suffers from a drought that drives away the young men to work in the mines of Johannesburg. Johannesburg directly contradicts Ndotsheni with no tribal system and the brake down of the moral fibers of its people. Yet in Johannesburg there is also hope for the future and ideas that help lead to the restoration of Ndotsheni. During the time the story is set in Johannesburg the reader is introduced to two exceptionally different characters. The first is John Kumalo, the brother of Stephen...
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...During the 1940’s, South Africa was extensively suffering from many political and economical issues. Not only were there economic and political issues but there were social issues as well. Disintegration and segregation became especially prevalent during this time. South Africa wasn’t the only place that dealt with these racial discriminations. It was common during this time for countries to have laws that physically separated one race from another. The United States being one of those countries. African Americans faced racial discrimination and segregation when it came to many aspects of life. Crime rates skyrocketed during this time period and many whites found themselves falling victim to the displeased African Americans. Tribes were left...
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...Internal monologue of Mamacita. I love my home and I miss it all the time. Now I am in a totally new place, the U.S, for my beloved husband. I love him so much that I want to be with him even though I can not speak english at all. I was hoping there would be a turning point, and everything would be fine when I arrived in this place. But so far, I know I am a prisoner. The prisoner of the new appartement. I was trapped in this GODDAMN cage and could not fly away to my homeland freely. I changed the radio channels one by one in order to get closer to the language I am familiar with. I wanted to be surrounded by Spanish, so I turned my radio up even though I knew I was bothering others. But I wanted it too desperately and perhaps I was escaping from the powerlessness I felt. I cannot do anything in this all-English society. I am just like a lost traveler in the middle of nowhere, struggling for survival. So I just sit by the window all day, listen to the radio, miss my country alone and sometimes, cry. My husband and I have fights more often, he forces me to speak English! But I canʼt! I do not belong here! I DO NOT belong here! I was screaming at him, perhaps I was screaming at myself at the same time. I need to move on since I have arrived in this new country. I felt like I was dying a little more everyday, but still, all I can do is lying to myself like a coward. Until one day, I received the death sentence. ——I heard my little child speaking English. He was singing the Pepsi commercial...
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...Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed; The place matters not--cypress or laurel or lily white, Scaffold of open plain, combat or martyrdom's plight, 'Tis ever the same, to serve our home and country's need. 3 I die just when I see the dawn break, Through the gloom of night, to herald the day; And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take, Pour'd out at need for thy dear sake, To dye with its crimson the waking ray. 4 My dreams, when life first opened to me, My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat high, Were to see thy lov'd face, O gem of the Orient sea, From gloom and grief, from care and sorrow free; No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye 5 Dream of my life, my living and burning desire, All hail! cries the soul that is now to take flight; All hail! And sweet it is for thee to expire; To die for thy sake, that thou mayst aspire; And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night. If over my grave some day thou seest grow, In the grassy sod, a humble flower, Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so, While I may feel on my brow in the cold tomb below The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm power. Let the moon beam over me soft and serene, Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes, Let the wind with sad lament over me keen; And if on my cross a bird should be seen, Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes. Let the sun draw the vapors up to the sky, And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest; Let some kind...
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...A sonnet of fourteen lines divided between three quatrains and an ending couplet, "To India My Native Land" is a song of love and deep emotion from Henry Louis Vivian Derozio to his "fallen country," India. The poem was published before Derozio's untimely death at the age of twenty-two from cholera in 1831. The abab abcc dede ff rhyme scheme employed by Derozio is most clearly identifiable as a variation of Edmund Spenser's Amoretti rhyme scheme. In Derozio's, there is Spenserian concatenation (rhyme and meaning linkage) at the cc couplet in the second quatrain. It is at this couplet that the poetic speaker hits the crescendo of his song and reveals the emotional motivation behind the story he tells and behind the resolution he will promise. In an apostrophe addressing India, the poetic persona, who is tightly associated with Derozio himself, recounts India's "days of glory past" when glory, reverence, and deity were like a "beauteous halo circled round thy brow." These four short lines of iambic pentameter paint a vivid picture of the India that existed before British colonization. They also reveal the deep emotional ties the persona has to the memory of the true India, the free India, the India that commanded respect from other civilizations. The address to India continues in the second quatrain, but line 5 turns the topic from glory to misery. India's fallen estate under colonization is lamented and compared to a subdued eagle whose wings are chained, which renders...
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...“Major Sullivan Ballou’s Last letter to his wife,” written by Sullivan Ballou, is a compelling letter written to explain his potential departure from his dear wife. Ballou knew the army would soon be moving south towards the confederate army. He is quiet content with this divine providences and tries to argue to his wife his reasoning behind why he feels it is necessary that he follows through with orders. He also shares to his wife Sara that his love for her will never die, as if that was supposed to heal the wound. He is sad to explain this situation to his beloved wife Sara and hates to see her cry, yet he explains to her why this is just deal and must be done. Historically this monumental letter is a very emotional and memorable letter written by a soldier in the civil war. Major Sullivan Ballou’s argument is enforced with Ethos, logical fallacies and his fatality. Ethos;...
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...Since he merchant had the power to understand animals one day spending the morning in the animals crib he was just laughing out loud laugh and kept laughing till he fell on his back. His wife wants to know why the laughter he explains he can’t, because he will die. She doesn’t care she wants to know and cries. With this conversation, he felt the need to be sincere with his wife and tell her the secret even if meant his own death. This shows the honest, kind, trustful husband he is. However, when he was about to do he changed all his emotions towards the situation due to a conversation he heard from a dog and a cock. Which described him as a lack wit, a man with no kind of sense, not being able to handle just one wife, no wisdom, and no judgment. When the merchant heard the wise words spoken by his cock to his dog, he arose in haste and cut some twigs. He came down upon his wife beating her back and shoulders, ribs, arms, and legs, saying "Wilt thou ever be asking questions about what concerneth thee not?" Presently she cried out: "I am of the...
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...Phillips gave in, but upon hearing their music he told them he liked their sound but not their gospel driven song choice and for them to come back when they had an original song ←that would appeal to a broader crowd. Shortly after this, the group began working on the song “Hey Porter,” which was written by Cash. When they went back to present for Philips, they also played another song, “Cry, Cry, Cry,” which he liked therefore signing Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two. In May 1955, “Hey Porter” was released and a short year later “Cry, Cry, Cry” peaked the BillBoard Charts at number fourteen. Johnny Cash achieved true fame in 1956, when he wrote “I Walk the Line” which took over number one on the country music charts and sold over two million copies. A year later, Cash released his debut album, Johnny Cash with His Hot & Blue Guitar then followed that up with chart toppers including, “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” and “Ballad of a Teenage...
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