Cry The Beloved Country

Writing activity 1- draft nº2

An unforgettable story, a must in your bookshelf by

If you tend to get bored by reading novels, this is the opportunity to get a break out of this bad luck. “Cry, the beloved country” written by an African, Alan Paton, is a beautiful story of a Zulu reverend, Stephen Kumalo, and his son, Absalom, set in the troubled South Africa of the 1940s. The novel deals with conflicts that people have suffered due to segregation, racism and discrimination.

One important thing to take into account is that Alan Paton based his novel on a critical period in South Africa when the population was divided into four groups – white, black, Indian and colored people. Those who were not white were left aside not only in an economic way, but also politically and socially. The book manages to give you an idea of pre-apartheid South Africa, from the richest people, to the poor urban laborers, to the criminals, to the peaceful rural farmers trying to keep their land. Besides, the novel focuses on themes of equality and social injustice in pre-apartheid South Africa from both sides of the race equation. It is amazing to see the effects of Apartheid, the growing pains of a country trying to find equality for all races. These interesting topics make the story more magnificent and persuade us to continue reading it.

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