All Roads Lead To Johannesburg in Cry, the Beloved Country Essay

The pastors wife in Ndotsheni sighs, When people go to Johannesburg, they do not come back, (38). In Alan Patons Cry, the Beloved Country, the journey from tribal South Africa to Johannesburg symbolizes many things, including the breaking apart of not only the Kumalo family, but the breaking apart of many tribal families in South Africa; fear of the great city, fear of the loss of a tribe, fear of the great city and of the unknown, fear of not having a home, and fear of both Absaloms life and Gertrudes moral sickness.

In Cry, the Beloved Country, all roads lead to Johannesburg, (83) for a reason. The roads are all leading the way to the city that takes people hostage. The roads leading to Johannesburg is thematically important because it helps show Kumalos fear of Johannesburg. Before Kumalo leaves his tribe in search of Absalom, Gertrude, and John, Kumalo is afraid of Johannesburg. Kumalo does not know what he will find when he reaches Johannesburghe fears the unknown. He is concerned for what has happened to his son, Absalom, because Absalom has stopped writing to Kumalo. He is also afraid of what has happened to his sister, Gertrude. Kumalo receives a letter from Msimangu saying that his sister is very sick, (37) and he must rush to Johannesburg to save his sister from illness, even though he knows not whether it is a physical or moral condition. Johannesburg and its language, Afrikaans, are not only unknown to Kumalo, which makes him afraid, but he also knows that when people go to Johannesburg, they do not come back, (38). Therefore, Paton uses this to show not only Kumalos fear of the unknown, but also that Kumalo is afraid that he will not return to his tribe with Absalom, Gertrude, and John, if he returns at all.

Those who go to Johannesburg also dont return because they are waiting for a place to live. Paton shows hundreds of emigrants searching for places to let, and living in the slums of Orlando and Alexandra. The people are constantly in fear that they are not going to have a place to live. They shanty town is packed with people waiting for their houses to be built, and the people are told that they can wait five years for a house, and be no nearer getting it than at the beginning, (85), and the shanty town constantly grows larger, there are ten thousand of [them] in Orlando alone, living in other peoples houses, (85). This is Patons way of showing that no one is leaving Johannesburg, but more people are moving in to it, which is why all roads lead to Johannesburg and not away from it; if the roads led away from Johannesburg, hundreds of people would be leaving, to go back to their tribes, but everyone is moving to Johannesburg instead.

People constantly move to Johannesburg in search of money and success; they dont return because they end up becoming corrupted by the city. Absalom ventures to Johannesburg, stops writing to Kumalo, and doesnt return because he constantly comes home with watches, jewelry, and money, presumably stolen from white men. Absalom also impregnates his girlfriend, and ironically, kills a white man who fights for black rights. Absaloms actions are all based on his fearsfears of white men and fears of the unknown. Absalom doesnt not carry a gun because he plans on killing anyone, he carriesa gun because Johannesburg is a dangerous place. A man never knows when he will be attacked, (130). Furthermore, Absalom does not kill James Jarvis out of hatred, he kills Jarvis out of fear. Absalom is startled by Jarvis during a robbery, and is afraid that Jarvis will have them arrested, so Absalom shoots him. Paton uses Absalom as an example of what happens to those who go to Johannesburg in search of money: they become intoxicated with fear, commit crimes because of that fear and never return.

Through Gertrude, Paton shows that Johannesburg has the ability to corrupt anyone and kept them from returning. Gertrude goes to Johannesburg in search of her husband, and ends up becoming a prostitute and gets pregnant, and births a son. Prostitution and pregnancy out of wedlock are against Gertrudes religion, thus showing the corrupting effect that Johannesburg has on her. Gertrudes corruption causes her to be ashamed, and she knows that she cannot return to Ndotsheni, which she admits, I am no woman to go back, (61). All of the roads for Gertrude lead to Johannesburg, and it is Johannesburgs effect on Gertrude that keeps her in the city forever.

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton relies heavily on the theme that when people go to Johannesburg, they do not come back, (38). Paton uses Johannesburg as a trap, showing how it lures people, like Absalom, Gertrude and the people in the shanty town, there with the prospects of fortune, a home, family members and a better life, however, as soon as the people arrive in Johannesburg, they are caught in the trap, kept by their moral corruption, bound by the crimes they commit, or simply waiting for their new home. Johannesburgs trap symbolizes many fears and the breaking apart of many families and many communities.