Perspective in Cry, The Beloved Country Essay

Cry, The Beloved Country

In Alan Patons Cry, The Beloved Country, the black and white perspectives are not balanced within the society. Blacks are allowed to own land in South Africa, but not as nice land as whites. With the black land becoming corrupt many young blacks move to cities where they are involved in gangs. Whites then lose any sympathy towards blacks due to gang crime. With the help of motifs and symbols a change is forming in the balanced portrayal of whites and blacks.

Nature, repentance, and repeated phrases are motifs used in the novel to help toward change in perspectives. The symbol of the church also plays a big role in changing perspectives. Nature is different in politics, but hope for change. Repentance shows the power of case to overpower bitterness. Repeated phrases throughout the novel try to bring blacks and whites toward change. The church also shows commitment to change for blacks and whites. Paton oversimplifies societys perspective, but handles it with ways of changing it.

The perspective of whites to blacks is no sympathy, because of gang crime. The perspective of whites to blacks is inequality due to blacks only owning bad land, while whites get the nice land. The author oversimplifies the issue, but shows with motifs and symbols there is hope for a change. The novel does not reach its goal to offer a balanced portrayal of the black and whit perspectives without condemning either side. Blacks condemn whites for land while whites condemn blacks for crime in major cities.