In, Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton sought to show the disorder and the deep racial segregation of South African nations after World War II. To do this he centers his story around the happenings in a large industrial city. As a result of the break-up of South American tribes by greedy white men and the desolate land left for the natives, one man's son is shot by another. Unforeseen, but inevitable, it affected the lives of many. By focusing on the two main characters in Cry, the Beloved Country, Paton shows that suffering brings understanding that, in turn, brings compassion

Kumalo, the main character in Cry, the Beloved Country, is confronted by a number of problems throughout the book. At first he suffers as he tries to adapt to the new place. When Kumalo receives a letter telling him that his sister is sick, he decides to venture to Johannesburg. When he gets there he is robbed, then treated with kindness (Callan 38). This makes him uneasy and wary of the new place. He visits places of despair and then places of hope (38). This contrast between the two makes him understand the gap between the two. He ventures into this new society and is presented with the worst and

James Jarvis, another one of the main characters in Paton's novel is presented with a tragedy that leaves his son dead. First of all, Jarvis is faced with the simple fact of his son's murder. For any parent this results in an immeasurable amount of emotional stress. He suffers with his son's death and at first has problems standing up. He wonders why it had to be his son as he tries to cope with the problem. Once in Johannesburg he starts piecing together facts about his son's life. He talks to his son's wife's family and learns the values and beliefs that his son stood for. He has problems understanding how his son came to believe in such things and feels like the person they describe is someone other than the son he knew. When his wife asks him if he understood his son's life, he admits he didn't and says, "I didn't know it would ever be so important to understand it" (Paton 142). "James Jarvis realizes that his son had journeyed into deep waters, ..." (Callan 39). He suffers with the idea that he didn't know his son as well as he would have liked to. To help him deal with this problem he analyzes the work done by his dead son. He returns many times to the writings about social unjustice written by his son (38). They give him a new perspective on the problems of the native Africans. He struggles with this as his old views are now shattered by a new realization. After struggling with the writings, he hears of all the acts of charity his son was committed to for the advancement of the natives. Because of these new realizations Jarvis gains "a compassion and understanding which will lead him to perform the charitable acts in the remaining parts of the novel" (Fitzwater 37). All the suffering presented to Jarvis helps him gain an understanding into the struggle of native Africans.

Through these men and their experiences, Paton is able to show that personal struggles can create understanding and compassion. The private experiences of Kumalo leads him to understand life and the troubles associated with it. Throughout Jarvis experiences, he learns to understand the experiences of others including Kumalo and other native Africans. This leads them both to show compassion towards others.

The understanding that each character gains leads him to have compassion for other people. First of all, Jarvis shows compassion to

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Approximate Word count = 1584
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)