Paton's novel, Cry, The Beloved Country was written in 1946. The novel has many correlation's with the Bible. Paton obviously knew the Bible very well. We see parallelism between the novel and the Bible through the theme of faithfulness in God. We also see similarities between characters of the novel to Biblical characters.

The first sign we find in the novel that connects it to the Bible is in Kumalo's son's name. His son's name is Absalom. Absalom is the name of King David's son. Absalom, son of David, rebelled against his father by killing his brother Amnon (2 Samuel 13:30). Absalom fled away from his father's land (2 Samuel 13:37). David mourned for his son. 2 Samuel 13:39 says, "And the heart of the king went out, yearning for Absalom." David is like Kumalo. His son has also left. Absalom Kumalo had left Ndotsheni and gone to Johannesburg. Kumalo has not heard from his son. Kumalo worries about his son and wishes to see him again. Absalom was Kumalo's only son (Paton 8).

King David's and Kumalo's sons had both been invo

Absalom, the son of David, had said, "If the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will worship the Lord in Hebron (2 Samuel 15:8)." Absalom Kumalo wanted to return to Ndotsheni and worship the Lord. In Ndotsheni, people worship God and have faith. We learned through out the novel that it was when the people left their tribe that they lost faith. Therefore they became "lost" in Johannesburg.

The day before Absalom's death, Kumalo went up to a mountain. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts and to pray (Paton 273). David also went off by himself when he heard of his son's death. He went up the Mount of Olives (2 Samuel 15:30).

Absalom Kumalo is not the only character that resembles one from the Bible. Stephen Kumalo can be compared to Job. Job was a blameless and upright man. He feared God and turned away form evil (Job 1:1-2). He was much like Stephen Kumalo. Job looses his family and land, as does Kumalo. Job suffers deeply. He manages to maintain his integrity (Job 27:1-4). Kumalo also manages to keep his faith and integrity through his hardships. Both could h

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Approximate Word count = 734
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)