Читать книгу Best Books Study Work Guide: Cry, the Beloved Country - Lucille Smuts - Страница 7

When you want to send a message about what you are thinking or feeling to someone or to yourself, the type of message that you send depends on the reason why you are sending it. For example, you could write a note, an SMS, a WhatsApp or a Tweet or post something on Snapchat to your friends to communicate why you like or dislike the latest Top Hits playlist. You would use a different format to communicate your thoughts and feelings when you write an examination essay on “The Power of Money”. The purpose of the message determines its format.

Why did Paton write Cry, the Beloved Country?

Purpose: to advocate the need for social and political change.

He communicates a powerful message of love and compassion needed to change the suffering of a land and its people caused by social and political injustices in South Africa.

In which format did Paton choose to write his message?

Format: A novel

He wrote his message in the format of a novel. Although Paton says that Cry, the Beloved Country is a love song, it is not written in the form of a song nor a poem. Poetry, drama and short stories also express messages in text, but according to the rules or conventions of their specific kind of literature (or genre). The novel is a specific genre in the art of writing literature. It expresses the author’s message in prose; it uses words and sentences that are spoken and written in everyday communication. The sentences are organised in paragraphs, chapters and, in this novel, in books.

Historical novel

Cry, the Beloved Country is a historical novel. The novel describes real events and refers to real personages but only in so far as these form part of a story with a plot and fictional characters. Its setting is the 1940s in South Africa. It shows how segregation and the migrant labour system could destroy values of love, caring and respect. It also illustrates the struggle to uphold these values through forgiveness and reconciliation.

Racial segregation means the separation of races in everyday life. When Paton wrote the novel, racial segregation was enforced by law. The purpose of racial segregation laws such as the Native Land Act of 1913, the Pass Laws and Native Urban Areas Act of 1923 was to restrict the freedom of the black people to buy land and to live wherever they wanted to live. They could only buy land and live in tribal areas called “Reserves”. These areas were not large enough for the growing population. The families who depended on crops produced by the land lived in poverty. They also had to pay taxes to the government. Men and boys aged eighteen and older had to go and look for jobs on the mines, in towns and on farms owned by white people. They became migrant workers who provided unskilled labour for low wages during a fixed period of time before returning to their families in the Reserves. This system was known as the “migrant labour system”. Many of these migrant workers failed to send their families money and never returned. The racial segregation laws and the migrant labour system were used to enforce and control cheap labour in order to ensure continued growth and prosperity in mining, industries and agriculture.

Apply the knowledge and understanding that the pre-reading activities have provided to help you make meaning of Cry, the Beloved Country during your first reading of the novel.