Land parallel

One major way that the setting parallels Kumalo and his family is the destruction of both. On the very first page we learned about the beautiful, thriving setting only to see it later destroyed. This is pretty much what happened to Kumalo's family which was "destroyed" when Gertrude became a liquor making prostitute in Johannesburg, Kumalo's brother basically renounces his faith and his son is executed for the murder of Arthur Jarvis

Ashoka Fellows

Asad Danish is trying to build peace in the war zone of Afghanistan. He works to build libraries or supply existing ones with books including dictionaries, books translated into the peoples native language.

Reza Deghati works to help build a new, democratic Afghanistan by the training of a new generation of journalists. He does this primarily by focusing on training youths and women to fight oppression.

Diego Carvajal main goal is to help consumers and businesses alike become more socially responsible. To do this his organization, Interruption, created Business Social Responsibility Index which measures things from labor conditions to product management.

No named character

One character I noticed that didn't have a name was Gertrude son. I think that possibly the fact that they don't have a name is because they're actions are almost unfairly being tied to someone else. There are examples of this throughout the book and leads me to believe its a motif. First we learn about Gertrude's and all we can think about of him is that Gertrude is a liquor dealing prostitute. Then we have Absalom's wife who now will only be remembered by "the wife of the murder". And finally there's the bigger term "natives". In this culture the white class think of all the natives as savages however, this obviously isn't true. But despite the fact that the natives might not all be bad; it doesn't matter. It didn't matter for Gertrude's son, Absalom's just like it doesn't matter for the natives.

Book 2: Cry, The Beloved Country

The main reason why I believe Paton chose to split Cry, The Beloved Country into two books is to show a different perspective. More than doing something original to keep the reader interested its also interesting. It for one, can illustrates how two people can have completely different views of the same thing. In this case the central idea will still probably be racism. Furthermore it illustrates how lives can overlap and effect each other.

Cry Journal 4

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-women-managers-20100928,0,1131366.story

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usinternetcrimegaysuiciderights

October 1 Journal (Cry #3)

One phrase I thought continually repeated and was very significant was that "All roads lead to Johannesburg" (Page 83). This quote is sad and depressing. Its revealed by chapter 9 that Absamol has stolen stuff and was kicked out of where he was staying, Gertrude is a prostitute and the priests brother has left the church. By all these examples about people that have went to Johannesburg I would say it strips people of their the "culture". More so I would say Paton is trying to say that the entire nation is losing their culture with places like Johannesburg that lure the young.

A reoccurring imagine that is extremely important in this book is landscape. The entire first chapter and countless lines throughout the book are devoted to setting. Paton first described a spectacular landscape only to tell us how it has been destroyed by man. I believe both the destruction of the natural setting and the destruction of the natives culture goes hand in hand.

A concept I believe is important and saw throughout the book while reading is "being lost at home". When Stephen is on the train going to Johannesburg he mistakes a smaller town for it many times. Then when he arrives and he's looking for his relatives he talks about it like its a foreign land. I think this is Paton trying to show how much the culture and the nation itself has changed. While Stephen has been in Ndotsheni his home country has changed so much he doesn't even recognize it when he comes home.