Cry, the Beloved Country Ch. 1-9 Speed-dating

Landscape What role does the landscape play in the novel? What does the valley surrounding Ndotsheni seem to represent?

Apartheid How does apartheid manifest itself in Cry, the Beloved Country? Describe or characterize the separate worlds inhabited by blacks and whites. Where do black and white lives touch?

Character Which character do you find most compelling? Why?

Fear As Kumalo leaves to go to Johannesburg, he fears. As he searches for his son, he fears. When he visits a few people on the search for his son, they fear. Why does Kumalo fear? Who or what does he fear? What other roles does fear have?

Power Msimangu says, "I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men, desiring neither power or money, but desiring only the good of their country, come together to work for it." The book was written in 1948. Some forty-odd years later, has Msimangu's prophecy come to pass? If so, in what ways? If not, why?

Role Reversal Cry, the Beloved Country focuses on Reverend Stephen Kumalo's fish-out-of-water experience as he travels from rural South Africa to confront the urban cultures of Johannesburg. But how would Cry, the Beloved Country be different if a character like Father Vincent had to adapt to the rural Zulu village life of Ndotsheni? What circumstances might bring one of the novel's white characters to live in a largely black village? How would the power dynamics and cultural exchanges of the book shift with this change in racial focus?

Women What role do women seem to play in the novel? How do the injustices they face affect them? Do they suffer from injustices that the men do not?

Social Issues Chapter 9 deals with big social issues in South Africa, without touching on the immediate plot of the novel. What would Cry, the Beloved Country be like without this issues chapter? How effective do you find the balance between broad social context and story in this book?

Hollywood In the 1995 film version of Cry, the Beloved Country, James Earl Jones—an American star probably best known for his voice acting as Mufasa in The Lion King and as Darth Vader in Star Wars—plays the Reverend Stephen Kumalo. Some South Africans protested that Hollywood movies should cast South African actors to play South African roles. Are you more likely to see Cry, the Beloved Country because it stars American actors? What do you think about these demands for greater authenticity in casting for Hollywood movies? Do you think the national origin of actors should matter to the roles they are allowed to play?