Industrialization and urbanization were breaking down tribal customs, even as the increasing population of blacks and whites in the cities was worsening the tensions under separatism. The novel strips away the surface assurances of white supremacy to reveal what has in some respects become a wasteland--a literal wasteland in the case of the sordid slums and the dying tribal lands, but also a spiritual wasteland, characterized by alienation and mistrust among races and peoples and families and generations."
Paton, who had worked as a teacher and reform school principal, began a serious career as a writer after the publication of Cry, the Beloved Country. He also became a public figure and a founder of the Liberal Party of South Africa.
This is a free page. This page contains 113 words. This
biography contains 2,851 words (approx. 10 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Alan Paton Access Pass.
