In Alan Paton's Cry, The Beloved Country, the village of Ndotsheni faces great destruction after the land becomes barren from drought, overuse and disrespect. The decay of the village and South African tribal system becomes apparent when most of the young adults leave the village and travel to Johannesburg to make their living. Stephen Kumalo, the town's Zulu priest, and his family become victims of the town's deterioration. "My own son, my own sister, my own brother. They go away and they do not write anymore. Perhaps it does not seem to them that we suffer. Perhaps they do not care for it," Stephen Kumalo says of the three estranged members of his family (II 39). First, Stephen's son, Absalom, leaves his home to make a more prosperous living in Johannesburg, but is quickly led astray; secondly, Stephen's sister, Gertrude, leaves the village in search of her husband who...