Greenwich High School

`Cry, the Beloved Country' is a powerful novel that takes us through the complex social, economic and political labyrinths that were faced and are being faced in South Africa. Alan Paton successfully accomplishes this task while including a simple plot of a priest Stephen Kumalo's journey to keep his contact with loved ones in the city of Johannesburg. It is evident that Alan Paton used fear as the central motif throughout the novel. Fear was the impetus behind every action, thought and allegation in `Cry, the Beloved Country'.

The first instance the fear was seen was when Reverend Stephen Kumalo was preparing his voyage to Johannesburg in search for his loved ones. Not only did he have his fear of getting on the wrong bus, he was scared of being submersed in a city as being as that of Johannesburg, "The buildings...