Key Passage Highlighting

Key:
Imagery
Odd Diction
Repetition
Odd Puncuation
Alliteration




Passage:
Jarvis sat, deeply moved. Whether because this was his son, whether because this was almost the last act of his son, he could not say. Whether because there was some quality in the words, that too he could not say, for he had given little time in his life to the savouring and judging of words. Whether because there was some quality in the ideas, that too he could not say, for he had given little time to study of these particular matters. He rose and went up the stairs to his room, and was glad to find his wife not there, for here was a sequence not to be interrupted. He picked up the Abraham Lincoln and went down to the study again, and there opened the book at the Second Inaugural Address of the great president. He read it through, and felt with a sudden lifting of the spirit that here was a secret unfolding, a track picked up again. There was increasing knowledge of a stranger. He began to understand why the picture of this man was in the house of his son, and the multitude of books.

Cry, The Beloved Country. Gender Roles

    The author uses gender roles consistently throughout the novel. He appoints traditionally female tasks to the women in the book, such as taking care of children, "She went to the kitchen and came back with the child." As a less developed country, South African society continues to view the female role as a mothering, nurturing, stay at home, role. Also, when Stephen Kumalo goes to Johannesburg, he goes because his sister is sick, "This young woman is very sick, and therefore i ask you to come quickly to Johannesburg." Paton creates a situation in which out of two siblings, Stephan's brother and sister, his sister becomes sick because she is the weaker gender. In third world countries, especially over 50 years ago, females are viewed as inferior and expected to raise children, stay home, etc. The effect of these gender roles are to aid us in understanding the time period and why everything happens like it did.