Cry, The Beloved Country

            In the book Cry, The Beloved Country three main characters are touched by something beyond themselves. This touch gives them each a deeper love for the people and a vision to heal the land. Msimangu was touched through living many years within the poverty stricken city of Johannesburg. He responded by finding hope in the few white men who were trying to help the black people. He helped to heal the land by keeping a message of Love toward the white man alive. Stephen Kumalo was touched by the city which robbed him of his son and destroyed his tribe. He responded with a renewed hope for the restoration of his tribe. He began healing the land by helping to raise the children of his tribe with a love for their people and homeland. Arthur Jarvis, as a white man, was touched by the poverty and crime of the city which took his son's life. He responded with sympathy toward the African tribes and donated his money to help restore its land.
             Msimangu had the perspective of a black clergyman living in the midst of the poverty stricken city of Johannesburg. He was touched by the horrible brokenness of his people. He had no problem with saying that the white man was the cause of this tragedy which had overtaken the tribes. Yet, he said that because he was a Christian, it was not in his nature to hate the white man. In fact, his response to the crisis was one of optimism and love for the whites. He seemed to take pains to point out the ways certain of these foreigners helped the suffering black man. He prophetically pointed to a day when the white man would turn to loving the blacks, but the blacks would hold onto their hatred of their former oppressor. This was Msimangu's greatest fear.
             His vision for healing the land was to transform the hateful hearts of his people into hearts filled with the Love of God. Yet he felt that the political activism within the leaders of his people contradicted this message of the Gospel of Christ.