In the early 1940's, South Africa began to experience a time of hardships related to racial separation. This racial separation is described in Alan Paton's, Cry, The Beloved Country through two very different yet similar men, Stephen Kumalo and James Jarvis. Both Jarvis and Kumalo develop the courage and endurance to overcome their fears, their social misconceptions, and their racial injustices, but Kumalo is the character who was most courageous and complex. .
Stephen Kumalo and James Jarvis come from two very different worlds. Kumalo is a black South African reverend who lives in poverty below the land of Jarvis, who is a wealthy estate owner. Though separated by race, they both lose something that brings them together, their sons. "Deep down the fear for his son. Deep down the fear of a man who lives in a world not made for him, whose own world is slipping away, dying, being destroyed beyond any recall " (Paton 44). In these thoughts, Kumalo reveals his fear that he is losing the life he is accustomed to. He feels afraid of what is to come as he makes his way to Johannesburg, the city which has already grasped his sister and is now taking his son. Kumalo has much more to lose on his journey than Jarvis, because he is not used to the city life and because of his skin color, he will not be treated as fairly. Jarvis' life is approached in a more favorable tone, because he has not yet encountered his loss. .
"This was a view that a man could look at without tiring of it, this great valley of the Umzimkulu. He could look around on the green, rich hills that he inherited from his father, and down on the rich valley where he lived and farmed. It had been his wish that his son, the only child that had been born to them, would have taken it after him " (Paton 163).
In this quote, Jarvis reflects upon the beauty of the land and the life he feels so at peace with that his son, Arthur, chose to disregard.
