Read chapters 30-32 of Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country and write/post a journal: Identify and explain one of the surprises that Stephen finds after he returns to Ndotsheni.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

Answers

YES! THIS NEVER HAPPENS TO ME!!!

ok so anyways, posting time!

One surprise that happens to Kumalo after returning to Ndotsheni is that milk arrives for all of the children. This happened because Stephen told Arthur's son that the children were dying because they didn't have milk, and the next day a worker from Jarvos's farm delivered milk for all of the children to drink.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

I think that one surprise that Stephen Kumalo finds when he arrives back in Ndotsheni is how many people missed him and are so glad that he is back. Stephen asks a girl why she was so glad he was back, saying there was another "umfundisi", a man the bishop had sent to take Kumalo's place, but the girl said that she wanted "their" umfundisi that they knew and understood.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

Well, I'm not really sure I can say this particular point was surprising to Rev. Kumalo himself (though it is possible), but I found this following point to be quite peculiar indeed. Found on Page 254, there are two separate incidents of first Kumalo embracing his wife in the "European fashion", and second his wife embracing "the girl" in the "European fashion." These two following quotations are of this embracing, "He goes to his wife quickly, and embraces her in the European fashion", and "She [Kumalo's wife] takes her [the girl] in her arms after the European fashion." I find these two separate events extremely important in showing the Rev. Kumalo's evolution from the beginning of the novel to near the end and how his experience in Johannesburg with the white men there changed his outlook on his people.

I do mean "evolution", and I believe this is a very important aspect of the text. Kumalo evolves into the body of a man who is more accepting of the whites who rule the country. He then tries to save his country and town by working through the bureaucratic layers of that system of government, in the end with some success, although it is yet to be determined what poles in the ground actually does for South Africa. This evolution to acceptance of the white man and what he does to the town of Ndotsheni is, well, accepted by Kumalo. He uses the customs of a people that he once did not like, and is now the pet of the white man. The iron ressolve of Kumalo, who serves as a symbol of South Africa as a whole, takes a hit. Either this, or he has accepted the tribe and the old way of life will not return and now tries to move forward. The ultimate question now is whether or not this is Kumalo's own sense of cultural diffusion or if the old man's a softy. I say the latter. Yes, all this from a hug.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

After Stephen Kumalo had returened to Ndotsheni, he had recieved several letters from various people. One of these was sent from Msimangu. The letter was pretty much a letter from a friend, not saying much in particular, but it also gave a few discriptions of the city of Johannesburg, and even though Stephen hadn't been home for long, he suprised himself by actually finding himself wanting to return.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

i'm not sure if this fits but....... Something that Stephen learned about Ndotsheni, when he returned was that there was a drought. It had not rained for a month. The streams had stopped completely, not even a trickle. “It is dry here, umfundisi.” that was all that was one of the first things that the people told Stephen. They asked if he would pray for rain. In the beginning of ch 31, the landscape was described, the grass crackled. The trees had already lost all of their leaves. The insufferable heat, made everything worse. The plows had stopped moving, they would be no food soon. All Stephen could do was pray.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

One big pleasant surprise was that Jarvis's grandson started to visit Kumalo. The young boy surprised Stephen and reminded him of Arthur Jarvis, the young boy's father. "And for a moment he caught his breath in astonishment, for it was a small white boy on a red horse, a small white boy as like to another who had ridden has any could be." (267-268) I think that maybe Stephen feels that he should be nice to this boy because Absolam killed the boy's father, but Stephen dosen't have to force himself to like this boy. Instead, he feels an attraction to the grandson of James Jarvis and teaches him Zulu. This "surprise" brings good things for the town such as milk for the children. This boy, to me, symbolizes the shining sun after a horrible thunderstorm.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

A major surprise for Kumalo from chapters 30-32 had to be when Jarvis is found outside the church talking to the magistrate and the chief. He then began to place the sticks in the different positions, dictated to him by the man with the box with 3 legs. This person obviously had to be a surveyor out to mark off where something was to be built. This event excited him because it set in motion a change that could make Ndotsheni what it once was, a place of fertile land and lush vegetation.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

When he returns to Ndotsheni, Stephen Kumalo learns that conditions have worsened. Children are dying because, "there is no milk in Ndotsheni." (pg 269) Also, there is no rain, so it is very dry, and the grass is all dried up. There are no harvests of crops. The people of Ndotsheni are struggling, and Stephenm Kumalo finds out just how bad things are when he returns from Johannesburg.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

This might have been the shortest reading yetbut anyway...

Stephen Kumalo arrives at Ndotsheni after Getrude's abrupt departure learns many things. One thing is that it has not rained in a while. He learns that the stream has been dry for over a month. This leads him to learn that children are dieing in Ndotsheni. For Stphen it is an ew begging or the continuationof another.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

This might have been the shortest reading yetbut anyway...

Stephen Kumalo arrives at Ndotsheni after Getrude's abrupt departure learns many things. One thing is that it has not rained in a while. He learns that the stream has been dry for over a month. This leads him to learn that children are dieing in Ndotsheni. For Stphen it is an ew begging or the continuation of another.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

Stephen returns to Ndotsheni to find a couple suprises, a deadly drought and a village of people who have dearly missed him. His return seems to lift their spirits and soon enough the drought ends and the children begin to heal from their malnutrition. -Zach

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

One of the surprises that came upon Stephen Kumalu was the warm reception he received from the natives of Ndotsheni. They were extremely kind and generous to him. The reason this was such a big surprise was that Ndotsheni was so nice to him after all that had occurred in Ndotsheni. You would think there would be some nice things exchanged, but not the magnitude in which they gave him. It's really tough to be so generous to someone, especially one whose son is being hanged, when there is such a drought and famine.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

A discovery of Stephen Kumalo in Chapters 20-23 of the book was that a severe drought was savaging Ndotsheni and the surrounding countryside. The heat was unbearable, such that the grass "crackled underfoot as it did after a fire..." and "the small tough-footed boys ran from shade to shade... ." Many people were dying, and there was little that could be done for them. The land was dying, and the tribe was breaking even further.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

Oops... I meant chapters 30-32 of the book.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

One surprise for Stephen was the realization that Arthur Jarvis' children were in Ndotsheni. When he saw the boy on the "red horse witha white face" he almost that it was Arthur Jarvis himself. He was also amused by the young boys attempted Zulu.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

One surprise that Kumalo returns to is that the people of Ndotsheni have missed Kumalo. Also, he finds out that the children of Arthur Jarvis were in Ndotsheni. They came to visit him. These things affect Stephen Kumalo because he comes back to the place where he lives away from Johannsburg, where its so dangerous and sketchy. But in his return he finds out about bad things like there being a drought in Ndotsheni.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

One of the biggest surprises that Stephen finds upon his return to Ndotsheni is the eventual kindness and generosity that comes through Jarvis's grandson. Kumalo returns to find Ndotsheni in the midst of a devastating drought, with plants, animals, and people dying al around. When Jarvis's grandson comes to visit Stephen, he has every reason to hate the ma-, after all, his son killed Arthur- and can gain nothing of physical value by helping him. Still, upon learning the devastating effects of the drought, the boy talks to others and brings milk to the starving children of Ndotsheni; this greatly surprises Kumalo and gives him hope that things can change for the better.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

What can be more suppressing to return to your home town and see it in ruin? Not much. Stephan returns to find a drought and rampant malnutrition. The people are happy that he has returned but they are living a horrible life. Now Stephan has yet another problem to solve. Hopefully his experiences in the city will help him cure the village and rebuild the tribe.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2005

Stephen Kumalo finds several things when he returns to Ndotsheni, but the main thing that he finds is that he has been missed very much by all the people. He sees when he talks to the girl that he cannot simply "go away" because the people of Ndotsheni need his spiritual guidance. So, he finds that he is much more appreciated than before.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2005

A suprise that Stephen finds when he returns is that the people already knew of what his son did, and yet they still liked him and did not blame him for his son's actions. Another suprise is how nice Jarvis was. He had donated milk to the people when they did not have any b/c of the drought.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2005

One little suprise that Kumalo found upon returning to Ndotsheni was that his town was in deep deep do0-doo.There was a drought and every body was hungry. Usually, in this type of scenerio, people arent in a very good mood and usually try to knaw each others legs off. However, when he meets everybody, they're all happy and glad to see him. I think this is very supprising to both Stephan and me.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2005

I think that a theme of this story was that searching for family members, whether it be phsically searching for them, or for finding information about them, will be associated with negative and positive events. With Stephen Kumalo searching for his son Absalom, he learned that his son was a murderer and would be executed. But he also gained a daughter, with his son's fiancee having to leave him since he was going to die. With James Jarvis searching fo Arthur Jarvis, obviously there is the neagtive situation of his son having been murdered. But he learned what a knowlegable and well-respected community member his son was.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2005

Sorry, wrong post

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2005