The Twelve

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South Africa's Land

            In the novel Cry the Beloved Country, Paton explain the South African land in a wonderful symbolic way. South Africa was a place that was filled with many memories and history. In South Africa there was plenty of segregation going on. Many whites of Africa were afraid of the natives of Africa due to all of the crime that was taking place in the country. Paton's point of using the land in a symbolism way was used to show how things can affect they place were you live. He used the land to describe the way the culture and the citizens of South Africa was slowly going down and getting worst. First, the land was used to describe the way everyone was leaving South Africa and the culture was going away. Also it was used to explain the segregation that was occurring in the country. Last, it was also used to show how when you lose faith things could possibly go wrong. Paton's use of symbolism in land was to get people to understand the things that can occur when you loose the faith for your community.

            Well Paton used the land at first to describe how basically the land was dying off. Paton expressed how the land is now suffering as more and more people continue to leave it. "The men are away, the young men and girls are away. The soil cannot keep them any more (pg.34)." The people were struggling so much here that most of them began to go find a place where there is help and jobs. As more and more people left it affected the culture because the culture was starting to go away as the people left. Also the land of South Africa used to be very rich and useful, but as more of the natives move off the land turned dark and began to die because there were no one left to kept it up and care for it. In this story the land was also describing the segregation that was taking place in South Africa.

            In South Africa lived very many natives but soon as the jobs decreased many of the natives began to move away the country. In Johannesburg, many natives were less fortunate than others which cause them to do many things that were dangerous and cruel. Some of those things include stealing, robbing, and even murdering. This people were looking for something that they didn't have. Many of the whites were afraid of the natives because of the things they were doing but also the natives were afraid of the whites because they weren't used to them. Whites had been separated from the natives for so long that when they were actually around one another they feared each other. The land in Johannesburg was vey separated. In some parts they would have only blacks and there they had no jobs so they would have to go to were the whites lived to find work. Not only did the land cause segregation but it also caused people to loose their faith.

            Paton also used the land in a symbolic way to show how keeping your faith is so important. Well the character Gertrude, was an important portrayal of this. As Gertrude got older and moved away she began to leave away from the rightful way of living a Christian life. When she lived with her family, her life was going very well and successful but once she moved away everything began to change about the way she lived. The lands were Gertrude once lived was very fruitful and healthy for her. When you leave a good community were most people are doing well and go to a place that you know you more than likely don't belong you will tend to experience hard times. When people tend to lose their faith they seem to lose everything. It is important to stand still and have faith everything is going to be ok, although there might not be any jobs you have to have faith or else you might end up in a situation as Gertrude did.

                 Paton's use of the land was to show the importance of land and how just one little shift can affect the entire country. At first Paton was trying to get peoples attention by the way people were slowly starting to leave South Africa. When people leave a country behind, they are leaving their culture and their land. Also Paton describe how the way the land was containing segregation. In South Africa the natives had lost their jobs, so they were starting to do anything to get what they needed in order to survive. The whites and natives had been separated for so long that many of the people were afraid of a change in their society. Last but not least, Paton used the land to explain the faith the people had. Many people who stayed on the land and believed they would have a job one day actually experienced good lives, but other people who moved away and left there land were the ones who had lost their faith and were struggling. The way Paton used symbolism to show connections to the land and reality was very outstanding. Paton purpose was to get people to realize how important it is to care for your community and have faith in it.