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Barron's Booknotes-Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton
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A STEP BEYOND
TESTS AND ANSWERS
TEST 1
_____ 1. Cry, the Beloved Country, is principally about
A. racial problems in South Africa
B. redemption from sin
C. crime and punishment in Johannesburg
_____ 2. The style of language most prominently used in this novel is based on
A. standard English vocabulary and rhythms
B. vocabulary and rhythms of the Afrikaans language
C. patterns from the Bible and Bantu languages
_____ 3. The event that most strongly focuses attention on the crime problem among young blacks is
A. the making and selling of bad liquor in Claremont
B. the murder of Arthur Jarvis in Parkwold
C. an attack on a black girl in Sophiatown.
_____ 4. Which of these is a hopeful sign for improvement of race relations?
A. The lifting of racial restrictions in districts of Johannesburg
B. White men erecting housing in Shanty Town
C. The miners deciding not to strike at Odendaalsrust
_____ 5. What does Kumalo find most unusual about the operation of the colony for the blind at
Ezenzeleni?
A. Afrikaans-speaking and English-speaking whites are working together
B. White people are helping poor black people
C. There are blind people among the black population
_____ 6. In this novel, more police and stricter control of the black population are most strongly urged by
A. English-speaking liberals
B. Afrikaner nationalists
C. Zulu political speakers
_____ 7. Which of the following speakers combines a stirring voice with profound goodness?
A. John Kumalo
B. James Jarvis
C. Msimangu
_____ 8. Which speaker does the government fear because he arouses social action but seeks nothing for
himself?
A. Dubula
B. Msimangu
C. John Kumalo
_____ 9. The decay of tribal life in the back country is partially caused by
A. siphoning off of workers to white farms and mines
B. the attractions of the white men's cities
C. Both A. and B.
_____ 10. Why does John Harrison say, "when father says Afrikaners he means Nationalists"?
A. The Nationalist party includes English-speaking whites as well as Afrikaners
B. John's father is not an Afrikaner, but has the attitudes he praises as being Afrikaner attitudes.
C. Both A. and B.
ESSAY QUESTIONS
11. If Stephen Kumalo is the protagonist of this novel (the central character with the major conflict to
resolve), then who or what is the antagonist (the person or force in his way)? Explain your reasoning.
12. Show that racial segregation in Cry, the Beloved Country is demonstrated by many daily customs as
well as by such obvious things as separate buses and train coaches for Europeans and non-Europeans.
13. Explain in what sense Absalom Kumalo, Matthew Kumalo, and Arthur Jarvis could all be said to be
victims of forces far greater than themselves and not of their own making.
14. The climax of a novel is defined as the point of highest dramatic intensity, or as the turning point in the
plot. Defend either the murder of Arthur Jarvis or the trial and sentencing of Absalom Kumalo as the
climax of Cry, the Beloved Country.
15. Defend of refute this statement: Cry, the Beloved Country is more a political statement than a novel.
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