Journal #4

     In Cry, The Beloved Country, my first tab was on page 33.  I tabbed the third paragraph that describes hills that don't support the people; an opposite description of the land described in paragraph one and two.  The land is completely contrasting and think this shows how the people that live on the land determine how rich the soil is, and how "holy" the ground is.  For my next tab, I marked the quote on page thirty four: "the earth was torn away like flesh [. . .] the clouds pour down upon them, the dead streams come to life, full of the red blood of the earth" (34).  Here, plenty of figurative language is used to compare the earth to a living body.  In this case it has been wounded and the rain comes down to make the earth bleed.  This could represent the pain and conflict that the people are going through on this land, and the pain and neglect that the earth is suffering as well.  Next, I found that the dialogue is never put into quotations, which works to remove the reader from the story and create a feeling of separation.  The characters words then blend into the rest of the narration and show that the narrator feels separated and distanced as well.  Finally, Kumalo is compared to a child: "[h]e puffed like a child at his smoke, and was thankful" (50).  This happens several times to show that Kumalo perhaps doesn't feel like he can survive in this society.  He feels young and alone so he pretends to be someone he is not.