Cry, the Beloved Country

by

Alan Paton

Stephen Kumalo Character Analysis

A black parson, and one of the novel’s protagonists. Stephen is a religious man who has spent his entire life in his rural community, for which he cares very deeply. He is humble, devout, and on a journey of understanding. His visit to Johannesburg – the first in his life – is overwhelming, but with the help of those around his, he makes his way through every step. Stephen suffers when he faces questions to which he cannot learn the answer, and finds his faith tested after his son’s crime, trial, and death sentence. In the end, Stephen comes to peace with his son’s fate and his own disquiet as he prays on the mountainside during his son’s execution.

Stephen Kumalo Quotes in Cry, the Beloved Country

The Cry, the Beloved Country quotes below are all either spoken by Stephen Kumalo or refer to Stephen Kumalo. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Land and the Tribe Theme Icon
).
Book I, Chapter 3 Quotes

The journey had begun. And now the fear back again, the fear of the unknown, the fear of the great city where boys were killed crossing the street, the fear of Gertrude’s sickness. 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.

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo, Absalom Kumalo, Gertrude Kumalo
Related Symbols: Johannesburg
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:
Book I, Chapter 13 Quotes

What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? What broke when he could bring himself to thrust down the knife into the warm flesh, to bring down the axe on the living head, to cleave down between the seeing eyes, to shoot the gun that would drive death into the beating heart?

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo (speaker)
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:
Book II, Chapter 28 Quotes

The Judge rises, and the people rise. But not all is silent. The guilty one falls to the floor, crying and sobbing. And there is a woman wailing, and an old man crying Tixo, Tixo. No one calls for silence, though the Judge is not quite gone. For who can stop the heart from breaking?

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo, Absalom Kumalo, Absalom’s girlfriend
Page Number: 226-227
Explanation and Analysis:
Book II, Chapter 29 Quotes

He had come to tell his brother that power corrupts, that a man who fights for justice must himself be cleansed and purified, that love is greater than force. And none of these things had he done… He turned to the door, but it was locked and bolted. Brother had shut out brother, from the same womb had they come.

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo, John Kumalo
Page Number: 236
Explanation and Analysis:

… he prayed for his son. Tomorrow they would all go home, all except his son. And he would stay in the place where they would put him, in the great prison in Pretoria, in the barred and solitary cell; and mercy failing, would stay there till he was hanged. Aye, but the hand that had murdered once pressed the mother’s breast into the thirsting mouth, had stolen into the father’s hand when they went out in the dark. Aye, but the murderer afraid of death had once been a child afraid of the night.

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo, Absalom Kumalo
Related Symbols: Johannesburg
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:
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Stephen Kumalo Quotes in Cry, the Beloved Country

The Cry, the Beloved Country quotes below are all either spoken by Stephen Kumalo or refer to Stephen Kumalo. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Land and the Tribe Theme Icon
).
Book I, Chapter 3 Quotes

The journey had begun. And now the fear back again, the fear of the unknown, the fear of the great city where boys were killed crossing the street, the fear of Gertrude’s sickness. 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.

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo, Absalom Kumalo, Gertrude Kumalo
Related Symbols: Johannesburg
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:
Book I, Chapter 13 Quotes

What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? What broke when he could bring himself to thrust down the knife into the warm flesh, to bring down the axe on the living head, to cleave down between the seeing eyes, to shoot the gun that would drive death into the beating heart?

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo (speaker)
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:
Book II, Chapter 28 Quotes

The Judge rises, and the people rise. But not all is silent. The guilty one falls to the floor, crying and sobbing. And there is a woman wailing, and an old man crying Tixo, Tixo. No one calls for silence, though the Judge is not quite gone. For who can stop the heart from breaking?

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo, Absalom Kumalo, Absalom’s girlfriend
Page Number: 226-227
Explanation and Analysis:
Book II, Chapter 29 Quotes

He had come to tell his brother that power corrupts, that a man who fights for justice must himself be cleansed and purified, that love is greater than force. And none of these things had he done… He turned to the door, but it was locked and bolted. Brother had shut out brother, from the same womb had they come.

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo, John Kumalo
Page Number: 236
Explanation and Analysis:

… he prayed for his son. Tomorrow they would all go home, all except his son. And he would stay in the place where they would put him, in the great prison in Pretoria, in the barred and solitary cell; and mercy failing, would stay there till he was hanged. Aye, but the hand that had murdered once pressed the mother’s breast into the thirsting mouth, had stolen into the father’s hand when they went out in the dark. Aye, but the murderer afraid of death had once been a child afraid of the night.

Related Characters: Stephen Kumalo, Absalom Kumalo
Related Symbols: Johannesburg
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis: